I have seen something called rain chaps.You can put on your poncho and then the chaps remaining fairly dry.I feel the chaps would offer better venting.I plan on getting a pair to go with my GI issue poncho. The versatility of a poncho ranks up there with a bandana.The military issued Gortex suits and now issues a small tarp to take the ponchos place. The poncho is a multi tasker (thank you Alton Brown).A rain suit is just a rain suit....

BOATMAN
John

About a decade ago I paid for a couple pairs of Walls rain suits for me and the wife. They felt kinda like nylon, and they worked really well up at the fishing hole in early spring, or out on the trail, or riding the bike. well fitting, reasonably quiet, light yet durable. I still have my pair. The wife gave hers away. Then we moved up here to Alaska and she needed some more, so I bought her some tyvek like frog togs as Costco and she wore them a couple times and then gave them away. Not that she didn't like them. She just didn't use them and wanted room in the closet for her other things. I bought her a $5 umbrella a few months ago so when it rains and she has to go out in it she can stay a little dry if she wants.

Meanwhile, the Walls still fit. I bought an Eddie Bauer rain shell a few years ago when I was in Portland OR and needed something quick. It was on sale and fit well and looked good. I still wear it as an over coat once in a while. I also have a London Fog raincoat for more formal wear that I've had for 20+ years. It looks good, is slightly insulated with a zip-out wool liner, and works just fine. When we go out somewhere nice and I get dressed up, if it is cold and wet I will wear that.

At least the kid appreciates good rain gear, although now that she's down in Tucson, she doesn't need it so much. Well, maybe lately moreso.

hikermor, we've gone to nearly 100% non-cotton for our outdoor activities, we have lots of the under-armor type base layers, synthetic undies, and fleece tops. We'll also have our boy scout and other synthetic shorts to wear. I'm hoping the april weather will cooperate, if it doesn't we'll both have to rely on our 60/40 ripstop blend pants (i.e. if it's too cold for shorts). Not optimal, but best we've come up with so far (don't ask about the removable leg portion of the boy scout shorts, lets just say DW is NOT the seamstress she thought she was lol)

awesome, thanks treeseeker, sorry I missed your informative post there

Thanks for the info leigh, but I do have a couple of questions about that:

1) Doesn't a poncho need to be made a certain way to be used as a shelter? This is really not an issue here as my shelter will be provided via a hammock and rain fly but was just curious.

2) I think someone mentioned somewhere that if a poncho is used as a groundsheet, and then needs to be used as rain gear there might be an issue with mud and such on the poncho? I can't recall if it affected the poncho performance or if was just the inconvenience of having to wear muddy rain gear. Yeah, I know what harm is there from a little mud here or there right? But at any rate, I have a 5 by 7 tarp to use as ground cloth anyway, it's fairly lightweight and packs down nice and small too. Still, If I could leave it out and replace it with the poncho ... hmmmm. The main use I have for this item is to have a spot under the hammock where i can place my gear and take off my shoes, and also cover up said items in the event it rains.

I'd really like to know more about this

thanks boatman, I'll have to look into the rain chaps, any links you could share?

Thanks for the info ben, I carry an umbrella during the week, I have to park down the street and walk to the office, so in the mornings I have the umbrella in the truck for the walk to the office, and can use it and stay dry if it's raining. I carry it to the office even if it's not raining, in case it's raining when I leave the office and I can use it to stay dry on the walk back to the truck.

Unfortunately I doubt the umbrella would be as convenient or useful on the trail lol

If a poncho has grommets or tie strings at the corners and maybe at a few spots along the edges, it will make a perfectly fine shelter. For many years as a starving student, i backpacked with a standard GI poncho as my shelter and it worked just fine, being in many ways more versatile (and cheaper) than a tent. Do carry assorted lengths of cordage and learn your knots.

It is always a good idea to keep the poncho clean and these days including a thin painter's tarp or thin space blanket solves that problem. In order to avoid pcking around excess dirt, I will use a space blanket groundsheet beneath a tent, as well. They have been surprisingly durable.

I use my ponchos for shelters and love the convenience of that. (It took a little while to get used to not sleeping in a tent and now I have a hard time the other way around. LOL!) Grommets are great, and better quality ponchos seem to have more (and better) of them, but you can do without. Just use a rock as a button, and loop your tie-out around it. Works great on blown-out grommets too! As hikermor says, bring cordage and know your knots!