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in my quest to get lighter and less complicated with my gear. I was considering a rain wrap from ULA. I was thinking this would also help me with my quest to hike in the rain and not be wetter inside my rain gear than outside. in otherwords, I sweat like crazy so I thought the rain wrap would be more airy. Would someone using this kind of rain gear also use a poncho? any thoughts on this?
Restlesss
See this current thread for discussion:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=#post1205118
Specifically about using with a poncho, I don't think that would be necessary. The Rain Wrap is equivalent to a poncho for your lower half. Most folks would use it with a Rain Jacket of some sort. In my case, I use a very lightweight sylnylon jacket.
I have a rain wrap by Moonbow. It is really like a kilt. I like it and use it when I do laundry. Top half of me gets the Antigravity gear silnylon rain jacket when it is cool. For hot weather hiking if I plan on keeping going no matter the weather to make a shuttle or meet a ride then it's a Packa and let my legs get wet. I do carry a set of sil chaps for if I get cold but they are hardly used. The Packa goes low enough that I don't mind my knees and below that getting wet. I can vent the Packa real well so I don't get the condensation like with a jacket. It is bearable any way due to the pit zips and the Packa isn't trapping heat. Once you go Packa you won't go backa! But yes to answer the question yes a wrap is more airy.
I just ordered the ULA pack cover for my Circuit I believe it is the same material as the wrap does anyone know how well it keeps water off or after alot of rain does it absorb the water.
The sylnylon doesn't absorb water. The pack cover does a decent job of keeping MOST of the water off of your pack. You cannot, however, trust it to keep everything protected. You still need to pack sleeping bag, dry clothes, electronics, etc in plastic bags. A rain cover is one piece of the barrier against wet gear, not your entire system.
A weak point in the new, modern, lightweight design of pack covers is that in heavy rain, they tend to collect water in the bottom. You need to periodically empty them. A PITA!. The old, formed pack covers like Kelty used to make for their frame packs, which were open on the bottom, did not have this problem. I plan to eventually put a couple of grommet holes in the bottom to allow drainage, but have never gotten around to it yet.
I had this problem in the 40-minute downpour (which moderated to heavy rain for another half hour) on the LT, about 7 miles N of Sherbourne Pass on July 6 this summer. The ULA medium raincover over my Catalyst kept collecting water at the bottom seemingly by the gallon (and I kept on trying to empty it). However, I did not have this problem early on the trip when I hiked for nearly the whole day in moderate rain on average (it was light sometimes, on the heavy side at other times).Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyle
Check out Watermonkey.net or his youtube videos. Water Monkey just got a ULA wrap and has a video about it, good info. I hike in a kilt so I think I'm going to try one out also.
Good point I may do put the grommets in the bottom of mine when it gets here thanks for the tip. I do pack my stuff in plastic but thought I would add a pack cover to slow down the impact of water in the pack.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lyle
Thanks for the shout out!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Traildog & Tbone
I actually posted the video on the other thread the OP started on the ULA Rain Wrap.
Just a note on this my gregory pack cover has holes already in the bottom to prevent this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ladytrekker