Im looking for a good winter paddling glove for kayakers. My girlfriend and I are currently using the NRS Reactor glove. It says i wont find a better glove for the coldest conditions but i feel there has to be something better out there. Is there anything that will keep your hands completely dry? Once these gloves soak up a little water they are almost useless. Let me know if you are using something that keeps you warm and DRY!!! Thanks
And for everybody giving me a hard time about the weather in Alabama just look at the weather radar for the next few days! haha. But really, thanks for the answers so far. Its helping me out
need to be wet, I've found. your body heat will warm the wet neo., and displace cold air and most cold water. I also pack a thermos of warm water to fill the gloves on occasion.The nrs mittens are good too, forgot the name. they're warmer, but I need gloves for what i do.
Alabama, and you're cold??? ;-)
NRS Rapid Glove not as beefy as the NRS Reactors (very good gloves) but the RGs fit me better. That, & the fully textured palm side grips the paddle yet stays flexy enough.
For extra warmth try a Thermolux liner w. the optional heat pack tucked into the liner pouch. Find ‘em at REI and many huntin’/ fishin’ stores. Nice to keep on while you pull your boats out and rack them up. Useful at the campsite, too.
With two layers your hands will still get a little wet but it’s a water sport…
They stay dry unless you dip your hands in the water above their cuffs. Even then they do not let much in, depending on how snug the velcro strap is and how you mate them with your sleeves. Even with some water, they are still dry - the water is minimal and the outer layer is waterproof, so there is no evaporation cooling... They do not add too much bulk and because they are pre-shaped they are easy to hold on the paddle with minimum effort.
So far I've only used them for paddling for a couple of hours in near freezing water (2-3 degree C) and slightly sub-freezing air (enough to cover with a layer of ice the deck, paddle and spray-skirt/PFD). With my hands touching the water at nearly every stroke (GP paddle), I felt warm all the way.
You have to get them to fit snug on your hand for the best grip and the least water. Or looser, if you plan to add an underlayer of another thin warming glove for realy cold weather.
But don't take my word for it sa I'm on my first winter season - they have been recommended to me by a very experienced local coach who uses them too.
second those I have been using mine for six or seven years.
However as my hands do sweat they do get damp but my hands remain warm.
I use them in the shoulder seasons and winter paddling. I have always toasty warm hands down to my paddling limit of about zero degrees F.
I am only out for three hours or so in those conditions and don’t know how they would be after paddling and during an extended lunch. My hands might get cool then.
Glacier Glove Kenai All Purpose worked well for me last winter. Very comfortable for me with either canoe or kayak paddle. My hands did sweat. I’d turn the gloves most of the way inside out after use so that they could dry inside between uses.
winter gloves Kayak Pro makes a mamba type glove that velcros over the shaft. It is very light, waterproof nylon, and has a radiant reflective inner coating. It is warm enough when your paddling, even in below freezing temperatures, that I don’t wear anything else on my hands. This allows me to directly grip the paddle shaft with my bare hands.
Glacier Gloves Been using them for the last 5 years. One upgrade I did was get a good pair of polypro liners for them. Did not like the liners that came with the Glaciers.
821BK is the model number, they have the curved, articulated fingers which really minimize bunching in the glove when you're gripping for a long time. Have used then out in the field for work, for fishing, paddling, even for downhill and cross-country skiing. With all that use, they've never leaked. The only activity I found them unsuitable for was cross-country skiing in the mountains of northern New Mexico in late December- my hands went numb. For a paddling glove, though, they can't be beat. Your hands will sweat. For comfort and added warmth, thin polypro liner gloves really help.
Medium duty rubber dish gloves My preferred solution for whitewater boating in the frigid March waters, sleet, rain and snowy banks in the northeast is simple: Medium duty rubber (dish washing) gloves with a separate poly glove underneath. Tuck under the wrist seals of your drytop or paddling jacket. Virtually waterproof.
Don’t get super thin, tearable rubber or the cheapest and stiffest rubber. Get a medium duty soft, flexible rubber glove. Home Depot.
The advantage of this system is that the flexible gloves can easily be turned inside out to dry, and you can use different thickness poly liners, which also dry and substitute easily, depending on conditions. This system is also very cheap and easily replaceable.
I have never liked the squishy and tactile-dulling feel of neoprene gloves, or the permanent curve that is molded into the thick neoprene fingers of some.
A thin flexible rubber glove with a medium weight poly liner is waterproof, warm, flexibly tactile, and easily dried.
How About a Mitt? Level Six Mitts are easy to get on and off and very warm. You’ll stay dry 'til you start really submerging your hands. Even then your hands stay warm. Nordic Blue gloves are warm and dry but a bitch to get on and off without help.
winter paddling gloves / mitts This subject came up on the QAJAQ site recently. Winter where? in Georgia or New England? So much of this depends on how cold and your body type. Many paddlers who paddle where it freezes are forced to use mitts and more. No Glove will cut it once wet and with wind chill (evaporative cooling on the fingers) I use the NRS Mitts.
I own around 5 pairs of gloves and they all start to leak in a year of paddling. I use the gloves in CT in the spring or late fall but I can’t tolerate the winter with them.
