NYCkayaker Conn. Death, Dry Suits, Liability and Barriers

[Chalu Kim]

What Mike is saying illustrates several points of dry suits.

They are normally designed for sports other than kayaking. It is too 
cumbersome or restrictive. Without going into mundane details, I got 
myself an immersion suit designed for daily use; for profession like 
helicopter rescuer.

There are several major differences with casual drysuit. It does not use 
pure rubber for hands and necks. Its fabric is stiff and thicker. In 
technical clothing, it should be called hardshell vs softshell. 
Softshell is comfortable but heat dissappation is high. Hardshell leaves 
bit of air pocket. It has socks built in.

I am designing Gtex kayak anorak/tuiliq hybrid with integrated socks. I 
find wetsuit materials restrictive. This helps you protect your head at 
all time. I don't know when I will have something to show.

kayak drysuit should be;

1. not restrictive with ample rooms.
2. you should be able to layer clothings inside
3. it should protect against full immersion.


mike wrote:
> I was more familiar with scuba dry suits, then kayak suits, the scuba suits
> should not fail and if they did, I could understand a product liability
> tort. Operator maintenance and the point of failure would be the pertinent
> points. 
> The diving suits are manufactured to work underwater for multiple hours at a
> time.  No limit on submersion time.
> I remember when DUI suits were having problems with the inflation valve
> sticking and the dump valve falling off, that was in the 80's. They recalled
> and fixed the problems fast.  The wrong composition of plastic can cause
> water absorption, and cause the plastic to become soft. 
> Velcro is a type of plastic and there is a version of it that will work
> pretty well underwater or when wet, whereas the standard Velcro will become
> soft and lose its holding power quickly.  The failure point of the dry suit
> was not mentioned. It is hard to wear proper cold-water insulation when
> involved in above water heat producing activities.  With scuba diving, the
> insulation could be very thick, since you fell off the boat into very cold
> water, pulled your self down an anchor line, and kicked your legs relatively
> slowly. I do not know if a  paddler could adequately dress for water temp in
> a dry suit, unless they are paddling very slow and/or very fit and
> experienced and used to the stress and aren't exerting and overheating. This
> is similar to a conditioned commuter bicyclist, they do not need a shower if
> commuting to work, they do not break a sweat, the ones that are newer to
> bicycles are the ones that sweat out on a slow 10 to 15 mile ride.
> Modified neoprene wetsuit though more uncomfortable, may in reality be a
> safer cold-water paddling suit. Experience may be the most important factor;
> the new equipment can give unskilled people a false sense of security.
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nyckayaker-bounces at rockandwater.net [mailto:nyckayaker-
>>> To: Erik Baard
>>> Cc: nyckayaker
>>> Subject: Re: NYCkayaker Conn. Death, Dry Suits, Liability and Barriers
> 
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-- 

Chalu Kim

eGenius Inc.
(212) 796-0992 x 101
chalu at egenius.com

Practitioners of magical codes and open and compassionate computing.