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Drysuits
Keep in mind that few if any of the following “suits” are insulated. They have varying degrees of waterproofness, but most have no insulating qualities other than from the air trapped inside (wherever your body touches the drysuit will allow rapid heat drain). To insure cold protection even in a drysuit, additional insulating clothing has to be worn inside or your drysuit needs to include an insulating liner. Pile, wool, or other wicking synthetics can also help to wick moisture from your skin surface and thereby reduce conductive heat loss.
The distinctions we make between the non-drysuit variations of water protection below are the best we can find, but we are not sure that all manufacturers follow exactly the same name and style conventions in their products. We do believe that there is a consistent understanding that a “drysuit”, in good shape and properly fitted, should keep you completely dry during an extended swim (other than the moisture you accumulate from perspiration). But a drysuit is a bit like a balloon. If there is a hole anywhere, they will provide rapidly diminishing (easily to zero) protection in the water directly dependent on the rate of water leakage. Designed to be durable they still have to be cared for and inspected, particularly the latex closures which absorb wear over time.
Bottom Line - read what the manufacturer promises, see if you can find reviews, and if you buy, regularly confirm your suit immersion performance with your own tests before you bet your life on it.
Description
- Zippers - are typically quite thick and stiff and can become harder to operate with age or storage. You can help ease operation with zipper lubricant or wax. According to NRS for long term storage zippers will better retain their seal if they are stored open.
- Gaskets - latex closures at the wrists and neck that need to be watertight. Suits may have latex gaskets at the ankles or have waterproof fabric or latex feet.
- Adjusting - new gaskets are designed to tightly fit smaller bodies but allow adjustment for your size. There are rings in the latex to follow when cutting to make the apertures wider. Carefully follow a ring when cutting, but go to and cut wider rings only incrementally and test your fit as you go, so that you do not make the opening too wide and loose. You can always take a litttle more off, but you can't add any back on.
- Replacement - fortunately these closures can be replaced without having to buy a whole new suit. You can buy replacement gaskets and glue them in yourself with some good instruction or you can have the replacement done by a reputable repair person.
- Relief Openings - as you quickly learn from the time and effort it takes to get in and out of a drysuit, a relief opening for urination is quite valuable (and elevates the suit cost). Available for both men (front) and women (back) they use the same heavy waterproof zippers as the suit entry does.
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Discussions
Swimming
Due to a drysuit's bulkiness, flex and amount of trapped air, it typically is pretty close to impossible to effectively get anywhere swimming in a drysuit. If you are still holding onto your paddle, you may discover that you can much more effectively cover a limited distance paddling side to side on your back with your kayak paddle. Test it.
"Dry" Tops and Bottoms
May work well as long as you stay in your boat, but the waist enclosure for either tops or pants is usually neoprene and most commonly is not completely watertight, which will become apparent particularly during an extended swim. Test them if you want any assurance about how long they will provide immersion protection.
Semi-Dry Suits
Similarly waterproof as a drysuit with the exception of the neck gasket which is neoprene instead of latex. So during an extended swim water may very well leak in (usually slowly) via the neck gasket. Some of these suits are reported to allow little or no leakage. Though not cheap they are generally less expensive than drysuits and do offer considerable protection. But they should not be expected to keep you dry nearly as long as a drysuit during prolonged immersion unless you have tested and verified such a suit's long term immersion waterproofness.
Paddle Suits
Have neoprene for all of the gaskets and should really be regarded as splash protection, NOT immersion protection, unless, again, you have tested your suit and know for a fact how long it will keep you dry when you're in the water.
Brands/Sales
- Kayak Academy USA
- Crewsaver USA
- Immersion Research Shops in Confluence, PA. and White Salmon, WA.(in the Gorge). They make their gear locally so custom fitting might be an option, particularly for walk in customers.
- Kokatat USA
- Level 6 CA
- Ocean Rodeo CA
- O'Neill USA
- NRS USA
- Palm UK, DE
- Prolimit NL
- Stohlquist USA - we have been getting a security alert for their website, so no link here, but their gear is sold through many online retailers. paddle.com list of stohlquist gear
- Typhoon UK
- Ursuit Fl
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Additional Maintenance And Repair
Gaskets
Latex will age and become more vulnerable to tears and failure over time. Depending on degree of use and how well they are cared for online guides recommend replacement somewhere between every 1 - 3 years. If you paddle in risky conditions you will probably want to err on the conservative side and replace them sooner rather than later on a regular schedule. Neoprene is generally considerably more durable than latex and should not have to be replaced as often.
There are different methods used to attach waterproof gaskets to drysuits. Some are hot glued on while others are stitched and taped. You may need to send your stuff to your manufacturer to get repaired. Some dive shops do drysuit repair and may have the capability of repairing/replacing your gaskets whichever way they have been connected to your dry clothing.
- DIY - NRS advice
See Repair
