Practical Gear Solutions

Jamie Innes - 13/3/05

More specifically, hints and tips and a few things that can help you out with common problems associated with your playing gear. Covered here is the war on goggle fog, hot weather play, things to carry on field, and wet weather play.



1. Minimising goggle fog.

Ahh good old goggle fog, you know it, you LOVE it. But how to prevent it? Goggle fans are a good start, the JT series of goggles come with a space you can mount the Vortex fan. This fan will suck, or blow air into/from your goggles. Since it doesn't cool the air, and simply blows it, I reccomend blowing the air in because...

• The air outside of your goggles will be cooler than inside
• Thus the cooler air will help cool your forehead/eyes
• Thus will help minimise how much your forehead sweats. And as you know... this is a big contributer to goggle fog.

If you have a thermal lense, then you won't need to treat your lenses with any special products, however it's my experience that goggle fog still can occur. If you don't have a thermal lense... there are antifog products out there, if you don't have a supplier near you, try the local motorcycle dealer, they will probably have antifog solutions for motorcycle helmet visors. Alternatively, household dishwashing liquid can also work wonders.

NOTE: Often manufacturers of thermal lenses advise against treating your lense with additional products auch as antifog spray, always check.



2. Headgear, hot weather... and you.

Another strategy in the war against goggle fog, is to wear something around your forehead to absorb sweat, this will typically sit between your forehead and the foam of your goggles. It may seem like an unnecessary part of your attire, but on hot days it can be worth it's weight in gold.

Pretty much anything will do, an arab shemagh, a camo bandana, either worn as a bandana, or folded up as a sweatband, a sports sweatband, a piece of veil. Try to pick a fabric through that absorbs moisture well.

Another thing you can do in hot weather, is to wear something around your neck as a "towel". Shemaghs or veil works well for this. You soak it in water, wrap it around your neck (also functions as neck protection), and put the tied end down the front of your BDU top. The water in the towel is initially a cooler temperature than your skin, so it helps to cool you. However the towel must be resoaked hourly, as your bodyheat will warm the water.

Of course, you can do the same thing in winter too, without soaking it. The towel becomes a scarf. Shout-goin'-out to Citykid for the towel tips :)

Lastly, as a general piece of advice, try to pick 100% cotton clothing for hot weather play, or whatever you feel "breathes" better. It's my experience that polyester/cotton blends are a much heavier fabric, and don't breathe as much, making them more suited for winter play.



3. Things to carry with you on-field.

Goggle cleaner: Or, a small bottle of water helps, because cleaning your goggles by "polishing" usually leaves "smeared" results. One trick is to use a small bottle of water and carry it on your harness (where a pod would go). When cleaning your goggles (after a hit), try to wipe the paint off on 1 big stroke (use an adequate rag).

Squeegee: After you've cleaned a barrel break with your squeegee, I found the quick and easy method of cleaning the squeegee, is simply bend one leg, and use the back of your knee (if you're wearing long pants) as a cleaner. The excess paint then goes onto your pants.

Tools: Does your marker live on allen wrenches? It does? do you need to take allen wrenches with you on the field? In most cases no, but occasionally yes. If your marker has components (such as the barrel) which need to be removed with an allen key for on-field cleaning, then you'll need them. Note: You should not be carrying tools onto the field solely for velocity adjustment. Velocity adjustment should only be done over a chrono.

Design a system: Use what pockets and storage you have to your advantage, and use the same pockets for the same items every time. There's nothing more annoying than having to search all your pockets for item X. It's always better to know where it is without looking.



4. Wet weather play.

As you know, a paintball's worst enemy is water. And water, like SAND... gets into everything. So if you're gonna play in the rain, there's a few thing you can do to prevent problems.

• If you have a ported barrel, or ported feedneck, cover them up with tape, small plastic bag etc.
• If you use a fleecy battle swab, try to keep this thing as dry as possible, a wet battle swab doesn't clean very well.
• When reloading, try to prevent water getting into your hopper by covering the top of your hopper with your body, or a free hand. (A free hand? yeah this usually works best if you've got yourself a sling)
• Be aware of what you're walking on. If you're walking on a rocky or sandy surface, then excess water (from rain) won't be a problem, but water on regular dirt creates mud. And you all know how much fun it is falling over in the mud.
• If you don't have some kind of wet weather gear for paintball, then look into it. A simple OD or woodland camo GI poncho can make a world of difference beween getting a little-bit-wet, and getting soaked to the bone.
• Visors will help keep water from getting into/onto your goggles.

Credits:
"Ventilation is important" and "Bandanas all-round" thanks to Eddie "Kampfer" Lin