Stohlquist makes a budget dry suit for much less than the budget Kokatat. Search EBay. I have Stohlquist and Kokatat gear, and I feel that Stohlquist is just as high a quality, and the fabrics they use have the same lifetime warranty as gore tex now too.

Here is my criteria for cold weather paddling.

I wear dry pants and dry top. Before that I wore dry top and full wetsuit. Before that I wore a full wetsuit and tuilik.

I paddle a lot of whitewater in very cold water, and I can reliably roll pretty much regardless of circumstance. I would have to be totally incapacitated to not be able to roll my sea kayak in any situation I'd encounter. I paddle by myself a lot, and even with my current immersion gear I won't paddle in a place or conditions where capsize is a possibility. Before that I always wore the clothing as safety gear, but would not paddle if I thought capsize were a possibility. Now, I feel pretty safe paddling any time if I'm with other people, but if there's enough waves to be constantly on my top and on my deck and freezing all over everything I just don't like to do it. It's fun to have ice down your PFD once in a while, but at the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, the older I get the less desire I have for that kind of thing.

I will caution that I have paddled whitewater in the spring when the air temp is in the upper 30s and the water temp was 34, and I got caught in a hole and needed 3 attempts to roll up. When I did I had a sudden and extreme case of vertigo and I had to get out of my kayak and wait for it to pass. Much afterward I was told that this is actually a medical thing caused by really cold water getting up against your eardrums. If you're going to paddle in water that cold and think there is a reasonable chance you will capsize you should probably wear earplugs. I always do in cold water now. I use the Doc's surfer's earplugs because you can still hear through them pretty well. They are fitted, you have to go to a dealer with the sample fit pack to get the right size. I would also say to be sure they check both ears- mine are different enough that I needed to get two sets to get two different sizes. Bummer on the expense, but need them for safety.

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