Never had any problem and I do sweat in the summer working.
The older you get the harder it is for your body to control it’s temperature 
If your gortex suit is not clean it will not breathe as well also.
Roym nailed it and that is the issue for those of us who sweat in a dry suit. Some other factors that compound this are the fact that you have a PFD on which warms your core signficantly and makes the core portion of your suit completely non-breathable becuase it is encased in a foam PFD. Add to that a spray skirt tunnel, and then finally your lower body sealed inside the cockpit. These factors and any degree of exertion exceed the ability of the breathable fabric to vent water vapor. With backpacking and running it’s also different because you can vent by unzipping, etc. Not the case with a dry suit. Unless you moderate your activity level you will likely sweat.
So then the strategy with a dry suit is how to handle this situation and the excess sweat that has nowhere to go. It’s a dilemma because you can wear thinner layers to sweat less but once they become saturated it’s not good because they have no insulating properties and now you are cold. You can wear thicker layers and sweat more but have the sweat soak into something that is not right next to your skin. Then eventually you reach a thermal equilibrium and are comfortable. This is the better approach but balancing this without overheating is key.
I have tried medium thick powerstretch fleece and it does okay (mysterioso) or two layers like i talk about above: light base with very light fleece. i think that is the better system.
still experimenting.
The new drysuits are much better than my first drysuit, a helly hansen made out of nonbreathable plastic. I was so glad to have the suit, even if you did have to wring out your pile and polypro from sweat. A true vapor barrier. The odor on the polypro could kill a small child. Some of my older drysuits and semidrys breathe a little too well, meaning you get really damp. Much easier to dress when the water and air temp are close, Difficult to dress when the water is frigid and the air is warm.
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I sweat BUCKETS in my Gore-Tex dry suit, even in the 30’s or 40’s. It’ll collect a bit in the elbows & quite a bit in the foot socks.
After taking the suit off, I can literally drip/drain/pour the sweat out.
FWIW, I’m paddling non-stop for a continuous 60 minute workout.
Same here. I will paddle down to high 20s and will still sweat. In 40s or above with minimal layers I will soak everything. Water pool in the but and then when you stand up goes down to the socks. I can usually wring a significant amount of sweat out of my socks and the rest of my layers are soaked after a 90 minute paddle. Really no avoiding it. Reference lower exertion: I did a two day overnighter recently and temps were actually fairly warm in the 50s, but I tried to keep a bit lower intensity level so I did sweat less and over the course of the day some of it was able to evaporate, but with any degree of intensity sweating is unavoidable. Goretex is breathable but think of throwing on a goretex drysuit and PFD and then going on a 6 mile run. Think you can do that without sweating? Probably not. Again with backpacking, running, cycling you have some degree of ventilation. A dry suit is air tight minus whatever small amount of water vapor can evaporate which is really limited to what your body naturally emits at rest or at low exertion.
Matt
Many times a change is advised. since you cant vent a drysuit. A set of Goretex Bibs coupled with a Goretex Paddling Cag with a neck that can be opened …and vented …just a thought. it makes a very viable vent-able semi dry system…YMMV
Best Wishes
Roy
When conditions warrant…tighten it up. I have this system too, besides having a drysuit…works for many situations. {and the bibs can also be coupled with a {semi dry }short sleeve top…for other times.
No doubt that roym’s suggestion is a good one. I have thought of this setup before for that very reason. I just can’t justify the expense of that system in addition to a dry suit which i must have for ocean surfing, etc. I think Roy’s setup would be ideal for cold weather paddling when there is not a chance of swimming and if you don’t like to roll a lot. I like to roll even in the winter. Not sure that set up would keep water out at the neck unless it were a dry top with gasket. that would then minimize venting opportunities.
Wearing a suit and running in 30° F temps I doubt I’ll sweat. I think you have to much on if you’re getting pooling in a suit or the wrong layers.
I’ve been reading up on sweating (excessive sweat) this morning and one of the things that comes up states that really fit athletes often begin to sweat at lower temperatures which leads to what can be viewed as excessive sweating. I’m thinking that you put that athlete inside of a membrane that is breathable but still severely limiting their need for ventilation and moisture builds up at levels that most others, me included, never experience.
Example: I can paddle steadily for an hour or three in 60-70 degree temps wearing mid to light- weight wool longjohns and work up a sweat but nothing dramatic. BriGuy paddles at a workout pace for an hour at 30 - 40 degree temps and “pours” moisture out of his suit.
I believe that for some folks any layer that restricts circulation by reducing breathability is a problem. It’s easy for me to say that someone should wear lighter layers, layers made of something else, keep their suit clean and fresh with DWR on the shell, etc. but really, I believe that what is viewed by many to be the right answer is simply incompatible with others and no matter how they dress they will struggle with comfort. I don’t know if there is one answer out there.
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I used to spend lots of time in my drysuit in situations where the air was often fairly warm, but the water was dangerously cold, but I knew I’d be in and out of the water a lot. I learned to vent my goretex drysuit pretty well. I would unzip or unbuckle my PFD, put a couple of fingers in the neck gasket and pull out to create a space between my skin and the gasket, and then grab the waist or chest of the drysuit and pull it out away from my body as far as I could, pulling fresh air into the suit. Keeping the neck pulled open, I would then lean forward (or crouch down if on land) and try to push all of the air back out of the suit.
If done a couple of times in a row, and then again every half hour to hour, it would certainly help in keeping the moisture levels down in the suit. A word of warning though - pull the neck gasket from the side and not the front. That first push of air out of the drysuit isn’t always the most pleasant and if you pull from the front it goes right up your nose. It’s not a perfect system, but I found it helped quite a bit over the course of a long day.
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I vent my suit at the neck once in a while.
I will have to try doing the occasional venting as described above. I imagine it will help a little, but is the not the same as the ability to “vent” while doing other high exertion activities where you can unzip the front zip and un-do velcro at the sleeve cuffs and keep them open to provide continuous ventilation.
I think some from the posts above that it is clear that for whatever reason some people just sweat a lot in drysuits. For me it happens at pretty much any temperature and even if I wear just a single thin base layer under it.
If you are someone who will sweat excessively and enough to completely saturate your base layers when using a dry suit, then you fall into the unique category that I do in where you have a lot of challenges determining what layering system to use.
For me it’s the same with cycling or mountain biking. I don’t care how cold it is or even if I feel cold when I start I am going to sweat enough to become saturated. Managing that becomes a dilemma.
I have not found the perfect combo but I find that even if it makes you feel warmer at first and sweat more that finding a two layer system is best. If you are going to sweat to the point of saturation you want to keep that away from your skin to the greatest extent possible. I think that a light and thin base helps with that, and wool probably does best in theory since it will still insulate.
On top of that I want something that will soak up the excess water and hold it away from my base layer and therefor my skin.
The challenge is how to find a second layer that can hold a lot of water and keep wicking it away from your base layer but without causing excessive heat
The other thing that I have found is very helpful is rolling. This really helps to regulate your body temp; although you don’t always feel like a cold water roll when you are not yet overheated…but by that time it’s too late. Probably the best thing to do would be to ensure to roll from time to time from the start of your paddle.
I also think I am going to try loosening my PFD straps a bit so that it is looser and allows some air flow and breathability. I think that will help a lot. I do truly believe the PFD adds a lot of insulation no matter what base layer you have on.
It has also occurred to me that I would really like to see a manufacturer make a “cooler” PFD design to help with this issue.
Matt
Rolling is the key for me. Just roll. Even better just lay in the water Balance Brace or if you cant learn to scull on your side. Us greenlanders do that all the time.
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I end up wet too in my dry suit. Shortly after I first got it and started noticing that, it occurred to me, that if the suit could really “breathe” I would not have to burp it.
So let’s realistically describe what “breathable” means. I am not an expert so my description will be in layman’s terms.
As we know, out bodies give off water vapor all the time, even during sleep. If you were to encapsulate yourself in an airtight and non-permeable suit you would accumulate massive amounts of water inside, even at rest. It would not be a function of sweating, but just of your body’s normal process of transpiration (i think that’s what it’s called).
Goretex allows that vapor to pass through.
So if you wore a Goretex suit around all day and did not exert yourself you would be totally dry. However, when you exercise you sweat and give off much more moisture. This moisture becomes more than the “breathable” fabric can pass through. This is compounded if the breathability is comprimised by being dirty, wet, or having on a PFD, etc.
So if you are exerting yourself you will eventually sweat and your suit just can’t pass that vapor through. It will begin to accumulate. No way around that unless you start out to where you are actually cold BEFORE STARTING to paddle and then build up body temperature enough to be warm but not sweat.
It is possible to paddle for hours in a dry suit and not get saturated, but only if you are only lightly exerting yourself, or if you are very under-dressed for the temperatures when sitting still.
The problem is that dry suits with a PFD over them are just inherently warm. Even with a very think base underneath you will be reasonable warm before starting paddling, even in 30 degree temps.
Very simple logic that I learned years ago from cycling and running–if you are comfortably warm before you start your workout you will sweat during your workout.
If the temps were 20 degrees outside and I paddled in a dry suit and PFD with a light base layer I probalby would be cold when I started and then build enough body temp through exercise to be warm, but not necessarily sweat. But then you would not be well dressed for “immersion” for those temps, and personally i don’t like paddling below about 27 degrees or so. Hands just get too cold and freezing water on your skirt can be a PIA in my opinion.
So in the temps I paddle in (above about 27) I am unable to avoid sweating in a dry suit regardless of how thin a base layer I wear. I am going to sweat unless paddlng at a very low intensity.
That begins the dilemma because although I will be hot and sweat in 27 degree weather with the dry suit, I will soon be quite chilled in that weather once my base layer gets saturated and the water and no place to go but pool in the seat of my pants and at the wrist gaskets.
Matt
I have always thought that Goretex has been over rated. You are still going to sweat in it, whether you are hiking or in a boat. It helps to wear some absorbent layers underneath. The best advice is try not to get over heated. If you get warm, roll. Or go ashore and stand in the water for awhile.
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Have you considered a base layer or undergarment designed for dry suit scuba diving? There are a few good ones by Fourth Element and Santi that I’ve had good luck with.
People spend a lot of money for Goretex dry suits. You are still going to sweat in them. But compared to being cold they are perfect.
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