I've tested various waterproof papers and two paper waterproofing sprays.<br><br>I printed out some gear lists on some "Rite In The Rain" all-weather copier paper, "Lat 26 Inc." waterproof inkjet paper, "Dura Copy" waterproof copier/laser paper and regular ordinary copier/printer paper. The Rite In The Rain paper felt like normal copier paper. The Lat 26 and Dura Copy papers felt more like thin sheets of plastic.<br><br>Despite Lat 26's specificaly saying their paper was not for laser printers, I used a laser printer anyway. The paper was fine. I assume the heat of photocopiers and laser printers is what they are afraid of. They both intentionally generate heat for use in the printing process, unlike inkjet printers, so I assume that any paper called "copier paper" would also be good for laser printers. Melting a sheet of inkjet paper to the insides of your laser printer would surely be a Bad Thing, so I can't recommend it. Nonetheless, it worked just fine the one time I tried it for my testing. I assume different brands and models generate different amounts of heat and I just got lucky.<br><br>After printing my test sheets, I wrote on all of them with blue ink, black ink, black marker, pencil, yellow overliner, blue overliner and Fisher Space Pen black waterproof ink. Two of the normal paper sheets I coated per directions with Krylon "Crystal Clear" acrylic sprays, one designed for misc. material craft objects and one designed more specifically for paper craft objects. (I still have two more sheets from this same printing. I'm hoping to test them with some sort of Map Seal soon.) After the sprays fully dried, I wrote on them again.<br><br>I immediately noted a problem with the sprays... they turn the paper semi-opaque (meaning, partially transparent). I don't know if Map Seal does this, and hope to test it, but that bothers me, since one of the reasons I hoped to use this method was to waterproof instruction sheets that come with various items I include in my kits. If they're printed on both sides, the printing on the back will interfere with the printing on the front, and vice versa. However, for instructions printed only on one side, this will work, but I won't have the other side quite so nice and white to write on myself. The sprays would still work well with photographs, for anyone who considers pictures of family members or significant others as inspirational material for kits.<br><br>Then came the water test. I filled my bathroom sink and dunked all the pages in. I held them under the water and played with them, curling them, rubbing them, gently "snapping" them (splash!) and what-not. The only sheet I did not agitate in this manner was the untreated normal sheet. It was so fragile that I left it alone. It was already ripping just with normal handling. It would not have survived
any rough treatment.<br><br>I also wrote underwater on them. Regular ink pens failed to write underwater. The pencil and Fisher Space Pen worked fine. I didn't try markers. Just trying to write on the normal paper with pencil and normal ink caused it to rip. It did okay with the Fisher Space Pen.<br><br>After a while, I just left them soaking. A day later, I came back and repeated the agitation for all but the normal paper. They had all been immersed for more than a day by the time I was done.<br><br>I don't know about photocopier ink or inkjet ink, but laser printer ink is permanent. Period. No fading, smearing or anything else on any of the papers, even the perfectly normal non-waterproof paper. The package of Lat 26 inkjet paper says in rather large letters, "All Manufactures Inks Becomes Waterproof" [sic], so I assume it would be much the same.<br><br>The overliners had washed completely away on most of them. On one of the Krylon spray papers (This was the one more designed for written and drawn materials. The can said "Acrylic Coating 1303" on it.), the yellow overliner had washed out, but the blue had stayed. On the Lat 26 paper, the blue overliner had washed out, but the yellow had stayed.
<br><br>The normal inks and marker looked fine on all of the pages.<br><br>The Fisher waterproof black ink had turned blue (!?) on all but the the Lat 26 paper. By the end of the test, it had smeared on the Dura Copy paper and smeared badly on the Rite In The Rain paper. It smeared more when applied under water than when applied dry.<br><br>The pencil didn't want to write on the Lat 26 paper at all, wet or dry. That paper just rejects pencil marks. What dim lettering I did get on it stayed on just fine through the test, though. In fact, pencil stayed on well on all of them, even when applied underwater.<br><br>Then, I ripped the corners off, to see how durable they were. The pages were still soaked through, and the sprayed sheets and the Rite In The Rain sheet were feeling pretty fragile and ripped like, well, like wet paper. The other two felt fine. It took some good bit of tugging to get the Lat 26 paper to rip, but when it did, it ripped absolutely clean... like it was cut by a blade. It ripped only about half an inch, turned a near perfect right angle and ripped out to the edge again... an almost perfect rectangle pulled off at the corner. Weird, but the package of Lat 26 inkjet paper says in rather large letters, "Tear Resistant". I guess so. I was never able to rip the Dura Copy paper with my hands. The place where I was pulling stretched a little and looks a wee bit ugly and wrinkly now, but it never gave way.<br><br>Finally, the Tinder Test; how well does this stuff burn? I took the still soaked sheets to my fireplace and ripped small swatches out of them, cutting the Lat 26 and Dura Copy sheets with scissors. I allowed myself a maximum of two normal wooden matches to get each piece burning.<br><br>The normal non-waterproof paper didn't burn worth spit! Too much water soaked into it, I guess. The Rite In The Rain paper burned okay if encouraged, but kept wanting to go out. The two Krylon sprayed sheets did much the same. I assume they all had some amount of water soaked into them, since they ripped so readily. The Lat 26 paper shriveled up like heated plastic and burned just a little bit, but kept trying to self-extinguish. The Dura Copy paper was fuel! With but a momentary contact with one match, it burned bright, with inky black smoke, and dripped tiny droplets of liquid flame. That was
good tinder!
<br><br>So, for now, I'll just use up my supply of Lat 26 Inkjet paper, and whenever I run out, I'll be resupplying with Dura Copy. It's pretty expensive stuff, but I think it's worth it. It's made by J.L.Darling, who also makes Rite In The Rain paper. Their website is
http://www.durarite.com/ but you can also get it at
http://www.riteintherain.com/ along with their normal Rite In The Rain paper. Lat 26 inkjet paper can be found at
http://www.lat26inc.com/ along with other topo/nav gear.<br><br>Now, I still need to test some Map Seal against the Krylon acrlyic sprays for waterproofing instructions and directions sheets that come with bought items.
Previous Topic
Index
