Luke’s Ultralight Gore-Tex Limited Edition Shell

When I was growing up, I was always at the front or back of the line in
school when headed out for recess.  When
picking sports teams, especially basketball, I was always picked first.  When someone needed help moving, I was always
reluctantly volunteered.  When it came to
family photos, I was always in the middle/back. 
When ordering airline seats, I always look for an emergency exit or front
row.  When renting cars, “compact” has
never been an option.  When shopping for
clothes, anything trendy was meant for the rest of the world.  My mother in-law constantly asks me to dust
on top of her refrigerator.  People often
feel uncomfortable when I stand too close to them in elevators, buses or trains.  Ceiling fan stores make me feel uneasy.

Being a big person in a medium-world is a bit of a challenge.  Manufacturers of, well, most anything plan
their products by the rule of averages to appeal to the masses.  For that reason, most of life doesn’t quite
fit me.  Backpacking is no different.  Most everything I own for backpacking is
either custom-made or fits to the degree of “barely” or “uncomfortably”.

I’ve been looking for a lightweight rain jacket for, I kid you not,
about 8 years.  I feel like I’ve tried
just about everything and spent a bundle on expensive fabric and imports from
all around the world.  I have a closet
full of stuff that has been relegated to “around town” apparel and a bank
account drained from return shipping costs.

I heard of Lukesultralight a few months ago from some forum
chatter.  As more companies move towards
gear for lightweight backpacking, I’ve recently noticed quite a few more small
cottage manufacturers popping up than in past years.  The problem is that not all are quality.  I made the mistake of ordering essentially
garage junk many times over the last 10 years from well-intended cottage
manufacturers and my maturing attitude (and stuffed gear closet) has only
recently caused me to be a little more careful with my purchases.  I’m pleased to say quite clear that
Lukesultralight is a quality shop.

I already own shells constructed of multi-layered Pac-Lite, eVent,
various silicon-impregnated nylons, micro porous Dri-Duck materials, DWR coated
options, and just about every house-brand proprietary waterproof fabric you can
think of to include WPB Cuben fiber made by Zpacks.  Without offending anyone, none of these were
significantly any better than others. 
Sure some were cheaper, some were more durable, some were lighter, some
packed smaller, some were sized better, etc., but all merely made me hot and
sweaty, most were clingy and uncomfortable to wear, and most were far more
expensive than I liked.

What Luke is selling is an ultra-simple hooded lightweight Pac-lite
fabric with waterproof zippers, elasticized cuffs, and adjustable waist cinch
and optional pit-zips.  Seam taping is an
extra $15.  It also comes with a nice
stuff sack made of the same material.  In
medium without frills, the jacket comes in at 7.2 oz.  mine was a shade over 10 which is entirely
fine by me as my Dri-Ducks is over 8, fits poorly and has nearly zero
durability.

I ordered my shell via e-mail with direct conversations with Luke.  I knew exactly what I wanted, to include
dimensions, as I’ve played this game before. 
I knew what I needed even though typically what I requested from other
custom manufacturers wasn’t always what I received.  Luke was quick to respond, clear in his
communications, excessively polite, easy to work with and left me with the
impression of – this guy gets it.

Most custom gear I order generally takes 6 weeks or more.  In fact, I’d argue that 6 weeks is probably
on the early side as I’ve waited up to 4 months for other gear before and most
things are somewhere in the middle.  Luke
wrote me an e-mail within a little over a week to say that the jacket was ready
to ship.  A few hours later, I got
another e-mail apologizing saying that he didn’t feel the jacket he made
entirely met my specs after measuring it and didn’t feel comfortable sending me
a product that wasn’t exactly what I wanted. 
After a little more than a week, I received another notice of shipping
and a few days later the package arrived. 
Luke even mentioned he was going to send me a free cuben stuff stack for
my inconvenience, even though I felt no inconvenience and was merely happy that
he cared enough about his product to ensure that I was completely happy.

In the package was an excessively neat and small pouch with my jacket
inside.  As an experienced backpacker
familiar with how small all of my clothing packs, this jacket easily packed
smaller than any other shell I had.  It
was also very light in my hand.  I
immediately felt like my purchase was going to be worthwhile when I noticed how
well the stuff sack was made and it even included a little mitten hook at the
end of the cinch which is a nice touch and helps it become a multi-use
item.  Stitching was clean and there was
even a little eyelet for the stuff sack cord to ensure the fabric wasn’t
damaged while adjusting which is a step 99.9% of other cottage manufacturers
don’t take.

 

This shell was already just fine in design as-is and needed only
tweaking for big-boy size and a drop tail which I desired.  It layers excessively well with cold weather
gear or hangs loosely in the warmer months which is entirely what I wanted.  For options, I elected for armpit zippers and
taped seams.  Naturally, as my trail name
sake suggests, I went with moss green.  After
putting it on, despite it being fairly warm, I immediately felt like it was
breathing.  After ensuring the armpit
cuffs, waist cinch and wrist cinches were open along with the collar, it felt
just fine to me and better than most every other option in my gear closet.