I’ve had my dry suit for about 5 years and it’s worth every penny I paid for it. But, I hate getting in and out of the damn thing.
I’ve have a dry suit liner that fit’s snuggly and is effective, but yesterday I went for a paddle and the temps were in the low 30’s, I thought I would use my fleece “body suit” instead of the snug liner. What a difference! Just a nice warm loose fit, easy to get in and out of. Didn’t help trying to get in and out of the dry suit though.
Where did you get
your fleece body suit? Warms me up just reading about it.
Reminds me of something similar
I wonder if anyone here has stumbled upon good-quality long underwear that fits LOOSELY. I don’t know where this idea got started that longjohns must give a person that “can’t wait to get these things off of me” feeling by the end of the day. Try the old-fashioned loose style and you will wonder the same thing. The problem is finding the darned things. I discovered the loose style at a discount outdoor store years ago, and REI carried some really good ones one year only. I asked why they carried such a remarkably good product for only one year, and of course they had no clue.
Walmart - Where Else?
Much as I hate it, I got a one-piece ‘union suit’ there - black polypropylene - nice loose fit, about $20. They seem to bring in some poly underwear every fall - it gets mauled over pretty quickly, but if you hit the timing right, it’s great stuff. Costco also has Paragon two-piece poly in the fall - but not always…
I haunt the thrift stores near me, looking for merino wool sweaters - the finer the better - they can be worn against the skin very comfortably, and a couple of them over poly underwear is about as warm as you can be without bulking up like the Michelin Man…
Ah’ can’t stand waarin’ tight stuff…
no how so de bestest thang fer me be Stohlquist’s fleece “Bunny Suit”. Ah’ cut de knitted wrist cuff’s off too.
http://www.coloradokayak.com/Stohlquist-Bunny-Suit.html
FE
tight entry?
Exit: Are you FULLY unzipping the zipper? My Kokatat Expedition zipper has to be FULLY unzipped in order for me to get out. Even when I leave as little as an inch of zip left it makes it quite a bit harder to exit.
I hate wearing tight stuff too. I think most of the discomfort is due to the man-made material the stuff is made from. I can’t wait to get that crap off my body. Now I only put merino wool next to my skin and it makes all the difference in the world.
Good Timing
– Last Updated: Mar-06-12 5:00 PM EST –
I wore some sweatpants and a cheap base layer top under the suit recently. I was very comfortable. When I shed the suit folks started calling me 'trailer trash' and 'People of Walmart Dot Com'.
Looks wonderful -
the only thing about synthetics I have found after living in them for a week they start to get really rank. Wool on the other hand does not smell and has the advantage of staying warm even when wet. http://www.woolpower.se/en/asp/produkter_1_7382.asp
I had…
…a similar moment once, when two sports paddlers in K1’s with wing paddles were making fun of my budget paddling outfit - mismatched footwear, semi-DYI jacket and DYI Greenland stick. I just asked them how they would being hit on the head with the said stick…
Fleece liner
– Last Updated: Mar-07-12 8:48 AM EST –
I don't remember where I got it, but it has velcro fasteners on the ankle area and the cuffs of the sleeves, also has a double zipper. Comes in handy when nature calls.
I have the Kokatat GMER dry suit.
FE's liner is a good one, but pink is not a good color for him.
Andy
PHEW!!
I was SO hesistant to open up FE’s link. I was worried that there would be a picture of HIM modeling said “Bunny Suit”. Thank goodness it was from the Outfitter’s Website and not a picture of him in his skivvies. Thanks, FE!
PHEW!!
I was SO hesistant to open up FE’s link. I was worried that there would be a picture of HIM modeling said “Bunny Suit”. Thank goodness it was from the Outfitter’s Website and not a picture of him in his skivvies. Thanks, FE!
Kokatat
I kave a Kokatat Polartec fleece bunny suit with velcro on the wrists & ankles.
Keeps me plenty warm when paddling in temps down to the mid- 30’s. Colder than that and I add some lightweight wool long underwear underneath it.
what color are the ears?
Kayak snobs
Don’t you just hate kayak snobs?
Gary
I Dunno About Rubric…
but I think the razzing I got was all in fun.
That’s a DOUBLE PHEW alright!!!
When FatElmo comes out from bunny suit,
it boggles mind and ungoggled eye!
Released Spam err at heart,
doomed our poor Amelia from start!
Unsuitable Elmo knocks even buzzards from sky!
http://tinyurl.com/8323rw7
Stolhquist Bunny Suit
– Last Updated: Mar-08-12 1:23 PM EST –
Feels like your mother just tucked you in bed! Warm & comfy
I have a 1992-vintage…
…Henderson “dive skin,” as it was called then. It is not just the thin Lycra/Nylon type, but a Polartec/Malden Mills short-shear fleece lined model, with the 4-way stretch nylon-blend outer skin remaining smooth. When I purchased it for some diving in Belize, they were all out of a more appropriately fitting large size, so I went with an XL. A couple of extra 1/2" folds were what I had to settle for at the mid-section, but I came to appreciate them when bending down to adjust fin straps.
Sadly, two decades later, it seems via some odd transference that these mid-section folds have made there way up under the “skin” and thusly it is the Henderson which must strain towards commodious appreciations. (My wife refers to this situation as resembling a major letdown at the Lara Croft Produce-N-Scuba School.)
Anyway, my point. Well, I don’t own a drysuit, per say, but on one cold open water paddle I did wear this Henderson suit beneath a Lotus drytop/Stolquist Blackrock drypants ensemble, and both external garments slid quite nicely over/onto it. Addressing personal relief issues was not so good, though, as the dive skin zips up from behind, coccyx to neck. I mention this so that some might consider in their under-drysuit options the Scuba/Diving market for viable choices (as do some here with the drysuit itself). I’ve often found the cycling market, too, with its larger field of practitioners than paddling, and mailorder outlets such as Bike Nashbar, to have affordable options via closeouts in fleece and skin garments/undergarments. I’m sure they must have some fanciful unisuit number, although you may have to appear like a neon-night on the Vegas Strip.