Waterproof?

The shell on my Marmot down jacket is not water proof.

Can anyone tell me what would be a good rain jacket or shell to buy to wear over it to keep the jacket dry. Preferably with a hood.

I am 6'1" about 210 lbs.with fairly broad shoulders. Sorry for the personal ad.

Lay it on me.

Any decent "hard" shell would work. The Marmot Precip jacket is a common choice, and can often be found on sale for less than $75. If you want to move up in price, you can pick up a Goretex Pac-Lite shell on sale from someplace like Sierra Trading Post for less than $150. Golite, Marmot, Montbell, Patagonia, etc., all make good shells.

What are you going to be doing that requires a down jacket and a shell? I generally don't use them at the same time, if only because if it's raining it's too warm for my down jacket. But depending on your needs, there are other choices we might be able to offer.

If you're out when it's raining, you may want to switch to fleece or wool. I've used both in cold and rainy weather with a Gore-tex mountain parka over them.

I also have an REI Elements rain jacket which is similar to a Precip that I can wear as my shell in wet or dry winter weather over my fleece jacket.

The other thing I wear in cold weather is Capilene long underwear, so I have that, plus the fleece, plus the rain jacket, which is good until I stop, then I'll switch to my down jacket for camp and sitting around in below freezing conditions.

A lot of down jackets, like my TNF Nuptse, aren't made to be worn in rain, but I do have a bigger TNF parka that does have a Gore-tex shell. I'd never be wearing it in rain, however, it's designed for way below zero.

I like down jackets backpacking because they’re the lightest and warmest out there. I use a WM Flight jacket. A wet sticky prolonged snowstorm can soak the Flight shell. I get excellent light weight (5 oz) protection when I put my O2 Rainwear jacket over it. This combination also allows breathing which greatly helps the back and the armpits during backpacking.

Just put your backpack on and off carefully and it should last a while.

-Barry