Wind shells as rain gear? Does it work and how?

[KRS]

I have been looking over other peoples gear list and have noticed a lot of people are using wind shells as there rain gear. I have a Patagonia hooded Houdini and Montbell Dynamo Wind Pants. How are people using this as rain gear? I understand that most rain gear wets out from the rain and sweat making it about the same as a windshield. Is that the theory of using wind shells instead of rain gear? Im hiking the AT next weekend in VA and was considering giving a try. No worries of cold weather, so no risk of life. Im really interested in the how to do this, if this is a legit way of cutting weight for warmer weather seasons.

[Lester Moore]

Wind shirts work great as a rain jacket – for about 5 minutes. For light sprinkles and mist, they can work much longer, but they wet out far faster than any rain jacket I’ve had, depending on your activity level and DWR condition of the shirt. Wind shirts are well suited to augment an umbrella (or a poncho), where the umbrella (or poncho) is taking the brunt of the rain.

AT experts will have to chime in, but if it’s warm and unlikely to cool off significantly during the day, I just let my pants, sunhat and long sleeve woven shirt get soaked if it rains – they dry very quickly in camp while setting up the tarp, or I change into other clothes to sleep. In shoulder season, high mountains, cool weather, etc, real rain gear becomes much more important to prevent hyperthermia.

[KRS]

Lester thanks for the feed back. I have tried the umbrella thing and it was a love/hate relationship here in the woods of the east, so thats out. I think if I was out west the umbrella would definitely be a part of my kit. I have also used ponchos and once again love/hate. Ponchos vented great but when windy are useless. The wind shell appealed to me because I bring them anyway, well the Houdini not the pants in warm weather. I usually use a cube rain skirt in late spring through early fall. In the deep heat of summer i usually do like you Lester and use nothing. The clothing of today just drys out so fast. I asked the question simply because I was wondering if there was some great technique I was missing out on.

[Bruce Tolley]

+ 1 to “about 5 minutes.”

Kurt comments: “I understand that most rain gear wets out from the rain and sweat making it about the same as a windshield.”

There has been technical discussion of this topic in the past on BPL.  A good Goretex shell might wet out but will still be *relatively* water proof.  The outer DWR treatment might become totally saturated. But the main function of the DWR is to assist the “breathability” of the semipermeable membrane.

See the reference to Alan Dixon’s website and the comments by Greg and others in this thread: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/73911/

[HkNewman]

Even running down a mountain a windshell can “wet out” quickly depending on the downpour.  Now going uphill in a slight drizzle may be a different story … or not.

[Franco Darioli]

I use a light rain jacket as a wind shell….

[Diane Pinkers]

Check out this thread:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/a-good-alternative-to-wpb-gear-for-active-backpacking/#comments

I used a wind shell over a ECWCS layer from Cabela’s, on a completely rainy hike at about 45-50 F.  I was categorically not dry, but that wasn’t the point.  The point was to stay warm during movement, as waterproof/breathable doesn’t keep you dry, due to sweat condensing within the WPB layer.  At the end of my hike, I switched out into dry layers plus fleece and had a warm beverage.  If I had been camping at that point, pitching camp, getting into dry layers, I would have stayed warm, but the next morning I would have been putting on wet, clammy layers, and trying to move fast enough to get warm, which may not have been a viable proposition.  I hike in Washington state, and drying out during the day isn’t always possible.

[John Vance]

Wind pants work for me in the rain as I am more concerned about being warm enough vs wet.  I use a Packa which is waterproof but vents well and covers almost to the knees, so it’s just my legs that are wet.

[Cameron M]

“I use a light rain jacket as a wind shell….”

+1

[arien g]

A wetted out WBP jacket will remain waterproof but lose it’s ability to move internal moisture outside of the jacket (“breathe”) since WBP jackets “breathe” by diffusion which is driven in part by the concentration gradient of water.

A wetted out windshirt will lose its waterproofness, which entirely depends on the DWR. However, windshirts are made of air-permeable material, and “breathe” primarily through convection. They retain some degree of air permeability even when wetted out,  so warm moisture from inside the jacket can still be exchanged with the outside air.

So why use a windshirt as rain gear? If it isn’t raining crazy hard, and if you wear a moisture buffering fleece under the windshirt, you have a good shot at your baselayers and skin staying dry.  A wetted out windshirt may leak, but the fabric doesn’t absorb much moisture nor does the fleece behind it. And even a saturated fleece is reasonably warm and comfortable as long as it is protected from the wind.

And if it isn’t that rainy, or that cool outside, you aren’t going to sweat out your clothing as easily as you might wearing a zero-permeability WBP jacket.

If it is very rainy and cold or windy, and/or if keeping insualtion dry is important, a WPB shell will definitely be more comfortable. But in situations where the weather is less severe and breathability is more important, a windshirt can be the more comfortable choice. In climates where persistently or severely wet weather is very unlikely, it may even make sense to forego a WPB jacket entirely and just take the windshirt. In such climates, using a windshirt as a rain jacket is probably going to be more comfortable than using a rainjacket as a windshirt.

 

[Sean P]

Imo windshirts work fine in blustery intermittent showers but for sustained rain my windshirts fail to block the ingress of cold water.

It is the replacement of the humid microclimate with cold water thst makes a waterproof shell necessary in sustained rain.

[Franco Darioli]

Reading this again it came to mind that a rainproof wind shell is called a rain jacket.

[Graham F]

Walked yesterday for 4 hours in very light rain and very heavy mist, the precipitation was non stop for the whole time, 7C-10C no real wind. The front of my Squamish wetted out pretty much immediately as I walked into the damp mist and constant light rain. I had a short sleeved wool polo Tshirt on underneath, nothing else (thanks Roger Caffin for this idea).No clamminess at all on my bare arms, and until the rain really picked up for half an hour I was bone dry inside the ENTIRE TIME, and then only a few drops made there way thru’ the top of the hood. My hair was otherwise dry the entire time also BUT the outside of the Squamish hood was wetted out nearly the entire time. Popped up the brolly for a about 20 mins then back down and kept walking for 20 kms all up, over 4.5 hours..

The heat from my body did not allow the rain to wet my clothes or skin.  I think the mild heat/warmth under the Squamish radiating from my body dried the water before it reached my clothes body. It was a great little experiment and I had a rain coat just in case but didn’t use it. I believe I read here somewhere perhaps from Richard Nisley(thank you), that this would happen and I set out to find out for myself. Also had on only shorts/Squamish and wool polo Tshirt and Light Rossi Mulga boots(light for leather boots), the Ausies among you will know the Mulgas. For what its worth I had some Vibram soles put on the Mulgas after 3 years and they are much better then new. But I digress. Could not think of a better set up. Wind shell as rain gear, yep. Bye.

[Kevin Babione]

I do most of my backpacking in PA.  I have a Golite Ether windshirt (3 ounces) that I take if we don’t have heavy rain in the forecast.  I was out two weeks ago and the windshirt was perfect as my long sleeves around camp in the evening.

If it looks like we’ll have “real” rain then I bring my custom WPB Cuben Packa.  It has, as mentioned above, huge pit zips and I really like how it keeps my pack from getting wet.

In summary – I recommend looking at the weather forecast and taking rain gear if you’re expecting rain and using the wind shirt if not.  If you get caught in a prolonged downpour in your wind shirt you might become a little uncomfortable but it won’t be life threatening.

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