What do you all use on your hands now that it’s cold out? With a greenland paddle? Dishwashing gloves over wool gloves was suggested by someone, but I’ve never tried that. Cheap is a virtue here.
If you do not want to spring
for Nordic Blues, fleece lined neo gloves from Cabelas, Dicks etc for about $20, $10-15 at Walmart but not as warm. You can line with disposable latex exam gloves from a pharmacy for a little more warmth.
Gloves
NRS @ www.nrsweb.com carries a good line of winter gloves.
For backups I keep, in my kayak box, a pair of cotton gloves over which I wear rubber fishermen’s gloves. These are good in a pinch.
Stay safe on the water
I’ve been using
these for a couple of months now and am very happy with them. The outer is all soft grippy rubber, and the inside is thin neoprene. Not sure that they will cut it when the water is in the 30’s yet.
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=10262&memberId=12500226
These also look like some worth trying-
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?memberId=12500226&productId=39189597
neoprene gloves…
I bought some NRS neoprene gloves that work well in 40* F weather. Any colder and I would recommend getting a liner of some sort. I went to a local outfitter to see what they offered to get an idea of what was available.
Glove choices
Nordic Blues are nice and dry, great in extreme cold with liners (wool or polypro). They are a little bulky and quite expensive.
Neoprene gloves work ok, but your hands will get wet. They depend on the thickness of the neoprene and water not flushing thru them to keep you warm. 1mm for this time of year, 3mm for winter (kind of bulky). Reasonably priced.
The option that my brother uses for all but the most extreme conditions is the polypro liner and dishwashing gloves. He puts his gloves on first, then sprays a little 303 on the gloves. This provides some slipperyness for the drysuit gaskets to slide over the glove, so that the wrist gasket is actually sealing over the glove. He prefers this option because this setup is pretty thin and provides good feel on the paddle. It is cheap. When it’s really cold and extreme, he goes to the nordic blues.
I use either 1mm, 3mm Neoprene, or Nordic Blues with my own liners.
Dish washing gloves
I use dishwashing gloves and they work just fine. I only paddle if the air temperature is over 40` and my hands stay warm and dry and I can feel the paddle good. I have heard a lot of good comments about the Nordic Blue gloves. Maybe I’ll get a pair from Santa.
Make Sure It Works…
– Last Updated: Oct-26-05 5:21 AM EST –
whatever is being used. People have different definitions about "cold weather" paddling. Dec and beyond in New England, you have better have effective protection for the hands. Numb hands pose a problem in grapping the skirt loop on a wet exit. Forget about the grip strength to get a skirt back on once re-entered.
This past weekend, surfing in 50 degree water for several hours, I found that my fingers didn't even have the strength or dexterity to pull apart the velcro strap adjustment on my ski. I finally went back to shore and fumbled a good 5 minutes before making the adjustments that would have taken under a minute when my hands are warm.
Inexpensive is good. Have the it work is even better.
sing
Up in Ak and in the Arctic…
we used the dishwashing gloves over light weight polar fleece ones and they worked good
Cheers,
JackL
Mitts
Hi
I’ve only just started using my thin nylon pogies this fall. Later on when the temperature dives I’ll combine with Dakine’s coldwater mitts.
http://www.dakine.com/images/xlg/4400600_xlg.jpg
I find this layered approach with thin pogies and mitts optimal. Gloves offer better dexterity but I find it hard to regain warm fingers once they for some reason have become cold.
Wearing the mitts with no poogies is no good either, as the mitts aren’t waterproof.
Wearing pogies with no gloves/mitts underneath is a problem once remove your hands from the paddle (or capsize).
Pogies or poogies. A google search indicates that both ways of spelling is in use 
/Peter
Polypro glove liners
under neoprene paddling gloves work for me. It is amazing what a difference that little extra layer makes.
check archives
This topic has been discussed numerous times and there is much valuable info in the archive if a search is done.
With all due respect to Brad…
…in my experience, putting anything under the wrist seals of a dry suit is a recipe for leaks. I’ve tried latex gloves and socks under dry suit seals and even when they didn’t bunch up, they still leaked. I’m not sure why, but latex seals work best against the skin. If the gloves bunch at all, you have an obvious path for water intrusion.
Why not just spring for a pair of seals (~$25) and turn these into dry gloves?
Neoprene and dry gloves
A lot depends on the specific air/water temps you’re paddling in how warm your hands tend to stay. One guy I paddle with is comfortable without gloves in 40 degree air/water (I guess he must have some Inuit blood), but my hands get cold pretty easy. Typically, I wear neoprene down to ~50 degrees, then switch over to dry gloves. Although I have Nordic Blues, I don’t use them anymore. I made my own dry gloves using the orange Atlas gloves (#460 or #465) commonly sold by marine suppliers and OS Systems wrist seals. They’re similar to Nordic Blues, which use a thicker Atlas glove, (#490 or #495) but more flexible, providing a better feel and reducing hand fatigue. I use either the stock liners or Smartwool liners, with the cuffs cut off both to make them easier to put on.
For latex gloves being “warm”…
Emphasize “little”.
Polypro instead of cotton…
Polypro instead of cotton will be warm when wet.
You can get these in various thicknesses to suit.
homemade nordic blues over thin liners
and thick liners. these are dry gloves. As you should have some polartec gloves for the thick liners sitting around it should be easy; atlas 495’s fron a mariners store on line, conical gaskets in your wrist size fron OS systems and you are good to go. The thin liners serve to keep your skin dry because your hands will sweat in this rig. Remember if you are going for a ten minutes swim in 40 degree water without a drysuit you might well die. I will take my pamlico out without a drysuit, but not my sea kayak.
Thanks
Thanks for all the ideas, everyone.
Glacier Glove Company
Don’t forget a brand called Glacier Gloves. Try the ones called, I believe, the Recurve with a light fleece liner. They are a glued neoprene curved finger glove. Using a wing or G.P paddle I get about 2-3 years use out of a pair. They grip well, are nicely curved and are warm. And not to bulky too loose feel of the paddle.
Latex warm?
I used to have to sample groundwater quite a lot, and all you can have on your hands to avoid contamination is latex exam gloves. They are worse that nothing at all for warmth.