I was looking at a Kokatat drysuit today (I’ve already ordered one) and the one I ordered has the “socks” integrated into the suit. It would seem that these would be a relative weak point to the water-proofness (is that a word?) of the suit if you scuffed around or wore through them. As such, what do you dry suit owners wear over integrated socks? Some kind of water sock or something to protect the dry-suit fabric?
Thanks for any suggestions… 
BeachAV8R
I wear
thick wool or fleece sox under and either Chotas (winter) or 5.10 river shoes over. Any bootie or shoe that gives good protection AND fits in your boat will work.
i never wear sandals. no protection and entrapment threat.
steve
Chotas
I wear Chota Mukluk Lites.
Watershoes
– Last Updated: Feb-03-04 11:13 PM EST –
With laces tied in knots so that ther are no loose ends or loops. Look for watershoes that offer a removeable insole cause you'll want thick socks inside those booties. Never seen a knock out product for that application. Either the heels are too built up, or the shoe volume is too small to accommodate insulation.
Mulkuks over drysuit?
Do you need the thick neoprene over the drysuit? Seems like it would defeat the purpose of a breathable drysuit. Especially with the integrated socks mentioned above.
Just curious.
winter- yes
my feet sometimes get cold with
- heavy fleece
- goretex drysuit sox
- chota muck a lucks
especially if it’s real windy/ cold and/ or doing rescues here in the winter.
a wimpy steve
Chota Quicklace mukluks.
I wear a thin pair of socks over the suit feet to protect them from any rough spots in the boots.
Wear Somethin’!
As you surmised, you got to protect those booties lest you spring a leak. A no-no in winter. What to wear depends on the size of your feet relative to your boat.
I prefer Chotas. Much warmer in the winter. However, I can’t squeeze the Chotas into the white water and surf boats. I can barely squeeze them into the SOF. So, I end just using cheap (as in no name brand) 3 mm neo water shoes with thin soles. These are one size larger than what I normally wear when the water is warmer. This allows for booties and socks underneath.
sing
…
Thanks guys…I spent the past hour browsing web-pages and while I really like the sturdy looking Chota Nunavut (it looks like you could scramble over any kind of rocks in those!) the heel would probably prevent me from being able to rest my feet correctly in the bottom of my kayak (Wilderness Systems Cape Horn 17). I wear a size 12 shoe…so I don’t have a lot of room to manuever. Considering most of my “cold” water paddling is going to be done here in the Carolinas I think I can get away with more of a small shoe size foot covering. Mostly I just want to protect the sole of the integrated water socks to prevent holing them. So I settled on the NRS Attack shoe…from Outdoorplay.com:
http://www.outdoorplay.com/store/Product3.0.asp?DeptID=351&SKU=PFT_NSATT
Thanks to PeterK for putting me onto outdoorplay.com They are getting too much of my money recently…lol…
BeachAV8R
Mukluks
chota mukluks are great for winter, fall, early spring.
The Nunavuts are very bulky
For someone with limited footroom (I know the feeling), they probably won’t work. The Quicklace have the shortest sole for a given size, of the Chota mukluks. They also run large, so you may find that you can wear one size smaller than your street shoes. I can comfortably fit my size 11 feet, light wool socks and the the latex booties on my dry suit into size 10 Quicklace Chotas.
Having said that, I find that now that I have booties on the suit, I wear the Chotas a lot less often than I used to. Most of the time, I wear neoprene dive boots.
NRS Zippered Wetshoe
I usually use the zippered wetshoe. However, I also use the Chota Mukluk Lites when I’m feeling lazy-- wetshoes are tight around ankle and a pain to zipper closed. My question is do any of you find that the Mukluks fill with water when doing rescue practice and does this added weight cause you problems?----Rich
Chota River Runners 2000RR
You can still find these in some paddle shops as old stock, eventhough they have been discontinued. Great shoes both in and out of the boat. Reasonably compact, but still provided good support for walking and carrying boats and gear. I have worn them on a rental drysuit w/ goretex socks. They didn’t snag the fabric or appear to cause any problems.
Worth the money, if you can find a pair at the local paddle shop.
Chota quick lace for me too
with poly base layer and thick wool socks under the booties. I think smart wool socks would be good too. Haven’t used my dry suit this winter cause by the time my knee was ready to paddle the water disappeared.
I took sing’s et al’s advice-found boot
http://dash-gear.com/pd_neosport_low.cfm?RID=102&TID=1
Go to aquaadventure.com
or do search for Henderson boot.
Price is good, sole protetion, lightweight.
I ordered one size larger. Also ordered a
Henderson cap…extralarge.Price good and great advice given. Loose IS better and can always make it more snug later by doing a pleat, that any shoe repair guy can do.
Exactly…
what I got, except maybe a buck cheaper from discount divers. The sole is just a thin piece of rubber over the neo. Enough protection for the drysuit booties, to get in and out of the water and, more important, to fit into the tight ww boats.
sing