Wool & Kokatat Launch Sock
Keep them dry and insulated.
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
Alpaca
Extreme Alpaca Socks
http://americasalpaca.com/product_info.php/products_id/29/page/4
These are pricey but I believe they are worth it. I have an old High School friend that got into Alpaca farming. It pleases me to support his endeavor but they really are warm socks. They are also very cool animals.
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2339124300086525661CiCTME
These are the warmest!
If you have seriously cold feet from past frostbite like I do, finding the warmest sock is key. If you can size your footwear larger to accomodate these, these primaloft insulated socks are fantastic, even wearing a wool sock inside them.
http://www.prolitegear.com/pl_id_hotsocks.html
Chota mukluks plus any wool socks
I’ve found that any wool socks work great, whether smart wool or ragg or whatever. On land I still wear Thorlo socks under my hiking boots, but in a kayak with neoprene mukluks on my feet all day, wool is fabulous because it never feels damp or clammy. Thorlo socks do feel damp in mukluks as the hours go by.
The water where I paddle is now 45 degrees; the air temps might be in the 40s when I go out. One pair of socks and the mukluks seem perfectly adequate to keep my feet warm and dry.
I appreciate it
My husband has already bought me the seal skinz (as a present) so I will be getting them in the mail any day now. I wish I had thought to ask all of you folks first so he would have ordered the muckluck thingys that you all seem to recommend.
I thank you all for the helpful advice on keeping warm. I’m sure I’ll appreciate it even more in a few weeks when on the river.
got it
Let us know how they work out. There’s usually not a single answer that works. Happy paddling.
Wools
I found out the hard way that the scratchy ,nasty wool insulates much better when wet than the nice soft merino and fleece.It seems to hold more air in it’s fibers when saturated.The military surplus forign stuff is good and cheap.I wear it(not just socks)in cold ,but not fridgid water paddles when I just don’t want to wear my drysuit.If you go swimming you will smell like a wet dog and weigh a ton,but are much warmer than without.
Turtle
Kendi, two quick thoughts. The first is
cockpit room. If you have a lot of room around your feet in the cockpit, the Chota Mukluks should work well (I don’t use mine because their is not enough room in my cockpits, anyone want to buy a new pair of 13’s?). The second and more important thought is this. It is important to keep your feet warm, but far more important to keep your core warm. If you are paddling in cold water, please be sure to spend significantly more time thinking about your immersion wear. Cold feet are uncomfortable and cold core is dead. I am sure you have thought of this already, but I would rather mention it than not. Happy Trails! Bill
Got a drysuit already
My valentine present was a Kokotat women’s drysuit (unfortuately no socks attached).
Cockpit room at this point isn’t an issue as I am taking a whitewater rafting guide course starting next month. Last year it snowed during the class and they still spent 9-6pm on the river while it snowed on them.
I have no interest in enjoying hypothermia with my classmates.
Thanks for your concern.
Kendi
latex socks
How about gluing some latex booties on that new drysuit?
My blue socks are always
the warmest.
Get the blue ones.
jim
Best socks
Feet in a drysuit!
question
you have a drysuit with ankle gaskets???
Seal skin or goretex socks will not keep your feet dry for a couple of reasons. Any water that splashes onto the tops of the socks will wick down. If you wear normal height socks in your booties it will be over the ankle gasket, if you step into any water deeper than a few inches,or more realistically mid calf, the water will go down the inside of the sock against the drysuit and ankle gasket. You can’t wear the socks inside the gasket as that will leak inside. So basically if you’re wearing a drysuit with gaskets everything outside the gaskets can get wet when swimming,head,neck,feet and hands.
I’ve had calf length sealskin socks work as long as I wasn’t swimming or stepping into deep water.
Unless you install latex or goretex socks onto your drysuit your feet will get wet when swimming. I’d go for some kind of calf height boot with wool socks and if you’re planning on swimming try two wool socks in your booties (all depends on temps).
thanks!
Well it is disapointing to hear the my new seal skinz probably won’t work. I may call a local place to see if they can put some booties on my drysuit.
installing latex socks is easy
you’d get a LOT more bang for your buck installing latex booties and wearing insulation in them than wearing insulating layers over a bare foot that WILL get immersed.
The Chota like boots are great and WARM but it’s iffy whether they will keep water out when swimming. If you have calf high boots with a cup of water in them they’ll not be as fun to swim in as latex booties with socks inside normal booties.
I’ve found two applications for seal skin that work great,but neither involves swimming/immersion. One is regular height waterproof socks in shoes for cycling where rain pants take the water OUTSIDE and below the cuff or calf high seal skins in hiking boots and the water stays below the cuff.
yeah
so if you’re whitewater rafting your going to be splashing up to your knees and even swimming. Google around on installing latex booties. Sure it’s not as gucci as goretex but it’s something everyone does as latex gaskets don’t last very long anyway. It’s really not any harder than making pancakes or fixing a flat bicycle tire. You don’t want to wear sandals with booties. A friend did that and they tore up in a year.
ok, I’m sold
I’ll contact the nearby shop and ask how much they charge to put some latex socks on my drysuit.
Got some smartwool socks this weekend.
Here’s hoping I’ll have dry warm feet next month!
Don’t waste your money on latex
Latex is an unreliable and primitive product, Try to get gortex socks installed.
Can I get goretex?
I’ve got a tropos fabric drysuit (not goretex). Can they put a goretex sock on it?
sure, why not
it’s just another fabric