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Bought a down jacket a few weeks ago, which has a dwr coating and hydrophobic treatment on the down itself.
Got caught in a shower last week and it was great, shed the rain with no problems at all.
Was walking by the sea today and it was very windy, some of the waves were crashing into the sea wall and creating fine spray. The dwr seemed not to work at all. All the drops were just soaking in.
Does salt water affect the dwr? I'm really disappointed as it wasn't a cheap jacket and it's a couple of weeks old. Of course I didn't buy it as a rain jacket, but the water repellency was very handy for unexpected showers.
DWR is hydrophobic and sheds water - salt is hydrophilic and attracts it so any salt that dries on the jacket if your out in sea spray will attract water. DWR Â fabric needs to be clean to work properly so giving the jacket a good rinse should improve things
My sea kayaking drysuit has a dwr coating which hasn't been affected by salt water but I do rinse it every time I use it.