Rain skirts

[Peak]

I've been looking at rain skirts recently and wandered if anyone on here has any experience of them, if so, which would you recommend.

[Stube]

Gunwharfman is a fan of rainskirts and posts most days.

[jimbob]

My wife whipped one up for me. I'm 6'3" with a waistline to match so none of the "reasonably"  priced ones fit me. She made it out of 2oz ripstop which had a thread of curtain weights on the bottom hem. She used velcro fastenings on the waist band and half way down.  I then dipped it in Fabsil gold. It is actually extremely small when stuffed into my jacket pocket or under my water bottle in the rucksack pocket.
It is so easy to put on and take off. And to cap it all is extremely waterproof, like GWM found out, it needs to be worn with gaiters, but I usually wear them anyway.

[archaeoroutes]

I can see there may be some use in lowland areas with little to no wind and no need to step up or down.
All my attempts to imagine using them in the mountains end in some sort of disaster.

[gunwharfman]

I used a rain skirt for a few years now, I started to use them because I really dislike waterproof trousers. I bought my first one, then lost it and after that, I had them made by my wife's friend, I used Silnylon and then a couple of heavier-weight materials. My latest one is from Amazon, cost me £10 and in some ways is the best one, the design is not just a rectangle of material, its shaped, less at the top more at the hem. The only problem for me is the colour, pale blue!

Like all things it has a disadvantage, it can blow around easily in the wind so my knees were often wet, but once I fitted weights (bought from Hobbycraft, ladies sew them in to keep skirts from blowing up) the problem is more or less solved. I use the same type of weights around the hem of my poncho.

The best things about a rain skirt are (as already stated) it can be put on and taken off in an instant, you don't have to stop walking either, it weighs next to nothing and is tiny in volume to pack in a rucksack or to keep in one's pocket.

Definitely, one of my better buys!

[Peak]

Thanks all for the feedback, will have a look again at Amazon. Would it be possible to dye the pale blue skirt?

[ninthace]

Thanks all for the feedback, will have a look again at Amazon. Would it be possible to dye the pale blue skirt?

I would have thought that may depend of the dye being used, the material of the skirt and any treatment the fabric has already been coated with.

[gunwharfman]

There may be other colours available but there wasn't when I bought mine.

[jimbob]

Archeoroutes you are right. I wouldn't use mine if I had to scramble up anywhere.
But it is good everywhere else.