Hi all, I’m an experienced thru hiker tinkering around with my rain system and I’m considering adding a silpoly raincoat to the quiver and was wondering if anyone had experience with this material.
My current system consists of an OR Helium (6oz ish) with ULA Sil nylon rain skirt (3oz ish). If I expect serious rain I’ll upgrade to OR Interstellar (11oz ish). My main hope in the rain is to come out of it with fairly dry undies and tshirt, though that often doesn’t work out.
The big thing about sil poly of course is that it doesn’t breathe. But at home some of my favorite rain gear (for dinking around and easy day hiking) is a full on rubber Grundens top and bibs. Despite not breathing at all and being heavy AF it keeps me very dry. So I’m intrigued by the “not breathable but totally waterproof promise”.
That being said I really question that these things could be waterproof. In my experience whether it be silnylon or even cuben (I used a zpacks cuben skirt on the CDT) anywhere the material touches me it soaks through. Id estimate that within about 10 minutes of rain my knees and outer thighs start getting wet. Given that these are skirts we’re talking about I don’t think it’s a sweat issue. The cuben was maybe a bit better than the silnylon at first, but quickly began to show wear just from being packed and unpacked. If silnylon soaks through just from touching my knees and legs how can I expect it to hold up under pack straps? Maybe silpoly would be a little better but it seems foolish to expect any miracles.
lastly I’ve considered rain ponchos, but most of the time I’m in rain it’s around or below 45 degrees, so having my arms and lower body soak out is not preferable. Plus ponchos require lots of material and thus weigh a lot.
Anyway, I’d appreciate hearing any thoughts you all have. The piece I’m considering is something very light (in the 3oz range) to bring with for something like the Oregon Desert Trail, where it didn’t rain at all except when it was snowing and sleeting.
