I wish I had enough money to buy everything and try it out to see what works best, but instead I need to bother y'all
I currently have a driducks jacket with a modified down puffy with hydrophobic treatment for my shell and mid layer. The driducks has been surprisingly sturdy jacket wise. The pants tore immediately though haha. Anyway I am fearful that on my CT thru hike attempt a similar thing will happen to the jacket and leave me quite wet with a down mid layer. I found a campmor rain jacket from a few years ago and just out of curiosity I weighed it and it was a respectable 12.6 ounces. Its pu coated with decently sized pit zips and plenty of durability. However when testing the coat under the sink and spraying it with a hose I can feel some moisture coming through on the other side of the jacket. My dry ducks does not do this. The idea of a PU jacket is interesting to me because of durability and cost benefits and I believe a workable amount of breathability if there are pit zips. However if the water resistance is shoddy, say less than 10000? should I be worried? It seems like in a rocky mountain windblown rainstorm this could soak through easily, but is this true of all PU rain jackets? Does anybody have any experience with a solid PU rain jacket that is still manufactured? I know there is the tumalo but if all i wanted was a PU coating and pit zips I should perhaps be able to find something even cheaper. I read something about there being a couple different ways of applying the PU coating to maximize fabric breathability but let me emphasize, I just want pit zips for ventilation! If I am so hot that I am sweating a bunch then maybe I shouldn't be wearing the jacket.
If I however stick with the driducks is a down mid layer wise? It got a little wet around the arms and shoulders last time but nothing major. I am more worried about it tearing at a seam so badly my little patches of ductape won't be enough.
It seems like a potentially very attractive option would be a thermawrap with a silnylon jacket. But that would be 250 bucks! Would prefer to avoid that haha!
Lastly I am still torn about using a down quilt inside my event bivy…. it doesn't ever get soaked, but definitely gets decently moist and I am wondering when I am drying it in the sun, if it actually is drying the down or just the fabric…..
Sorry for the long post!!! and as always your advice is much appreciated! Once I become wise I will return the favor!
