Ultralight DIY Rain Mitts
Ultralight DIY Rain Mitts: A Cost-Effective, Durable Alternative for Three-Season Hiking
For three-season hiking, rain mitts can be a great way to protect your hands against the elements. They keep your hands dry, and more importantly, warm, in inclement weather.
You can buy rain mitts made from materials like DCF, Silnylon, or other waterproof-breathable (WPB) fabrics. However, many commercially available options are quite expensive, and you have to check to make sure they are seam-taped. Otherwise, you will need to seam-tape them yourself, which can be cumbersome and doesn’t always provide reliable results.
For these reasons, we tend to take DIY ultralight rain mitts on most hiking trips. We find that these strike the right balance between cost, durability, and protection when hiking on established trails, providing an effective alternative to expensive, store-bought mitts
Our DIY ultralight rain mitts
We make our rain mitts using oven bags (also known as turkey bags). These are super cheap ($2.75 for 5 bags), 100% waterproof, and surprisingly durable. We find they are best used on three-season hikes with established trails and on primarily non-technical terrain (when we don’t need to rely heavily on using our hands). The bags are also touchscreen compatible, making it easy to use your phone without removing them.
However, it’s important to note that they are made from plastic so they aren’t breathable. This typically isn’t an issue for us as we generally wear them when it is cold and our hands benefit from the trapped heat. You can also easily vent by briefly removing the mitts.
Step 1
Get a pack of medium-sized Glad Oven Bags and remove 2.
You will also need some thin cord and 2 toggles. Any cord will work, but we like to use 1.6mm diameter shock cord as we find it strikes the right balance between weight and strength.
Step 2
Reinforce the seams with Sellotape. We find that the seams are the weakest part of these rain mitts, as this is where they tend to break and let water in. Reinforcing the seams helps extend the mitts’ lifespan.
Step 3
Add the cord.
- Fold the opening of the bag over by 1-2 cm.
- Run the cord under the lip of the bag and tape the edge down. This requires several small pieces of Sellotape, applied incrementally. Make sure you don’t tape the cord itself, only the plastic. The cord should be free to move inside.
- Just before taping down the entire edge, add your toggle and place it inside the lip. This allows you to cinch the rain mitt closed with one hand. Whilst not essential, we find it makes the mitt more practical and easier to use.
- Close the lip and reinforce it with Sellotape.
Step 4
Apply tape to create a designated space for the thumb. This adds a bit of structure to the mitt.
The final weight of each rain mitt is ~6.51g, bringing the total weight of a pair to ~13g.
Conclusion
Depending on the trip, DIY lightweight rain mitts can be a practical alternative to store bought mitts. For us, this is generally on non-technical trips with maintained hiking trails. Any material that functions like a plastic bag can be used, but we have found that oven bags are the most durable DIY option. Whilst not as durable as commercial alternatives, we have found that these mitts are generally more waterproof and easier to replace.
It is important to recognise that for colder hikes or trips with lots of technical, overgrown terrain, these homemade rain mitts may not be the best choice. Better options include the Showa 282-02 gloves or Black Diamond Waterproof Overmitts, which offer superior protection in more extreme conditions.
