just mostly dry?
I tried my new drysuit out in the pool this morning. Since this is my first dry suit, I am not sure how “dry” a dry suit is supposed to be. After just a few minutes, I could feel one of my feet was getting wet. Upon removing the suit, one of my socks was damp–not soaking wet but not dry either. Is this normal? I had worn an old pair of running shoes over the feet so I don’t think that I had poked any holes in the suit. Thanks!
Can be damp from …
persperation, but it doesn’t sound like you were in it very long. You might want to check for leaks.
sounds like a leak
especially since it’s only one sock. My feet stay totally dry even after 7 hour days in the suit. I wear sandals or mukluks or paddling shoes outside the suit.
Did you walk around without shoes on?
Sounds more like a leak, unless you stepped in a wet spot before putting the foot into the bootie?
Also could happen if you walked around in the booties on a rough surface - too fragile for that.
should be totally dry
– Last Updated: Jan-09-08 12:49 PM EST –
Sounds like a bad seam.
The seam tape on my first generation NRS Extreme's booties failed after a few trips, even with always standing on a clean, padded surface when changing. It wasn't dangerous - just annoying, since my socks would get damp within seconds of stepping in the water.
NRS was great about it, acknowledging that they had changed to double taped seams on the socks for version 2 due to just such problems. They sent me a replacement suit with the double sealed socks, and that one has been just fine.
I'm actually curious to see other brands' methods of sealing the foot seams. Seems like that's a weak point in general, since the booties get scrunched up and crammed into tight fitting shoes constantly. I would think the repeated folding would eventually make the seams fail on any suit after hundreds of uses.
zipper?
same thing happened to me the first time I used my suit - but it was because my zipper was about 1mm from being fully closed and a little water snuck in. I hadn’t realized how the zipper felt when fully seated, so didn’t quite get there. After I figured that out, the booties are dry.
Sounds like…
…a bad seam in bootie, or zip not completely closed (have to really watch this) or you accidently stepped on something or maybe there’s something sharp in your shoe. Booties are often a place where leaks occur either on the seams or from sandy/dirty feet abrading the laminate from the inside. Keep 'em clean. Kayaking around sand requires you to really think ahead and figure out ways to keep the suit sand free. Drysuits are great, but the needed attention to detail to keep them working well is often much more than a wetsuit, unfortunately.
more information
does one of your feet tend to perspire more than the other?
No leaks showed up
when I filled each bootie with water and hung the suit up in the garage for several hours so…maybe I did have a wet foot to start with, or an open zipper! I’ll just have to be more observant next time. I hope to try the suit out paddling in the next couple of days. We’ll see how that goes. Thanks again!