Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Kuiu Rain Gear didn't work for me

I just returned from a hunt on the Alaskan Peninsula. We had everything from a drizzle to heavy wind blown rain for eight straight days. It was a great test for rain gear.

I purchased a Kuiu Yukon jacket specifically for this hunt. The jacket was a dismal failure. My bush pilot chuckled when he asked, "Is that your rain jacket?".
"Nope" I replied, "just a jacket I wear in the rain."

The jacket had a seam leak between my shoulder blades and leaked heavily there. That is fixable. The worst part was the fabric just soaked through and my liner jackets were wet in no time. The sleeves were the worst as rain was caught at my elbows as I glassed.

If it had been colder, there could have been a serious safety issue. I'd be returning this jacket to Kuiu if they warrantied their products to work as advertised. At $350, it's a complete ripoff. I would have been just as dry (or just as wet) in a $100 soft shell jacket.

To be fair, I also took a Kuiu Icon 1850 pack and it worked great for me. It's well made with a great frame and suspension. It's a keeper for me.

I hope some others may gain from my dismal experience.

My guide recommended Lacrosse hip waders and Helly Hansen rain gear. It rained every day but the last on my September brown bear hunt. It didn't breathe, but it didn't leak and it wasn't too expensive.

Sitka sucks just as bad, if it makes you feel any better.

I've heard some great reviews about the jacket from some sheep hunters. That being said, if I'm on a multi day hunting or fishing trip up here I am bringing my impertech. That stuff has never let me down. Mine is currently covered in moose blood and a few scales from some silvers. Love the stuff.

That's the standard for guides up here!

Saw u coming, did they?

If it leaks from the inside, it WILL leak from the outside in the conditions you encountered.

Save that "breathable" stuff for a duck blind in light rain..

Yup - Helly, Grunden's; I even have an Icelandic- I think- product called 66�North which has been around for over 15 years and still works well. PVC is the way to go for being out in the rain and wet.

It makes you wonder, dont people wear this stuff before going up there? It rains down here too, and an hour in it would tell you Sitka/Kuiu/Gor-Tex is junk..

I used the Yukon jacket and pants in BC last summer on a sheep hunt and it rained like hell for a week straight. I had just the opposite experience with the Yukon. Kept me warm and dry. Wore it everyday for a week. Never been to the peninsula. My Alaska buddies tell me it's the worst weather in the world.

I think people read all the marketing hype, and then all the advice from the internet forums from people who spent a TON of cash on the gear, but have not worn/used it in a real field setting yet, and get the impression that it's the bee's knees. I know because I bit on that bait a couple years ago and spent a lot of my money on KUIU (and did the same thing with Sitka years earlier)� and I'm woefully disappointed in both. I wore a set of Kuiu Chugach rain gear in Unit 20B outside of Fairbanks last spring on a black bear hunt with my son� worked fine in a very light rain, but once it started coming downward it soaked through VERY fast (as in minutes). If I'd not been wearing all wool underneath it I could have been in trouble, even with temps in the 50's. I'm not a fan of Kuiu or Sitka. My Frogg Toggs work better frankly, but are mostly duct tape now as they tear easily. My next set of rain gear will be PVC, I'll deal with the sweat.

The only thing that worked in a honest to god Costa Rican tropical storm (tarpon fishihng) was rubber/vinyl. ANYTHING else was a soggy mass (but warm). Muddy

Helly and hippers been my go to for many, many years.

they don't make weight for sheep hunts, then I go a different route, Red Ledge top, Frogg Togg bottoms, and a silnylon poncho over that if sitting and glassin in heavy rain. Though it's pretty danged hard to glass in rain and odds are you're in the clouds sheep hunting at elevation.

I use the long coat by Helly and it covers the tops of the hippers when standing, have used full length Helly rain pants over the hippers but don't like the binding and how hard they are to get on over hippers even with the side zips.
Soooo I improvise, I take cheaper type rain pants and make rain shorts out of them. take up less space in the pack, easier to get on and off over the waders and keeps my azz dry when sitting.
They look goofy but they work better for me than full length pants when wearing hippers.

but most of the time I like my azz/crotch area to be uncovered for walking

even prefer rain chaps over rain pants, LL Bean makes some good ones. though they ain't light

Forrest,
That blows - sorry to hear that. Did you try to return it?

I've sent Kuiu a request for a Return Authorization. The warranty information on their website indicates they won't accept a return on a used product just because it doesn't function as advertised. We'll see what happens.

My experience with several Gore-Tex items has been very positive. Simms, Cloudveil, Orvis and Patagonia breathable waders have provided years of superior performance for me. My Simms and Cloudveil wading jackets have provided bombproof performance in conditions similar or even worse than what I just experienced in AK. I have a Marmot Gore-Tex XCR jacket that is my go-to backpacking jacket that has never let me down and it's seen some pretty severe conditions as well. The Kuiu Yukon jacket doesn't hold a candle to these other breathable jackets or waders.

I've got the KUIU Chugach Jacket. I just got back from Alaska and hunted the Togiak refuge right on the beach. It rained most days. I sat out in it for 8 hours of straight rain one day and stayed completely dry. My guide had Goretex and he got wet. I also have used it on numerous all day soakers during spring turkey hunting in the south and I used it on a sheep/moose hunt in the NWT, It worked so well on the NWT hunt that my guide went and bought all KUIU as soon as he got home.

The yukon has the same waterproof membrane as the Chugach so I'm surprised that it didn't work. Sounds like you may have a defective product.

That has not been my experience with the KUIU line up to this point.

Lee

1 defective product could cost one their life. Lucky him he can request a return authorization.

Buddy of mine has the best way of testing I know. He dresses up in his new duds and then gets in the shower. He has found not many high-tech garments hold up. Once dry, he sends them back. He wears Helly-Hansen.

As I've long opined, there is nothing to will truly keep you dry, what you have to do is find something that will keep you warm when wet. I've tried various waterproof breathable garments over the years and they have almost always been a disapointment. The only keep the water out when new and clean, and they have never breathed well enough in high humidity and lower temps. The best way I've found to deal with truly wet conditions is to layer with good wicking underlayers that will keep you warm when you perspire in them (and dry spares to change into), and true pvc rainware as the outer layer.

My kids did get me an Arc'teryx shell that has seemed to live up to being waterproof and somewhat breathable, but I don't know how it would hold up to thrashing through alders and brush so I've just used it for skiing and hiking.

Forrest , I think Kuiu and Sitka, to say nothing of Cabellas, think that hunters are not completely happy unless they are miserably wet and cold. Just like Navy SEAL trainers.

I used Cabelas cheap breathable rain gear that packs into a 4"X3" tiny duffle. I was in a down pour for 30 minutes in the NWT, and stayed dry. I was on a dall sheep hunt.