dry suit

[landcruiser]

Dry suit vs dry top and dry pants - any thoughts?

[turboturtle]

Dry or Not, Hmm, I prefer dry! I've been wearing O.S. Systems for fifteen plus years. Neck and cuff guards, thousand denier cordura in all the right places. Full latex booties, relief zipper. Can't say it's saved my life, but its helped save others by providing me with a comfort level second to none.

My two cent worth!

Bob

[okieboater]

Lots of discussion on this topic on other posts.

A gore tex dry suit with pee zipper and sewn in gore sox with proper amount of fleece and capeline is the ultimate cold weather garb. Costs the bucks, but worth it if you ever take a swim in really cold weather.

For a lot of reasons, people try to get the same performance of a dry suit from a dry top and dry pants.

It just is not gonna happen. You may get close, but that is all.

Most dry pants do not have the sewn in footies. Just latex. This makes for cold feet no matter how many tricks you try, I know I have tried a lot. I hear some people are modifying dry pants with retro fit gore tex footies. Some say it is a safety factor as you could get water in from the waist and fill up the pants. I do not have an opinion on this. I just got a new pair of NRS black rock dry pants and may look into the retro fit footies.

No matter what you do the seal between the dry top and dry pants is gonna leak and if you swim your movements will make it leak more. Could be a little leak could be a lot. It all depends.

Having said all the above, My choice is dry top and dry pants. I have had good luck with the wide neoprene bands on top of the pants and the neoprene bands on inside and outside of the dry top. On the latex ankle seals, I cut my pretty loose to keep the blood flow going. I have over sized neoprene boots and layer up sox and extra neoprene socks inside.

I have taken some pretty good swims in the dry top dry pants setup and been ok. But, I had on a lot of other good stuff, like over sized helmet with a thick skin divers neoprene liner.

The oversized helmet and skin diver setup is the cats meow in the winter time. Match that with the oversized shoe and extra wool sox in a gore tex dry suit with gore tex footies sewn in and you have the ultimate cold water set up.

You can laugh after a february swim with the set up in previous paragraph. Roll practice is fun and few if any ice cream headaches.

I have a kokotat gore tex dry suit with all the extras, I wear it a lot when I expect to be in the water. It just adapts well to what ever the weather is. Went to a raft guide school in Oregon and we were in the water a lot. I had on the kokotat gore tex dry suit with light weight fleece and felt pretty good while some of the folks in wet suits and dry tops with fleece out the yeng yang were turning blue in the water and burning up when we were rowing.

But, most of the time I would rather be in my dry top and dry pants. If the weather is so bad I feel like the dry suit is the only way to go - it is most likely too cold for me to have an enjoyable float. One of the benefits of retirement from regular work is you know you got a lot more chances than you had when you worked full time.

Swims in a dry suit are usually warm but you run the risk of tearing the dry suit and when that happens you got big time problems.

Swims in a farmer john are a lot more protected from rock bruises and you get a lot of extra float from all that neoprene. So, if the weather permits - farmer johns and dry top work really well. SWR instructors like the farmer johns for those reasons.

The dry top and farmer john wet suit combo has got a lot of us thru some pretty nasty weather and can work pretty good .

Bottom line and my opinion: It all depends on how warm blooded you are and the money factor with the swim factor counted in as well. A lot of folks start off with a good dry top and neoprene farmer johns. then add dry pants to the combo. And finally when the cash is right, they go for the dry suit. By that time they have boated enough to pretty much know what works best for them in a specific situation.

My only advice tho is to save money and buy good stuff. Especially dry top cause that is gonna be the most used item. On dry suits, same thing. I have purchased a lot of dry suits. Total coated nylon, imatation goretex and the real deal which is Kokotat Gore Tex. My opinion is if you want a dry suit that works, get the kokotat gore tex up front. Even if you have to save for it and cut out some beer and party money to save the money.

prolly more than you wanted to read, but that is the story from what I learned over the years and I spent a lot of bucks looking for gear.

[Charlie Ford]

What about a dry top with a wetsuit underneath??? That is currently the set up I'm using. I will be more than likely to say tomorrow night how that works. :shock: :shock:

[Dale Dailey]

Don't foget about the dry top/dry bibs set up. Like dave said nothing is as dry as a dry suit, but top with bibs gives you alot of options. spend the extra money and get the relief zipper and sewn in feet.

[landcruiser]

Thanks for the input guys. I am latex allergic, so' I'm looking at something with a neopreme neck and wrist gaskets. I know it may not be as dry but it beats anaphlaxis.

On dry tops - Stohlquist and Immersion Research both have a dry top with neopreme necks, and I think they can put neopreme wrist gaskets in for me. Any one have experience with either of these?

[okieboater]

I have a NRS semi dry top with the neoprene neck gasket and latex wrist gaskets.

Very impressed with mine. a little leakage on the neck but it can be tolerated.

[A Savage spanke]

Dry tops and dry pants arn't dry. You will always be sitting in a little water if you kayak, your toes will always get wet. Dry suites are dry!

[okieboater]

also be aware that in dry suits you will sweat an amazing amount of water.

I remember when the first non breathable dry suits came out, I got one from Stolquist (still have it and it works) and by the time I got to surfing rapid on the piney and surfed a bit, I would pop the ankle gaskets and get a lot of water.

So, even in winter time if you are wearing a dry suit, you must drink a lot of water. That is when the pee zipper comes in real handy!!

And, that is the reason gore tex is so good in that it will let a lot of your sweat evaporate thru the material. Where as the cheaper ones will clog up pretty fast and not let the sweat out