Rick wrote:
sparks wrote:

Greetings,
Some friends and I are thinking about doing some winter time kayaking.
This will be the first time we have paddled in the cold water
(Indiana..pretty chilly right now). What can you recommend for
clothing? I really cant afford to go out and buy an expensive dry suit
(the ones I found on the internet were $400 and up ). We really want
to go this winter but...if not being able to afford a drysuit is going
to be a safety concern then I will wait until spring : ) Anyone have
any cheaper alternatives?

Thanks!
Sparks

Sorry to disappoint you Sparks, but in the conditions you describe, a
dry suit is a must. A wetsuit to meet your needs would be too thick to
paddle in and insufficent once you were immersed. You may be able to
find one used at a modestly reduced rate.

Nonsense Rick. A wetsuit needed to paddle in conditions where the water
is still flowing wouldn't be too thick. Combine it with a good
(semi-)drytop and a couple of layers of polypro underneath that drytop,
and you can be nice and warm in those conditions.

Very few people over here buy drytops due to their their very high
prices, and that's with the main paddling season being in the winter:

http://wilko.webzone.ru/galler15.html

http://wilko.webzone.ru/galler16.html

http://wilko.webzone.ru/galler19.html

I would agree if you'd say that a drytop can be a cosier alternative,
but it comes at a price and a risk.

I personally don't like paddling drysuits. First of all, I think that
they just cost too much, especially for a beginning paddler. It's still
necessary to wear a thick enough layer of clothes underneath to keep out
the cold and to have some padding in the case of a close encounter with
hard objects. It's also not all that easy to get into a new or newly
gasketed drysuit, having witnessed all too many wrestling drysuit owners
trying very hard to get into their prized garments... And then I haven't
started about the strength and agility needed to close that zipper! :-)

My main problem with them are the gaskets though. I don't like a latex
gasket around my neck, as I really abhor a neck rash. These neck gaskets
are the first to become so wide that water can freely flow in and out,
because your (big) head has to go through them, stretching the darn
thing, whereas it should shrink to the size of your neck after that
every time. Besides, seeing how many of the drysuits have no protective
neoprene cover, getting a deep scratch from a sharp rock, branches or
thorns makes the entire term "dry" suit a lie. It's not cheap nor easy
for beginners to replace gaskets yourself, especially neck gaskets. I
replaced the wrist gaskets of two semi-dry tops, and although I'm rather
handy, it still took quite some skill and time.

Even worse, if you rip a gasket, the suit can fill up with water and
cause you to disappear under water, as RBP'er Larry Cable witnessed when
he had to "swim" with a swamped dry suit. The air trapped inside your
leg pants after you rip a neck gasket and the suit floods can also cause
you to float upside down, making it very hard to breathe.

Still, despite those horror stories many drysuit owners swear by their
virtues, and I have to agree that seeing them get out of their suit
after a day of paddling almost dry does have its merits.

If you get one, the tips I've picket up so far a get the latex
booties, but one size bigger than your shoe size, so that you can wear
socks inside them. That also makes it less important to have tight ankle
gaskets, so that your feet get more blood, in turn keeping them warmer.
Get a paddling dry suit which comes with an extra tunnel around the
waist, under which you can put the tunnel of your spraydeck, keeping the
seepage into your boat through the tunnel to a minimum.

Make sure that it's a paddling drysuit, with neoprene gaskets covering
the vulnerable latext gaskets, and adding to the safety by still having
some layer to keep water out in the case that you rip a gasket.

Always get one with a relief zipper, and if you do spend the pile of
money needed to get a Goretex dry suit, have a look at the Goretex
website to hear about how to treat it.

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilko(a t)dse(d o t)nl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://wilko.webzone.ru/