Wilko wrote:

Have you ever actually worn a dry suit, Wilko? From your comments, it
certainly doesn't seem so. I use one 7-8 months of the year and my
experience varies dramatically from yours.
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 called "insulation" and you need it regardless. I don't see your point.

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...

If you trim the seals to fit properly and apply a bit of talc to the
inside, the slip on and off easily.

And then I haven't
started about the strength and agility needed to close that zipper! :-)

Properly lubed zippers aren't a problem.

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.

While some people do have problems with latex reactions, this is not a
given. In fact, it's not very common. For example, of the 50 or so
friends I can think of who own dry suits, only one has discovered that
he has a latex alergy.

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.

This is just plain wrong!

Latex has a very good memory, which is why stretching seals to make them
fit better is largely a waste of time. Latex seals can readily stretch
over the largest head, then snap back to be very tight, if they're not
trimmed to fit properly.

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.

This is very misleading. While it's true that dry suits are not ideally
suited to negotiating thorny shores or frequent abrasion against rocks,
they're far more durable that you suggest. For sea kayaking, they're
extremely durable.

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.

It takes about an hour to do a pair of wrists or ankles (or latex socks)
and perhaps an hour and a half to do a neck seal. It's not difficult,
either. Wrist and ankle seals are ~$25/pair and a neck seal is ~$30-$35.
Properly treated, seals will last at least four seasons of frequent use.

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.

Incidents like that are exceedingly rare. Seals are not fragile unless
they're old and are in need of replacement. They don't just
spontaneously tear for no reason. Every seal failure I've seen has
occurred either when the paddler was putting the suit on or taking it
off. I have never seen a seal fail on the water. Barring some bizarre
circumstances, it simply doesn't happen.

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.

All it takes is one experience of stripping off a damp wetsuit in a 30
degree F breeze to convince you that there has to be a better way. Dry
suits are that better way. Not only are they more comfortable to wear,
but at the end of the day, you slip out of it, throw on a jacket and
you're good to go.

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.

Good advice.

Gore-Text doesn't require any special treatment beyond rinsing it off
after use in salt water and letting it dry. It's advisable to re-apply a
durable water repellent (DWR) periodically, but I know very few people
who actually do that, myself included. Gore-Tex is considerably more
durable than coated fabrics and the contrary to what you might expect,
the breathability make a HUGE difference.