Columbia Oureedry Wetting Out?

[Luke Schmidt]

I just returned from a backpacking trip in Denali State Park. Yesterday I hiked out in a solid rain for several hours wearing my basically new Columbia Outerdry rain jacket and relatively new Rab rain pants.

Long story short I got soaked. Back at the car both my pants and my shirt were wet. I mean wet everywhere not wet in areas where you’d get a leak or build up sweat. Not wet around the face and arms where rain can work in, wet everywhere.

I’m curious whether anyone else has had negative experiences with this gear. I know all about the limitations of GoreTex style gear. I thought the Outerdry would be sweety but a total failure like this would be a surprise.

[Stephen Seeber]

I would start by taking both garments, holding them up to strong light and looking for pinholes.

Have you called Columbia support and described your experience to them?

I tested two outdry jackets, a 2019 featherweight and a 2015 Diamond.  Both exhibited HH of 10-12K mmwc. Hard rain combined with high winds could cause penetration.  Since these were not my jackets, I could not test for aged HH.  Did leakage into the jacket seem to correspond to back strap or hip belt locations?

Both jackets had mediocre breathability, near the bottom of water proof/breathable membranes that I have tested.  This means that wetting from the interior should be considered a possibility.

The 2015 jacket had somewhat better performance than the 2019 jacket.

What fabric is in the RAB rain pants?

What kind of temperatures and terrain were you hiking in?  How high were the winds?  How strenuous was the hiking?

If you really wish to pursue this, you can send me the garments for testing.  If interested, PM me.

[Jeffs Eleven]

BPL FTW

…ask a question, get an amazing answer first reply…

love it!

[Luke Schmidt]

Stephen here you go

• I have not called Columbia, I have had enough customer support phone calls for a while (different issue/company).
• The temperature was probably from the 40s to high 50s. I don’t believe I ever felt sweaty and when I stopped I felt chilly. I thought about putting on my puffy but I decided to save it once I realized I was getting damp. I will have a fleece next time.
• The hiking was mostly down hill and I was a bit slow because of the slippery conditions.
• The wind was not hard, maybe 5-10mph at most.
  The rain was sort of a heavy drizzle. Not the hard downpours you get in the Appalachians for example. But the raincoat would have been constantly wet.
• Let’s leave aside the rain pants. They may have got wet from the top.
• I did use a borrowed Outerdry jacket in 2016. It seemed to work just fine.

[BlackHatGuy]

Outdry.

I think there was a thread on here some time ago where some folks had the issue you’re talking about, while others didn’t. Perhaps you got one of the ‘bad’ jackets.

[Luke Schmidt]

Thanks for the correction, it’s in the shed drying (again because it rained on the clothes line outside). So I was going from memory.

Honestly I’m hoping I got a bad one. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a raincoat fail so totally (at least a new one). Too bad because I had high hopes for it after the first one worked so well in 2016. Alaska is pretty brutal on gear so something without DWR was worth paying extra for (I thought).

I’m thinking of a non breathable raincoat as an experiment. Some are only 8oz so I might bring one plus a cheap/light breathable one.

[Sam Farrington]

Yes, also recall a negative thread about Colunbia’s marketing of rain garments.  I once bought a RAB rain jacket; and it was so steamy, I gave it away.  Some of the better Patagonias have worked fine for me, so I stay away from everything else.  They are not quite as expensive as Arcteryx, and also have sales during most of the year.

I had a similar experience with a Bean’s anorak, that wetted out after less than a day in similar conditions; but it was Beans, and they accepted a return.  Was pretty frosted because had to go on for another week or so with no rain jacket, and could not complete the hike as planned.

Sometimes it is hard to distinguish how much of the moisture is from leakage, and how much from perspiration and low vapor transfer.  If I had to try a new brand of rain jacket, would look for a retailer that would accept a return in X # of days.  We have a new REI in town.  That would be the first place I’d check.

[Stephen Seeber]

Hi Luke:

The conditions you describe would seem to support failure of the jacket.  The conditions were cool and you probably weren’t producing a lot of sweat and the jacket should have easily handled the type of rainfall you describe.

As I suggested above, you might hold it up to strong light and look for holes.  You might try wearing it in the shower or I can test the HH at various locations including seams.  Or, you could call Columbia and ask for a replacement.

[Luke Schmidt]

I found a spot delaminating by the hood. The out fabric is sort of flaking off. There is only one such spot visible but I suspect there are other spot where its compromised but not this much. The bond between the layers doesn’t seem strong. Not confidence inspiring at all. I think its back to the drawing board.

[Brad W]

Another example-there are two types of rain jackets-waterproof and breathable, pick one.

 

 

[Anonymous]

Jackets yes, but I made a poncho out of a homemade WPB fabric combo that has worked pretty well in keeping me both cool and dry in all but the most humid and hot weather (and in that case, why wear rain protection?  Just wear some polypropylene fishnet and enjoy the cooling).   The outer layer of same was a low HH silnylon that I needle punctured while folded up, and the inner layer was “kite tyvek” (I forget the specific model label of that type–I “think” maybe 1443R, but it’s hazy at this point).

What the material combo can’t handle as far as passing moisture directly, the mechanical poncho breathability takes care of.   Since it’s a relatively thick coating of silicone, the DWR will last a long while, and the Tyvek (HDPE) is innately DWR level surface energy. The silnylon is tough but light material, which protects the inner and more fragile layer of tyvek.  Since they are sewed together, delamination is not an issue.

Elastic cord at the waist helps with the apparently dreaded “flapping”, that so many here have bemoaned in relation to ponchos (and it’s more fitted than a typical poncho design which helps).  And weight is pretty low–if I remember, it was slightly under 5 oz.  Used it on the CT–worked pretty well, though we were lucky as far as rain while hiking–didn’t get a lot.

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