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Shrafter Comment by Dave. Southern Land Solo on February 20, 2015 at 21:42

Lol. Awesome info. Thanks Simon

Tohunga Comment by Simon Amos on February 19, 2015 at 23:48

I seem to remember that the real downside of the material wasn't that it absorbed water - which, as you suggest, could be solved by (a lot of!) wax - it was the stiffness of the gear once it was wet, making it harder to handle and seemingly harsher to carry. Keeping contents dry, if needed, was more quickly/easily solved by use of zip-locks or similar. Perhaps memories are a bit foggy, here, but I recall that once rain stopped/river was crossed etc, body heat was fairly good at drying the rig out...... Blimey. Getting all nostalgic, now. Have to take a sniffle-break! Enjoy your outdoors, Mate.

Shrafter Comment by Dave. Southern Land Solo on February 19, 2015 at 22:51

Thanks Simon. Another downside I can think of is the canvas can soak up a bit of water but paint can fix that. I have not tried wax waterproofing. Do you think that might work. I have used the magazine pouches in close country before and they performed very well, hold a lot gear. I will have to score a Water Bottle Pouch. I have the Kidney Pouches. Nice shameless plug bro lol : )

Tohunga Comment by Simon Amos on February 18, 2015 at 23:00

Yeah, Mate: professionally and personally. It was OK for its era....robust, flexible, hard-wearing; flexible pouch arrangement (most useful bush crafting pouches being the kidney and water-bottle ones); easy to securely fix items to belt; relatively inexpensive and easy to get spares for. Downsides? Could rot-out; held salt from sweat; a bit fiddly to retain a 'good fit' - needed fixing with tape or hard-fixed by sewing; pouches benefitted by retaining close to body by a bungee - otherwise they would flap whilst running. On balance, I would say the most useful around at the time......but modern PLCE makes its feel, fit, construction and performance seem somewhat dated. However, it would probably serve you well enough.......
(Sorry. None to sell......seen a good alternative on South Island Survival? Shameless plug, there).