DWR is a joke. Never buy a shell that depends on DWR.

Your event shell is likely damaged if water is passing through the membrane. It’s supposed to have a hydrostatic head of 20-30 thousand when new.

Is this poster wrong then?

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/should-i-give-up-on-my-event-jacket-worth-to-dwr/#post-3458682

Eric Chan:

event can leak if the DWR is gone and its contaminated with oils/dirt … which is why it needs to be washed and the DWR refreshed more than gore

gore 3 layer wont leak period if the DWR is gone (or it shouldnt) … which is why you get gore for “waterproofness”

The poster is talking about the membrane being contaminated with dirt and oils. In that case you need to wash it well. He did not claim that a new, clean jacket will leak if the dwr fails. If the jacket is new and clean, even if the face fabric has soaked up water, it should not leak. I assume that the event membrane in your jacket has been damaged from daily use as a wind shell. I recommend mailing it overseas to REI as a warranty claim and using the store credit to purchase a goretex jacket.

Rei warranty is only a year now.

DWR does suck but every WP/B relies on it except Colombia Outdry which is heavy and not very breathable and Gore Tex Permanent Beading Surface – only available on two jackets and not very durable.  They claim it’s not durable enough for backpacking though a few here have had good experiences with it.

All other GOre Tex jackets require a DWR to work properly including all of their 3 layer jackets that I am aware of.

I had an eVent jacket that failed after a while.  The membrane degrades.  Re-doing the DWR helped a little?  I now use it for gardening.  I think that eVent is more likely to fail like this.

I think there are two opinions about WPB – some people swear by it, some people swear at it.

I find WPB to be quite effective even though if it rains all day and I am exerting myself, I’ll eventually get wet.  If it stops it’ll dry out after a while.  After a few trips of the DWR gradually getting worse, I’ll wash it and re-apply DWR like you did.  Mostly, I don’t wear too much or I’ll start sweating.  And when I do get wet, there’s not too much to have to dry out.

I swear at it, but I am yet to find anything that works better.

The dirty secret of WPB fabrics is that they are not all that durable. They delaminate and deteriorate in precisely the key areas you need them most, because that is where they get the most wear. Neck, shoulders, knees and butt are the first places to go in a WPB garment, forget the short longevity of WPB boots which get flexed for miles on end.

In your other thread you mention owning your WPB eVent jacket for two years, and if you’re anything like most people you wore it a lot. eVent is not very sturdy stuff, intentionally to enhance its breathability, and combined with the membrane being easily fouled by body oils and sweat, it’s no wonder that it has a poor reputation for longevity of waterproofing.

I guarantee I’ve put far fewer miles on my eVent pants before determining that they were worn out — at least they were hard miles!

There’s something to be said for Gore-Tex: after two or three heavy years of use my Pro-Shell jacket started to bubble and delaminate at the neck, and their partner manufacturer sent me a brand new one with the only question being what color and size I’d like my new jacket to be. This is their “Guaranteed to Keep You Dry” warranty being put to good use – Gore or their partners will always exchange a product with membrane failure… even though you’ll likely sweat out before you wet out.

That said, the brand requirements for any Gore-Tex product really put them through the wringer, so you are guaranteed a much longer service life before warranty repair or replacement :)

Mr. bearbreeder is probably going to chime in soon, so I’d like to beat him to the punch: buy your next waterproof garment from a company with a no-questions guarantee, like Outdoor Research or LL Bean.

There’s a good shot that your old REI jacket was born before the recent 1-year warranty switcharoo — customer service has been known to give credit back for merchandise purchased under that guarantee.

“They delaminate and deteriorate in precisely the key areas you need them most, because that is where they get the most wear. Neck, shoulders,…”

Yeah, that’s what happened to me

I make my own.

I have a liner at the shoulder and hood.  Of Supplex but that isn’t necessarily the best to use.

Then I sew on the WPB fabric about an inch bigger all the way around.  Then there’s a bit of an air gap between the liner and the laminate.  Less physical wear.  Less body oil transmission.  And the air gap allows the laminate to work a little better – even if there’s a bit of moisture on the inside surface, there is maximal opportunity for it to eventually evaporate out.

I have a Showers Pass rain jacket that has some type of durable patch at the shoulders. Seems like a good idea.