Thanks
Thanks for the feedback. I have a slightly smaller neck so probably sticking with the latex is best.
As far as the pool. I have gotten wet (never by accident though) and am perfectly fine with self rescue don’t feel the need to practice that. It was in warmer water. I also have lived around boats and water my whole life. First time owning a sea kayak myself and having one on lake michigan. I’m not wanting clothing to hope it will be useful rather to be safe and smart. Safe and smart now has been not going out for the past month or so. However when May comes around I’d like to be able to get back out and not have to wait till the water became ideal as thats only about a 3 month window here in chicago.
Usually it’s OK
I don’t feel restricted by the connection. The only time that it bothers me is when I really have to pee. Then it can be bothersome to separate them in a hurry. If the dry pants had a relief zipper it wouldn’t be a problem at all though.
pretty quick / Wool vs Capilene/Syntheti
Pretty quick 1-2 minutes seated and ready to go at most. Something I did pretty naturally the first time some how.
I fluctuate between 135 and 160 lbs, less in the summer and 5’10". Less than 8% body fat. I’d be pretty cold if I were that woman. I don’t like may apartment temp colder than 70 in tshirt and jeans. … probably answered my own question there haha dry suit and all the wool thermal underneath.
That brings me to another question. I prefer wool over something like patagonia capilene. Would wool be fine under a dry suit?
Bootie shoes?
The booties seems weird from a never using them standpoint although yes cold feet is the worst. What kind of shoes do you wear with them when paddling?
no, it really is not
A find a neo neck gasket will keep me dry in a swim. not “if I get back into my boat fast enough”.
You can thank guideboatguy for obsessing on what each of us meant. But I stand by my opinion on neo neck gaskets - for some they will keep you dry in a swim. But they won’t work for everyone.
no, sorry, see above
I don’t need a qualifier such as “if I get into the boat fast enough”.
Float bags
Wouldn’t go out without the float bags! I also use the sea sock which I find to be key as well. It also has a great side effect of keeping the inside of the skin real nice and clean if you happen to be around sand / dirt / muddy water.
Regular paddling shoes
Or something like the Chota mukluks. Just buy them a bit larger than you would get for warmer weather paddling without a suit with booties.
You bet.
2 piece dry suit
I have used a wide variety of dry tops, dry pants, and dry suits made by several different manufacturers in water temperatures down to around 34-35 degrees.
I have found items from Kokatat, Immersion Research, and Level Six to all be of good quality. I have heard some good things about Bomber Gear and OS Systems, and I know a few people who are loyal to Stolquist but I have not owned any of those products. Don’t know about O’Neil products.
Of these makers I think the quality of Kokatat products is at least a little above the pack. That and their customer support I think justifies the somewhat higher price of their products.
I think a 2 piece suit is a viable option. If you go that route, make certain that your dry pants or bib has an inner tunnel to mate with the inner tunnel of your dry top. Basically, you mate the two tunnels together by folding them repeatedly like the top of most dry bags, then cover the mated tunnels with the outer tunnel of the top. If you do this carefully, I find that very little water will leak through the junction. I wore a Kokatat dry top and bib during a multi-day swift water rescue clinic in which I spent a good deal of time fully immersed in the water, and at the end of each day there was only slight dampness of my fleece bunny suit under the junction.
A dry pant with just a neoprene waistband and no tunnel will allow quite a bit of water to leak in when used with a dry top.
It helps to have someone behind you to help keep the back of the folds smooth and tight as you mate the junction but with practice you can do this by yourself. It does take just a little longer to get suited up than with a one piece suit but not much.
Some people object to the band-like feel of the mated tunnels above their midriff. On the other hand, the two piece suit eliminates the long waterproof zipper which can be kind of stiff. The major advantage of the two piece suit is that the dry top can be used alone. If you have a roll that you are confident in, a dry top is quicker to don and remove, and I find it is often more comfortable to wear in a sit in kayak than a full dry suit.
I have used semi-dry tops with neoprene neck gaskets. I find that a bit of water leaks in during head down immersions but not so much that it would flood the suit to the extent of inducing hypothermia after one or a few capsizes.
If you kayak and use a spray skirt and go with a one-piece dry suit, a spray skirt tunnel is sort of nice but I find it doesn’t really make that much difference. Some water will still leak into the boat around the spray skirt tunnel even when it is covered by the outer tunnel of the dry suit, so I wouldn’t reject a one-piece dry suit just because it lacked a spray skirt cover.
First layer needs to wick
The better the suit the better it wicks. But even with a really good suit, on a cold day, if you are quite actively paddling you are going to have some sweat inside the suit. So the usual recommendation is to either have a thin base layer with good wicking property under your warmer layer, or wear a single layer that wicks very well by itself.
This is another one where everyone is different. What wicks great for one person may turn into a cold sodden mess for someone else. A layer with silk in is awful on me, but worked fine for my husband. Polypro is regarded as having a reliable balance of warmth and wicking quality for a lot of users, so the one-piece long johns for under dry suits usually have a lot of polypro. There are wool blends intended to wick, unfortunately I can’t help there. All wool next to my skin itches so I have tended to go with poly and fleece myself.
Drysuit All The Way Here (Newfoundland)
Our salt water seldom gets above a lethally dangerous temperature, and paddlers here, almost without exception, go with drysuits. My wife and I tried wetsuits first - not nice - still get a cold blast when you hit the water, still lose body heat while submerged (slower loss for sure, but it happens), and if you get back into the boat and there’s wind, the chill factor will be brutal in a wet wetsuit.
Re cost - we used the Kokatat Nova semi-drysuits after we ditched the wetsuits - loved the neo neck seal, minimal leakage. My wife’s suit held up well - mine started leaking thru the booties after a couple of seasons, and the Tropos fabric in mine delaminated after three or four years- carries only a one-year warranty - so I’ve held on to it as a spare…
I ended up getting two used Reed ChuillCheater suits - love the fabric, and the neck gasket - basically a latex gasket with a neo sleeve over it - is tight and comfortable. Both had to go back to Reed (UK) for adjustments and a reseal of the chest seam, but I still have less invested in the two of them than in one Kokatat Goretex suit. With that said, I’m a casual paddler, mostly day runs in sheltered water - if I was into the heavy expedition stuff, I might give the Kokatats serious consideration.
My wife later got a Stohlquist B-Pod - very nice suit, comfortable and sturdy. That cost about 1/3 the price of a good Kokatat. Needed a larger neck gasket - Stohlquist did it free of charge - we just paid one-way postage.
Remember, too, that a drysuit is only as warm as your underlayers - for me in our ocean, that means thermal underwear, a layer of merino wool over that top and bottom, and one or two layers of fleece - got no time at all for being cold!
Re: Clarification
>>You referred to a neoprene neck gasket but I think you meant latex?
Yes, thanks, I meant latex on the gaskets.
Itchy Wool
Even merino? That’s too bad Ms. Celia. It sure is good stuff.
I think
Eckilson’s reference to “booties” means the integrated socks that come with some drysuits (as opposed to ankle gaskets).
They’re really nice because they allow you to wear normal socks under your drysuit (I typically wear thin hiking socks). Then you put on appropriate footwear over the drysuit socks (including paddling “booties”), as you don’t ever want to paddle/walk in the drysuit socks if you can avoid it so as to avoid excess wear.
Shoes = Ankle high
I’ve never found the tall boots with drysuit all that comfortable as it results in lots of fabric jammed in close around the ankles. Besides, you’re in a drysuit. Your dry. Stomp in the water deep as you want and if you have low-ish shoes all the water drains out. Wellies or Mukluks will just be buckets.
Going up one shoe size is advisable to accommodate the extra sockage and not squash the lofting of the warm socks that you’ll wear inside the drysuit bootie.
Shoes that drain, dry out, don’t stink and allow you to run on slime covered ramps (not recommended along with that running with scissors bit) are the Astral Brewers or Rasslers. Want some? I’ve got to find a home for the last of the 2014’s.
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
www.the-river-connection.com
hudsonriverpaddler.org
National Center for Cold Water Safety
Please take a look at this website when considering your choices for paddling in those conditions - http://www.coldwatersafety.org/nccwsRules3.html
Boat Safe!
-Clyde
NRS
Marshall, what sizes of which
need a home?
Duece - sent you an email NM
that’s a good question
I used to wear my drysuit on the great lakes at least through mid July, no matter what. Once my self-rescue ability, judgement of conditions and awareness of changing conditions were honed I started taking liberties for comfort. So after mid June I lose the dry suit unless the air temps are below 65, in which case I use a farmer john and dry top, shorty john and drytop, or just shorty john, depending on water temps.
If conditions permit, I like to swim if the air temps are warm enough, which also gives me more input regarding what i’m wearing or should be wearing.
To me the key is not to think about staying dry, it’s to get some exposure.