seems to make perfect sense to me that if water covers the pores the system breathes though that it won't breathe any longer. in my experience, I've never found anything better than goretex for all around performance. even if you do multiple layers, that would either block the breathability (plastic suit), or that layer (another goretex layer) gets wet and causes the same breathing problem. if you find a better option, I'm all ears. I doubt you will though.