Non-breathable rain gear?

Justin,

I sweat a lot and am almost always wet, rain or not. With or without raincoat (breathable or not)my primary concern is staying warm. The insulating value of my clothing is significantly reduced when it is soaking wet.

So my garment of choice is a closed cell foam float coat like boaters use. It serves as both an insulating garment and a raincoat and is also part of my sleeping pad system. The closed cell foam's insulating value isn't much affected by the wetness.

Daryl

Poncho/chaps are waterproof and "non-breathable", but they allow some air circulation so they are not too bad unless it's beastly hot.
If it's beastly hot, I'll just let it rain on me without any rain gear. Just keep the pack dry.

Poncho can double as an emergency shelter or groundsheet, or bag cover in a driving rain, etc. Worth carrying.
Chaps weigh about 3 ounces, you don't even know they are there until you need them.
Both are fairly inexpensive.

My experience with WPB is that it is usually waterproof, but the breathable part is pretty crappy, if it really breathes at all.

It's only water. If it's not going to give you hypothermia, wet out your down bag, or do some other kind of serious damage, then you're only getting a little wet.
I gave up worrying about getting a little wet, as long as it's not going to cause a life-threatening situation.

I've been using a poncho and chaps for decades, starting back when I lived in Oregon. I've experimented with WPB parkas, but found they are better in the city than in the hills, where I tend to wet out from sweat.

Today I still use a poncho and chaps, but they're now from cuben (thanks, MLD!), and amazingly light. One nice touch from MLD is the inclusion of a bungie belt, which keeps the poncho from blowing around as much, while still allowing for plenty of sweat-evaporating air flow.

YMMV

So what is a durable, lightweight moderately priced poncho/tarp? And before anyone says you can have two out of the three, i am not asking for something that weighs 3 oz, cost $50 and is made out of unobtanium. There has to be something out there in a 5×7 or bigger that weighs around 10oz , will always be waterproof and can be had for around $60.

Integral Designs used to make the SilPoncho, but it seems to be discontinued. You could probably find one on the used market. It's 10 ounces.

Equinox makes the Ultralite Poncho Shelter which is 1.1 Silnylon that should be as good as anything else, and it's only 7 oz. I see it on sale at Backcountry Gear today at $57.55 with free shipping.

Six Moons makes a famous one called the Gatewood Cape, which is more expensive at $135, but it is a real shelter and a poncho combination which has been around a while and has a good following. It's 11 ounces, and it's probably the largest one, which might be good for you as a tall person.

There are probably other ones too, but that's a good start on it.
The truth is that once you learn how to rig it up as a shelter, you can use nearly any poncho. I use a military-looking aftermarket ripstop nylon poncho that weighs about 12 ounces.

Golite's poncho tarp is also around $60. I could have sworn Warmlite's poncho was also a poncho tarp, and that it was more of a custom job, but in any case they have two lengths and it's $54-63.

Cool, thanks. Sorry, I am not trying to hijack the thread but I was thinking it might be better if I go to a poncho and trashbag rain skirt system as they can be more versatile. I have a tarp/poncho but it was a cheap one and not waterproof.

And learn how to put a better tarp up.

I really like my Mountain Laurel Designs Sil-nylon poncho. It is a great poncho and really good shelter/tarp. It meets your weight requirements but not the money–it is $155. You might try Gear Swap for that item.

Actually, those were more like rough guidelines for specs. Just didn't want people to think I wanted some light wafer thing that was like kevlar annd weighed 4 oz.

I've found that a poncho does better as part of your secondary shelter system (i.e.: as a bivvy, beak to make a vestibule for a real tarp, or an undercover for an hammock) than it does as your primary shelter system (i.e.: your major tarp). That way, you can set the tarp up and stay as dry as possible while setting up the rest of your shelter.

Anyway, YMMV here, but that's been my experience.