I recently purchased a drysuit and I was curious to find out what most folks wear over a drysuit sock.
chota mukluks
I like them because they are flexable and keep your feet warm when worn with a pair of wool socks under the dry suit booties. I also like them in warmer weather to keep your feet dry with dry pants, jeans or shorts. I live in Mn, I wear them alot.
Terry
Depends on your foot size and cockpit
configuration. Chota Mukluks and the clothing combinations as described by the last poster work well for me in two of my kayaks, but my 11EE feet are much happier in my QCC700 wearing Chota Mukluk Lites. Only down side of Chota Mukluk Lites is that they are not as comfotable to walk in as compared to Chota Mukluks.
Any of the neoprene boots/shoes
will work fine. As said before, the key is to find something that fits comfortably in your boat. Not an issue for us open boaters. I usually wear a couple of pairs of wool socks inside, and NRS Descent water shoes outside. The mesh shoes aren’t as warm as neoprene, but they don’t hold water. If its real cold, I’ll put some neoprene socks on inside. Lots of options.
Another consideration
Obviously, fit is critical, but you also need to consider the conditions you’ll use them in. If your launching/landing beaches are all sand, any footwear will work. If you frequently have to deal with rocky shores, you’ll want something with a substantial sole to provide protection for your feet. Also, the water temp is a consideration. Neoprene boots provide insulation for cold temps. If the conditions are milder, some people just wear socks inside the suit and sandals on the outside.
Chota Mukluks
be wat ah’ waar.
FE
Cheap water shoes
Always seemed overkill (belt and suspenders) to me to wear knee high boots with a water proof suit. I just wear water shoes I picked up at the dollar store. There not great for walking around in though because of the thin soles.
I have thinking about buying a cheap pair of canvas tennis shoes. I wear wool socks under the suit so the shoes are just to protect my drysuit and make it comfortable to walk across the rocks.
I agree and it gets tricky
to get that perfect fit in the cockpit and the sole combination for the shore.
Unfortunately for us here the shore during the winter drysuit season requires crampons or an aggressive tread.
I have one of the Chota mukluks that can take a Katoola mini spike device.
Summer drysuit season is far pleasanter…just something that wont get sucked down in mud flats and has a good tread for rockweed.
NRS Rodeo Socks.
I need the room inside the boat, and any shoe with much of a sole creates a problem, even more so in a skin boat. The Rodeo Sock has a thin hard rubber sole that protects your feet/suit from cuts. I wear a heavy sock inside the suit if it has dry boots and a neoprene sock if no dry boots. Bill
fleece sock then bootie
I wear a thick fleece sock over my dry suit sock. It means I have to buy bigger booties, and my feet don’t always fit in low volume kayaks but it is worth it. The trade off being - sand, pebbles, etc get in your booties and rub against your dry suit sock. It is possible for the pebbles to rub small holes in the dry suit sock leaving you with a damp suit. The fleece sock provides a bit of cushion.
I just picked up
a pair of Hodgman wading shoes at Wal Mart. My $70 NRS ATB’s have started leaking, so I was looking for an inexpensive alternative for colder weather. They are very similar to the rubber soled neoprene booties that you see from Warmers and the like, but the sole is a bit thicker and the rubber covers more of the foot. On our January overnight paddle trip two weeks ago, they were toasty down into the 20’s with a good pair of wool socks. I wear a 12 and have no problem wearing them in my kayak. Best of all, they were less than $30.
I wear Chota side-zip neoprene
booties with felt sole inserts, when I am paddling my open boats. For decked boats, I have to wear thin neoprene socks with slightly reinforced soles, or I would risk drowing if I had to wet exit and couldn’t extract my big feet from a c-1 or kayak. I have found that careful stepping will keep such neoprene socks in one piece for quite a while. If I had to manage long portages, etc,. I would take along my old ALPS sandals to protect the drysuit booties.
Good advice so far
for kayaking.
For canoeing (WW) I have been using Chota Quetico SHoes. For warmer climes I ditch the drysuit and use their Brookie Socks.
Jim