Cool vest anyone?
Do you really get hot after a while in drysuit? How about wearing a cool vest?
http://www.stacoolvest.com/
Sweat
Matt, I have exactly the same problem. In fact, I’ve never met anyone who sweats as much as I do… perhaps your the first 
Anyway, after paddling, my layers are inevitably quite wet which is a problem if I or the group I’m with stops for a break. Spare dry layers are always in drybags and I often have to change at least the top layers during a break if I’m not to freeze. This is one major reason that I don’t paddle through the winter (in addition to hands that freeze easily). My drysuit is goretex which probably helps some but wetness is still the rule.
Don’t Get Offended…
– Last Updated: Nov-26-06 7:54 PM EST –
paddling white water is more about control and finesse than exertion. I can go down a ww run (Okay, speaking for only to a class III) without breaking a sweat (as long as I don't play every hole/wave).
Paddle at moderate pace for hours, sprinting through the break zone, or sprinting to catch waves. Yeah, I sweat like a pig.
sing
Gaskets and PFD trap sweat
I always end up with damp wrists, neck base, and upper chest/back. Those are the same places where the drysuit (Gore-tex) is covered by nonbreathable materials.
If I don’t wear the PFD, only the wrists and neck base get wet. It’s pretty obvious what’s happening. If I sweat a lot, the sweat from under the neck gaskets actually beads up and runs down my arms or back.
My solution is to wear a lightweight layer under the drysuit. Works for me.
Damp? yes
I wear a polyester union suit ( http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2552 ) under my dry suit and then layer as needed.
Where the dry suit is exposed to the air (arms) moisture wicks away fine. I’ll find that the outside of the drysuit in the cockpit area gets wet. I’ll open the spray skirt occasionaly to air it out and evaporate some of the moisture.
Sweat does build up under the PFD and spray skirt tunnel.
Bottom line is I’ll get damp, but not cold. After paddling, I’ll walk around a bit to get rid of any moisture on or inside the dry suit.
The Union suit works great.
Andy
No Leaks…
Well I did a test today to tell for sure whether or not my suit was leaking.
I went out for about 30 minutes and made sure to paddle very slowly so that I would not sweat at all. Air was about 50 and water maybe a bit colder.
I rolled probably about 15 times and completely submersed myself both before and after paddling.
After putting up my boat and equipment I took off the drysuit and I was as dry as a bone. Not a single drop of water had permeated the suit. Good news! I am glad to know that it is not my suit.
So apparently I never had a leak in the first place. I never thought that I could have been sweating enough to actually have to pour water out of my socks, but apparently that is the case. I guess I will just have to try every way possible to regulate my body temperature when paddling. Maybe I will just wear a t-shirt and shorts underneath.
matt
More I think about it…
With a dry suit on, spray skirt covers the waist area of the dry suit, PFD covers the torso, butt and legs are in a confined sealed space, only area exposed completely are your arms. Bottom line is that moisture transferance will only occur through the arm area. Leg area too, but within a sealed compartment. As I said earlier, I’ll find the exterior of my dry suit within the cockpit saturated with moisture. Which is why I vent it occasionaly.
Andy
sweating is good
helps eliminate toxins. just drink lots and lots of water.
Whats the big deal about rinsing out a drysuit anyway…
winter is definitely here. first the threads start bitching about leakage potentials between dry suits and wet suits and then the threads go to well I sweat too much because the seal is too good?
go sweat. it’s good for you. take some febreeze with ya and a bottle of vinegar and a bucket for chrissakes.
I seem to drop a significant amount of weight every morning when I check after a paddle due to sweating but build some of it back up by liquid intake during the day.
Paul
Start out slow
I rarly make lunch stops in winter paddling. I am definately damp after a few hours of Gortex drysuit paddling no matter what I wear. If I stop for lunch, I have to change my underlayer or I’ll get chilled. So, most of my winter paddling is shorter -several hr. paddles.
If I start out slowly and allow my body to warm up it helps a lot. If I exert myself right from the beginning, I will over-heat a lot more. I remove my hat to cool down as I paddle if I get hot. Even a few minutes with no hat will lower down the temp. Once I warm up in a half hour or so, I can put on the steam without overheating too much.
More and more people I talk to, sweat under their breathable dry suits.
Sooo
Are we getting older so more padded up, less fit so the paddle is harder, or just finally admitting to smelling bad even with a hugely expensive dry suit?
I’ve Been Saying Quite Awhile NOw…
– Last Updated: Nov-27-06 2:56 PM EST –
that I find myself quite damp after a paddle even in my breathable goretex (and other laminate) drysuits.
I keep wondering how others can claim that their breathable drysuits are "totally dry" after a winter paddle and thus supposedly the much greater preference over a good fitting wetsuit.
Having paddled through the winters for more than several years now. And, having tried good fitting wetsuits, I gotta say the vaunted superiority of drysuits, to me, is more about preference (and types of paddling one does) rather than actual performance.
sing
Again, as someone who owns two drysuits and three full wetsuits and goes out yearround, especially when it's "rough".
Agree with Sing
Prior to me getting my Goretex drysuit, I woremy farmer John wetsuit with drytop and over that a non Goretex paddling jacket. Even with a mild work out, the paddling jacket would get saturated on the inside. The drysuit doesn’t get anywhere near as damp as the paddling jacket.
The paddling jacket is what drove me to get the goretex drysuit.
Andy
What smell?
Under my dry gear I get wet, but I don’t smell bad. Fresh as a daisy, this hermit!
what happened to the other thread
dry suit vs semi dry?
Paul
Humidity of your region’s air
I’ve never ended up 100% dry after paddling in any type of immersion clothing. The G-t drysuit is driest of all, for me.
One thing that makes a difference is that my insulation and the drysuit fabric itself do completely dry if I take a break on land and remove the PFD. Unzipping a bit hastens the process even more. Even if I keep the PFD on, just stopping the exertion allows moisture to pass through the drysuit and “catch up”. That doesn’t happen with nonbreathable materials.
Our climate typically has dry air. I suspect some of the complaints have as much to do with humid air as with exertion levels.
Oh, yeah, Baja is sounding really, really nice right now!
I too sweat copiously - something I never did before I donned a drysuit. The arms are the only body parts where there is some form of heat exchange. I usually wear an helmet, rock or surf environments are typical here, so that won’t help too. Water temp is 50-53 and I do not tolerate cold - little bodyfat. My questions is, how thermic is a drysuit if you are submerged in 51 degree water for a while and your underlayer is soaking wet? I actually do better with a 200 poly than a lighter layer, since it absorbed my sweat, and I feel less wet, even though I am soaked. Does anyone have an idea of insulation property if you are wet, but have good insulation under the drysuit?
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Wow! You resurrected an old one here. Went back to a time before Bowler posted in all CAPS. Anyway, I have a much wider comfort range wearing wool VS poly under my drysuit. A light layer of wool seems to me to be warmer than synthetic when warmth is what I need and cooler when over-heating is a concern. YMMV.
No actually this is well after my days of posting in all caps. I stopped that about 10 years ago probably!
Well I have yet to find a really good solution for this. I have tried all sorts of layers. I am not a big sweater in general, but wearing a dry suit is like wearing one of those sauna suits. I just don’t think there is any way around sweating in one, not matter how cold.
I have found that I tend to do a little bit better when i wear two lighter layers. Recently I have been having good luck with a Smartwool T shirt and a very light fleece over the top (Arc Teryx Delta LT). This tends to keep the dampness away from my skin better, and the wool insulates a little when wet.
But for insulation when in the water you are going to be cold quick if your were submerged for very much time.
I have not really done a huge amount of testing for warmth while in the water, but I think that the thickness of your layers is the most important factor–to put as much between you and the water as possible. Whatever you have on will be wet from sweat anyway. I believe that a powerstretch fleece is pretty efective in this regard or something like Mysterioso.
However, you slice it, a long submersion would require more warm layers than you could possible paddle with. I believe the dry suit is mostly for rolling and short submersions.
If you really got in a bad situation and were unable to get back in your boat for a long period of time you would really need to climb up on top of it in my opinion. I believe that any long period of submersion would probably result in getting hypothermic and that the drysuit is only a stop-gap solution.
Key is that you must roll effectively in my opinion. The dry suit just will help you for a short submersion or swim. If you can roll or quickly do a self or assisted rescue then you are in trouble. I like Hutchinson’s comment from an interview many years ago where he stated that “we didn’t dress for immersion, we dressed to roll!”
Note that I paddle year round and in below freezing conditions. Always solo and occasionally do long crossings on winter paddling trips. I think I would be screwed if I were not able to roll and were far away from help or unable to get quickly to land. I just don’t think there is any way around that unless you are far over dressed for what would be practical for paddling.
Matt
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Comes down to quality of your layering and proper combination IMHO. I paddle hard never had a problem say 3.5 mph+ average with some sprints. Layers are damp to touch no pools or wetness ever. Start wearing drysuit at 60°F water even 65° depending on risk assessment.
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When Goretex first came out, it was a gift. The earlier rain-wear was truly a plastic bag technology. Everyone that backpacked back in the day noticed the miracle.
The winter campers and cold weather hikers all knew that to sweat was a enemy and could easily lead to hypothermia . The technique of the day was to pace yourself and vent.
So that brings us to fitness paddling in cold. Venting is a problem when wearing immersion protection. The Goretex does some. But fitness paddling produces more than Gore can handle.
Staying dry inside a drysuit is very possible, but a lesson from backpackers and Arctic explorers needs to be heeded. And that is to control sweating by controlling activity level for the conditions.
Fitness paddling , in cold, is the problem. Bird watching or slower seeking of solitude or enjoying scenery can be an answer.
Since you can’t control environment, Control where you do what activity in order to be safe. Don’t blame the gear that works well when used within it’s parameters.
Just a thought…stay safe.
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