[at-l] pondering raincoats

[Amy Skowronek]

On May 13, 2008, at 7:46 PM, Ken Bennett wrote:

>
>
> Take the lighter weight one that doesn't work all that well and takes
> longer to dry, or the heavier one that doesn't work all that well and
> dries in a few hours?
>
> When? Where? Temperatures?
>

Last week of May, central VA, your guess is as good as mine.

> On our first summer section, in Georgia in June, we never took our  
> rain shells (Precips) out of our packs. The rain felt good, and a  
> rain shell would have been miserably hot. On our second summer  
> section hike, we ended up taking rain hats and nothing else. Worked  
> okay.
>

Temps could go either way in May, so I don't know if I'd be too hot or  
not in the Precip.  Foo.

> Recently I've tried a silnylon poncho-tarp -- it was much cooler  
> than my Precip jacket, for about the same weight. Had better  
> coverage, too -- kept my pack completely dry.
>
> I have a June section coming up in central Virginia, and I'm trying  
> to make the same decision. I'll probably end up with the poncho,  
> because it has some other versatility, but the rain hat is tempting.
>

I'm thinking maybe poncho too.

> In colder weather, of course, I just use the Precip jacket. Good  
> luck, I feel your pain.
>

At least most of the other decisions are already made.  :)