Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board

Re: Cold weather wear

Posted By: Shawn Baker
Date: Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 11:44 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Cold weather wear (Martin Glader)

: A non breathing "dry suit" does not stay dry and
: therefore looses its insulation capability very quickly.

That depends on how much you sweat.

Even with a GoreTex dry suit, your legs are stuffed inside a cockpit--once the relative humidity in the cockpit reaches 100%, the GoreTex stops breathing. Your torso is stuffed inside a sprayskirt tunnel and PFD--no breathing there. Only your arms, shoulders, and upper chest breathe while you're actually paddling.

Once on shore, though, when you're taking a pee/food/rest break, or stopping for the day to set up camp, the GoreTex would be at a definite advantage. You get out of the cockpit, take off the PFD and sprayskirt, and the whole suit breathes.

Still, a non-breathable drysuit isn't going to be damp enough to be dangerous. It might have varying degrees of discomfort for different individuals, but we're talking about ounces of warm water vapor, not gallons of cold water. It's not going to cause high degrees of thermal conductivity.

Are breathable drysuits better than non-breathable? Yes. Safer? Not necessarily. Worth the extra money? Yes--to most people.

Shawn

Messages In This Thread

Cold weather wear
Mary -- Monday, 16 October 2000, at 12:01 p.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Shawn Baker -- Monday, 16 October 2000, at 2:07 p.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Robert Woodard -- Monday, 16 October 2000, at 9:00 p.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Frank -- Monday, 16 October 2000, at 11:45 p.m.

Re: Neoprene hoods
Shawn Baker -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 10:59 a.m.

Re: hoods
Lee -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 11:15 p.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Martin Glader -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 4:30 a.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Shawn Baker -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 11:44 a.m.

Re: Cold weather wear
Martin -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 1:26 p.m.

tried them all
Randy Kanuff -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 4:55 a.m.

Buy the goretex drysuit
Ed K. -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 12:30 p.m.

Re: Buy the goretex drysuit
MT -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 5:07 p.m.

Re: Buy the goretex drysuit
M. Hamilton -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 6:12 p.m.

Re: Buy the goretex drysuit
Brian Nystrom -- Tuesday, 17 October 2000, at 6:39 p.m.

Re: Buy the goretex drysuit
Bruce -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 12:25 a.m.

Re: Hybrid Dry Suits
Craig Bumgarner -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 5:19 a.m.

Best solution??still available
Randy Kanuff -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 2:54 p.m.

Re: cold weather ware
Rod Estvan -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 2:58 p.m.

Re: Cold in Southern California?
Don -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 9:58 p.m.

Re: Cold in Southern California?
M. Hamilton -- Wednesday, 18 October 2000, at 11:06 p.m.

Re: Cold in Southern California?
Greg Stamer -- Thursday, 19 October 2000, at 10:43 a.m.

Re: Cold in Southern California?
M. Hamilton -- Thursday, 19 October 2000, at 6:07 p.m.

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