NYCkayaker Dressing for Dry Suits

[Chris Starace]

Hi Mike,
     I don't own a dry suit but I'm considering one.  Your statement:   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.

What you said makes sense.  If the water is 35-40 degrees in March and the air is 50 degrees, I have to dress for the water temp.  Even with $900 Goretex wetsuit, you're saying that I'll sweat like a pig if I paddle hard?  I definitely don't want to spend that kind of money and find that I can only paddle at a snail's pace so as to not over heat.  

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,

Chris  


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:04:06 -0500
From: mike <mpidel at optonline.net>
Subject: Re: NYCkayaker Conn. Death, Dry Suits, Liability and Barriers
To: "'nyckayaker'" <nyckayaker at rockandwater.net>
Message-ID: <00ce01c83c0f$752f76c0$6701a8c0 at e510>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

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.

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