I’m looking for a long sleeve rash guard. I have an old (4 years) Kokotat but it appears they stopped making them or stopped making them larger than Large. I need XXL at least for my arm length and chest. I tried NRS and even their XXL is way too tight. I know, I know…they’re suppose to fit close to the skin but I don’t like feeling like I’m inside a sausage casing!
There must be other brands I’m just not aware of.
Check out surfing gear. These are a few well known surf brands you might check Billabong, Rip Curl, O’Neill, and Hurly.
This might also work.
Patagonia Men’s Long-Sleeved P-6 Logo Responsibili-Tee®
I had the same problem with one from NRS. My wife had to help pull it off. I couldn’t breathe.
Surfing wetsuit and rash guard sizes are based on a fit XXL 20 year old male with < 8% body fat.
Sounds like you need an XXXL , I wear a large mens shirt but buy XL wetsuits and sometimes XXL rashguards.
I’ve used ‘Coolibar’ shirts for many years.
They call it a ‘rash guard’, but it’s not ‘tight’ on the body (not loose - but just right).
Kind of expensive, but they last (I’m still using one from many years ago - quite faded by the sun).
The body-posititive company Waterlust makes a range of great water wear. I have been considering one of their long sleeved tank suits. They have the most generous size range in most womens’ and men’s sizes I have ever seen and they support environmental causes that advocate for endangered marine animals. Their men’s 3XL goes fits up to a 53" chest and 49" waist. (Note that they call 3XL, Three - Extra-Legendary.)
They even use more normal people, including quite Reubenesque female models, in their catalog listings. The prints are mostly based on the skin patterns of the critters whose conservation they support (they do have plain pale blue if you don’t want to look like a whale shark or lionfish) . Not as thick as the Kokatat or NRS (I have both and also find that they run pretty small).
make sure they have flat seams whatever you buy . I went out with Russell Athletic shirt once and could hardly make it home. It was a bit loose and seams destroyed under my arms. It was like someone dropped a 1" Manila anchor rope with a 100 lb. anchor under my arm. it took a long time to heal up. Rather be in a sausage grinding machine than have that happen again. When i finally realized what was happening I was just starting to come home. Every stroke was torture 
Be careful what you wish for.
I wear loose wicking shirts in the heat. Never gotten burned and they dry quickly. They tend to stink after a few hours.
The Waterlust looks nice, though I’m not a big fan of hoods, since I always wear a hat. I really want a second Kokotat rash guard but it looks like they are letting the product sunset. A shame, it fits perfectly.
I’m going to check the local Dicks and REI and see what they have.
call or email kokatat
The agony you described (ouch!} can often be eased by turning the shirt inside out. I know what you mean, though. The common construction of using nylon thread with an overcast serger stitch on seams, even flat ones, is like lining a garment with nasty narrow strips of sandpaper.
I’ve always found NRS to run ridiculously small as well. I have several of their shirts, but they are Men’s XLs and are comfortably loose but not huge. I have a lightweight hooded sweatshirt that is my favorite shirt but tried all of the women’s up to XL and they were super tight. Ended up in a Men’s medium.
I second the Waterlust shirts, although you are correct in that they do not currently make a sun shirt with no hood. Can’t hurt to send them a suggestion - they just might take it!
I use a Stearns Canadian Coast Guard approved Rescue jacket 26 pounds of flotation, and when I paddle US rivers, (My usual) I carry a US Coast Guard approved as my spare.
The Stearns can be had in an XXXL Lotsa arm room. Not constricting unless I snug down on everything.
My 'rash guard ’ is a white dress shirt I get a nice big size cotton or polyester/cotton, 19 or 20 inch neck, 38/39 sleeves, and tall. If I have difficulty finding a new one, Walmart and an XXXL The sleeves are short, but it works fine. Light blue and broadcloth works well also. A 2 or 3 week trip they get a little nasty, if they don’t wash, I throw them away.
I always, wear long sleeves and long pants , and even then I sometimes get huge sunburns. And exposed ankle 3 weeks ago, a 3 X5 inch 2nd degree blister from the sun. (Utah, 105 to 110F )
No surprise that you get burned: woven shirt fabric has 0 UPF protection, especially when wet. Columbia makes a lot of sun protective shirts for reasonable prices and I know they make large sizes up to 6XL (for a 58" chest.) A guy I used to work with was a 4XL and I directed him to their outlet store and he got several for fishing.
Right now this source has several colors on sale and you could get a 6XL long sleeved UPF 50 multi-pocket shirt for only $29.00. Probably outlast several of those cotton dress shirts and keep you from getting fried. I have several of the women’s version of this shirt and it does work, keeps me cool and unburnt.
https://www.columbia.com/p/mens-pfg-bahama-ii-long-sleeve-shirt---big-FS7048.html
They’ve got the rash guard type knit ones, too, also UPF 50 and up to size 6XL.
https://www.columbia.com/p/mens-pfg-terminal-tackle-shirt-big-1388262.html
Bobonli – I was looking for some deals on Columbia outdoor wear for myself and checked the men’s styles while on the site – found that their men’s sizes go up to 6XL and they have some colors of long sleeved rash guard type shirts in a few of those “big” range sizes on clearance. This is at the Columbia.com site.
https://www.columbia.com/p/mens-pfg-terminal-tackle-shirt-big-1388262.html
No. From experience I respectfully disagree. The burn was between my jeans and the top of my shoes. I mentioned it to demonstrate how strong the sun was. The shirts have always protected me. The UPF of a good dress shirt is at least 50. Been using dress shirts on weeks long canoe trips for 60 years. They work fine and can be had at Salvation Army, because after wearing the same shirt for 10 or 20 days you are almost never going to be able to wash it well enough. There is an odd one, I have some custom monogrammed shirts, bought them for a buck or two each, great shirts and they wash. That is amazing. ALL of the fisherman’s shirts, are tight on me, same complaint as the original thread. And I don’t like the feel. Not a plastic sort of guy. Cold weather trips, cotton next to the skin, wool for the second layer, and a dress shirt for a wind shirt. I have had western canoe trips where dragging the canoe across the ice on the reservoir was needed.
I can’t argue with experience.
In fact, now that I think about it, my boyfriend, Jay, during my mid 20’s was a rugged outdoorsman (early graduate of Paul Petzold’s National Outdoor Leadership School, and used to do an annual New Years Eve winter ascent of the Grand Teton with Petzold himself where they would dig a snow cave and polish off a bottle of gin before bivouaking for the night.) Jay was a big aficionado of wool too (a choice I share for cold weather clothing – I scavenge thrift and Army-Navy stores for vintage military surplus wool duds).
Jay was also a maniacal world class extreme rock climber whose outfit of choice for such adventures was old painters pants and, always, a Brooks Brothers button down dress shirt like what you describe. This was back when most rock jocks were decking themselves out in day glo prints of spandex tights and high tech synthetic duds. One of his reasons for the shirt choice was that it was easier to tear away the woven cotton if your shirt got caught in your rope and hardware in dicey conditions – a knit or synthetic could jam and be unable to remove. And it must have also (as you report) protected his blonde Nordic “raw turkey” pale skin from burning because I don’t ever recall him coming home fried.
In fact I have this old photo of him back in his prime – he was a mechanical engineer by trade and one of his best friends was an electrical engineer who ended up working for this test equipment company and evidently used an old photo of Jay climbing as a mockup for this ad. In this shot he’s doing direct aid on an overhanging face of 867’ high Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. I did a double take when I saw this brochure at a trade show but knew it was him, not just from recognizing the face and wild hair and beard and the bright blue suede climbing boots and that bright orange and blue haul bag that I sewed for him – the clincher that it was not a doppelganger was the Brooks Brothers shirt. Not to mention he’s the only climber I’ve ever known who would have been that visibly ecstatic about doing a heinous direct aid route hundreds of feet above the ground.
Wow !! Jay is way past me. I climbed/hiked in the Tetons in the summer, casual, but New Years ?? I have hiked around Devils Tower, never tried to climb, , again, winter? Wow ! Same choice in layers and clothing, skiing, I never owned a parka.
Laughing, this year it seems to be withstanding heat. I went from 2 weeks on the Green River, highs above 100 each day, to southern Arizona where it has been between 105 and 120 each day.
Desolation/ Gray ???
I forgot to add, he and his rope partner spent a night bivouacked on a small ice cliff just below the summit of Mt. Aconcagua in the Andes (tallest peak in the Western Hemisphere) on an expedition in 1976 and he eventually lost all ten of his toes to frostbite (I visited him in the hospital every day during that 3 month ordeal as tge digits shrivelled and dropped off). Not only did he recuperate completely but he claimed having his formerly size 11 feet trimmed a couple of inches made him a better rock climber as it put him closer to the face on steep narrow footholds. He went back to extreme climbing and another of his loves, competition alpine slalom skiing. That Devils Tower climb was only 3 years after the toes loss. And he was thrilled to find his favorite pair of vintage cowboy boots now fit without pinching. No more flip-flops, though……
I came close to marrying him (unlike his previous girlfriends, I understood and supported his adventures) and moving out to Idaho with him, where he eventually started a hydrothermal energy company. But we had drifted apart after a couple of years, mostly because he had trouble relating to women (me included) as intellectual equals or friends and peers. He valued his male friends over any female partner and clearly wanted an obedient Earth Mother wife who would stay home and handle everything while he played. Sweet guy, but childish in many ways back then.
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Hello Willow, I think I would like you. My taste in a partner, she would be smarter than myself, and willing to win or lose the discussion with a smile on her face. I love being out in the back country, quiet, serene, and that often includes the white water, but mostly I seem to like the lay over days just as much. A ‘good’ paperback book or two,
Where in the United States or Canada do you call home? I am headed from Arizona to Michigan in the next few days. Will I be passing close enough to take you to lunch?
