What do you use? I have a pair of thin neoprene gloves but the grip is awful on my carbon shaft paddle and the gloves really are not nearly warm enough. Looking for another alternative. Never used poggies - any drawbacks with poggies? Any other alternatives? Do fleece lined neoprene gloves work well?
NRS Toaster Mitts
Super warm, good grip, roomy enough for chemical hot paks for on REALLY cold days, water tight. Love mine. Also use Level six neoprene mitts, not quite as roomy due to more of a tapered cut across the finger as opposed to the NRS which has kind of a square cut, a little better grip than NRS and also very warm.
followup question on grip
How good is the grip?
Do you put anything sticky on them to improve the grip?
Pogies help to hang onto the paddle
This is a good thing.
What about wax?
– Last Updated: Nov-01-11 12:51 PM EST –
I see some use neoprene gloves and apply wax to the paddle shaft. Does this work well? Is it difficult to remove the wax from a carbon shaft when the weather turns warm?
Also, what about fleece lined neoprene? Warmer? Any negatives?
Leaning a bit toward gloves not pogies mostly because I also paddle with a canoe paddle quite a bit and I'm thinking I will get more use out of some warm gloves. But, maybe ....
I use toaster mitts
in really cold weather with synthetic glove liners and have little to no problem with the grip and find them comfortable. The glove liners were purchased from Campmor.I use them when the temp is 30-40 and winds up to 15 knots and find they keep my hands warm. Above 40 degrees I use nrs reactor gloves.
Glacier Gloves
– Last Updated: Nov-01-11 3:36 PM EST –
been using them for six years. I just have a personal aversion to pogies.
Glacier gloves are fine if the weather is cold. They are dry gloves. No water gets in.Above 40 degrees for me they are really too warm.
I have full dexterity for finding things. Though its too cold for the camera. It ceases to function well at zero.
Another alternative is to go to your local ice fishing supplier and buy ice fishing gloves.
Pogies work very well
And, you have full finger dexterity for a GPS, camera or whatever. In extreme cold, I wear thin polypro gloves under the pogies.
Never used it
That was a little tongue in cheek, given how pogies work. But I really have no idea how they’d work on a canoe paddle. Our normal winter gloves for kayaking are scuba divers’ dry gloves, though I do have a pair of pogies that have gotten wet. My canoe is an ultralight layup - I’d be hesitant to get it near ice in the winter around here.
Glacier Gloves Kenai All Purpose
– Last Updated: Nov-01-11 4:46 PM EST –
have worked well for me the last three years. Comfortable enough and warm enough for me.
They have great grip on a carbon canoe or kayak paddle.
One of mine does have a small leak in the web, but it's been there a couple years and isn't much of an issue for me.
I've never tried pogies.
Glacier ice-climbing gloves
Rubbery outside, fuzzy inside. Thin neoprene for insulation, with adjustable wrist openings. See my review for details. I like them because they don’t have much of the dreaded neoprene squirm, and they are warm.
I also have a pair of Kokatat pogies, nylon with one face of fleece on the inside. Have only used them a few times because I really don’t like the idea of the protection being stuck on the paddle shaft instead of my hands. But they do cut wind and spray while allowing bare hands on the paddle.
Level Six Mitts and a GP
The shoulder on a GP eliminates any grip issues. The Level Six mitts keep out the cold.
http://www.levelsix.com/store/index.php/producttype/hand-arm-wear/mitts-neoprene-mitts.html
either/both
I don’t tend to use anything on a day like today in the low- to mid-40s. If my body is warm enough my hands do fine in our 50-ish degree fall water temps. Below that I like to use poagies first because even thin gloves impact my finesse with the paddle somewhat. When water is cold enough that I worry about dexterity, I wear NRS maverick gloves, which I was pleased to find are almost totally dry, even at the cuff. When those aren’t warm enough I add poagies.
Putting hands Into/Out
– Last Updated: Nov-01-11 7:33 PM EST –
Chemical reaction slow down in winter
- hence most ""handwarmers"" will work poorly
Squeezing and compressing glove material to get
a decent grip on paddle can fatigue hand muscles.
I've found SnapDrgon HyperHands Pogies
They are made of Hypalon from Dupont
a.) stay open - allowing quick re-entry
b.) keep hands very very warm
c.) last for many years
A similar product is made of neoprene from SnapDragon
http://snapdragondesign.com/products-page/paddle-mitts/hot-hands/
Wildwasser brand Yampa Pogies are comparable
allowing unrestricted hand-to-paddle contact.
They are made from double-sided 4mm Supratex neoprene.
The short cuffs have an internal stiffener
that keeps them open for an easy on-and-off.
Gloves are handy all the time as well
for instant use when on shore, etc.
Nothing applied to glove
To improve the grip on either NRS or Level Six. They both have a stickyish (nice word, eh?) rubber coating on the palm. I think the Level Six is actually better as far as grip is concerned.
Cheap solution
I used fleece lined work gloves with a tacky rubber palm and fingers. They aren’t waterproof by any means, and I always take two pairs of gloves in cold weather. I don’t like bulky or stiff gloves. These are flexible and have a good grip. Not recommending them for sea kayaking. I use them for lake kayaking until freeze up.
mits
i have used gortex mittens w/fleece liners and heat pads taped inside top & bottom good to below 10 drgrees
Level 6
I use the Level 6 mitts, but you’d be well advised to coat the seams with Aquaseal. I don’t know how such excellent warm mitts can have such crappy seams, but they do. I’ve surfed Lake Superior after Christmas in these and my fingers stayed warm. Thumbs might get chilly after a while if its real cold but they can be warmed up quickly by letting them in with the fingers for a minute.
yep
ive had great luck with the fleece lined neoprene gloves that bass pro and cabelas sell for duck hunters. Ive paddled many 20 degree days with them. I even rode my motorcycle all winter with them and they blocked the wind great and my hands were never cold.
I switched to a little more low profile all around glove that i can use for more than kayaking. Its fleece lined, and waterprrof/windproof. ive used them for snowsports/kayaking/cold weather motorcycling for 2 years now. Never get wet hands in snow, and ive been in the rain all day paddling and had dry hands with these. i doubt i could dip my hand in the water and its 100%waterproof, but even wet or damp my hands are still warm.
here is the manufacturers website
http://www.seirus.com/All-Weather-Gloves-Intro
and at REI
http://www.rei.com/product/745947/seirus-all-weather-gloves-mens?cm_mmc=cse_froogle--datafeed--product-_-745947&mr:trackingCode=1F7F4FFE-FB85-DE11-B7F3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA
Pogies
Pogies work very well, but if you flip in frigid water, your bare hands will quickly become useless.
It’s a good idea to sometimes do a wet exit when in cold water, just to see if your clothing choices work as well as you would like them to. One of our guys did a wet exit in ice conditions and found that once he took his hands out of the pogies he was unable to feel the pull tab on his skirt. Now he wears gloves.