Non-breathable rain gear?

I bought a 88 cent walmart plastic poncho, basically a garbage bag, but it only weighs 1.9 ounces.

My Arxteryx LT atom is fairly water resistant though.

Yes I will sometimes carry non-breathable if I know I will be in extended downpours and maybe not doing too strenuous hiking (like climbing). I will normally use Helly Hansen Impertech II jacket and pants for this task.

It is not ultralight, but it works well for extended rain and it's tough enough for bushwhacking. Aside from my own sweat when I don't ventilate it correctly, it has never leaked on me or wetted out and leaked from rain. The "Deluxe" version of the jacket has a cape vent over the shoulders which works very well and does a good job keeping down the sweat buildup.

There are definitely some cases where I prefer non-breathable over breathable fabrics. I've had breathable fabrics fail me in the past, especially in extended (days on end) wet weather. Once breathable fabrics wet out it becomes non-breathable anyway. Even worse, it holds the cold water next to your skin and gets you colder than Helly Hansen Impertech which will never absorb water no matter how wet it is outside.

"It seems like in massive, extended, and cold downpours your waterproof breathable membrane would fail"

I think you are assuming that when a rain jacket "wets out" it leaks. That is not the case. When the DWR coating fails and wets out The outer fabric gets wet but the membrane is not damaged in any way and is still waterproof. Yes the membrane cannot breath through the water soaked outer fabric but the plastic membrane is a barrier that prevents water from getting in. The only way water can get in is through a tear, cut, or hole in the membrane and rain doesn't cause that kind of damage.

I have hike through 2 days of constant rain and during that time my rain jacket did wet out but the rain never got in.

Never used WP/B stuff, actually.

Currently, I'm using a DIY poncho made out of 1.4 sil that doubles as a weather shield for the underside of my hammock (just went over to a minimalist tarp, and this helps with coverage in blowing wind). I also added a 12" OmniTape closure below the collar line, for venting in heavy exertion conditions and warm rainstorms.

I find that a poncho vents better than a rain jacket, generally; keeps me drier above the knee due to more evaporation of sweat; and is a multi-purpose item (even if you're not using it as a weather shield for your hammock, it can be a sit pad, a vestibule floor, a beak to close off one end of a tarp, etc.).

Hope it helps!

I never was a fan of breathable waterproof fabrics. I get soaked with sweat and they don't pass enough water to keep up. At that point they are actually colder if anything. So I like waterproof vapor-proof OK.

That said, a lot of the time I do use DWR water repellent gear with clothes that remain warm when wet underneath. I do this mostly when trying to minimize weight carried.

Both approaches have worked out well for me.

Talk more about wearing clothes that keep you warm when wet please. Fleece and wool?

Wool is the best insulator when wet. Fleece isn't that bad either, but not as good. In day after day of wet, cold weather, nothing beats a wool sweater under your jacket. You can find some really inexpensive wool sweaters in various thickness at thrift stores or by buying old military surplus. If it's on/off rain and sunshine, fleece would be better since you would actually have a chance to dry it out.

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/wool-when-wet.htm

If you can get past the weight and price, Klymit inflatable vests would be an ideal choice for wet warmth.

I am not crtazy about wool myself. I find it to hold a lot of water, to dry very slowly, and contrary to what others have found to be stinkier than my synthetics (with a few exceptions that I leave at home).

I like pile garments and generally use stuff that is left over from my kayaking days. Not sure exactlty what the material is, but I love my old Immersion Research sweater. I have had it 20 years and see nothing like it on their web site now though. Much of the time for a light insulation layer on the bottom I use bike tights that are lightly brushed inside to have a bit on knap.

I use a sil poncho quite a bit, and I also have an OR Rampart jacket that I picked up cheap for bushwacking. I really like the huge side zips on the Rampart since it's basically like a more fitted poncho when fully unzipped.

In continuous rain or bushwacking through soaked foliage you're going to get wet, but rain gear can keep you from getting soaked, and keep some wind off to help you stay warm.

I have found that thin wool takes longer than a synthetic shirt to dry and does not provide much warmth. A thicker wool sweater might work in that it will keep you warm but it will also take forever to dry.

It will definitley take forever to dry Brett, but in some really wet situations (days of constant rain) you really aren't going to be able to dry it anyways unless you get a fire going. Your main hiking clothes are always damp and your sleeping clothes generally stay dry. Wool is not the greatest material for backpacking clothing, but for some situations it works better. I am not a fan of the tightly woven merino wool stuff that looks like synthetics, I like the fluffy stuff.

If I could find a big puffy wool shirt for my XLT self under $100 I would probably get it because it does work well in continually wet conditions.

I like to use a 33 gallon trash bag with a hole cut out for my head and arms. Sure my arms get wet but I try to move fast enough so that I stay warm. Generally I just wear a synthetic tee under so when/if it gets wet it'll dry fast. Then when I get to camp I'll switch to a long sleeve merino top like an IceBreaker 150 or 200.

Brett, check thrift stores! I found a light merino wool long sleeve and a lambswool sweater for 3 bucks each. Both were about 10 oz. Of course, try them on to make sure they aren't super itchy. You could also check out sportsmansguide.com they have a lot of old military surplus wool sweaters.

Thara twice the weight of my icebreaker top, granted mine was 10x more $.

Well, it's a sweater, not a thin base layer.

Yeah, the trash bag thing is the way to go and you can even use the contractor or thick bags to reuse them dozens of times. That with an umbrella and a windshirt if probbaly the best solution out there. You can use a trash bag rain skirt also out of a durable bag that will last a long time also.

Yeah, I don't see many wool sweaters that have a body length of 30" and a sleeve length of 37" but I do look. The old military ones are too itchy though.

The only problem with a breathable shell is that it is only breathable when it is not wet. The breathable membrane won't let water vapor escape when water is blocking the water vapor.

It's this reason that I wear a waterproof cape and skirt combined with windshirt and windpants.

Air can circulate under the cape/skirt and the windshirt/pants can be dry enough to allow water vapor to escape.

In a light rain or snow, I wear only the windshirt and occasionally windpants.

The windshirt and windpants do double duty as my laundry wardrobe when I have to wash cloths in areas where nudity isn't an option:-)

If you think about it a rain jacket is redundant. Usually for me I bring a cheap poncho or improvise and use my tents rain fly as a poncho.

I am thinking about converting over my AMK SOL utility blanket/tarp to be a poncho also now. At least I know it will be waterproof and stay that way. I just have given up on WPB stuff and their high prices.

Contrary to what many have stated, WP/B material does allow moisture transfer when totally wet or immersed. You can test it yourself with gloves in hot water (compare WP/B to yellow dishwashing gloves). Or ask any fly fisher if he/she would give up Goretex waders for neoprene.

Re: "WP/B material does allow moisture transfer when totally wet or immersed."

I stand corrected. I'm no expert and I'd heard that breathability was significantly reduced when wet.

I always seem to get very wet from condensation under my goretex rain jacket in a downpour. I also get wet under a non-breathable cape, but feel the cape lets out more steam, but I guess that is because of all that open area on a cape.

I use a really cheap pair of waterproof, non breathable trousers (pants to you Americans :D ) purely because they are the cheapest light-weight rain over-trousers I could find. I don't sweat that much on my legs, and I'm usually wearing shorts so it doesn't really make a difference to me.

I think they cost me £8 and weigh 175g or 0.59oz, so personally I'm not prepared to pay extra for breathable ones…