Bryon wrote: >The rec.boats.paddle newsgroup recently had a similar thread. The question >ultimately seemed to be the wisdom of latex ankle gaskets in the legs of >drysuits versus adding latex "booties." Quite a number of people who had >opted for the booties option (and in some cases retrofitted the booties) >commented that they had tried both and the booties were a warmer option for >consistently colder water. People who paddled in a wider range of >temperatures seemed to prefer the ankle gaskets. (With apologies to those who've seen this suggestion before). I've always found latex wrist, ankle and neck seals to be pretty fragile. I can only imagine that full latex feet would be even more so. So I had a local diving store replace the neck and wrist seals on my paddling suit with the neoprene seals used on diving drysuits. At the same time I had them attach the neoprene boots from a diving drysuit to the ankles of the paddling suit. Result, warm, dry feet. The suit can be worn "peeled" to the waist in warmer, calmer conditions, and even when so worn, serves as "waders" for landing in up to waist-deep water without getting feet wet - a real advantage on longer trips, where "trench foot" could go from being a smelly inconvenience to an incapacitating medical problem. There is one minor downside - the diving boots require a bit more room under the deck and would not be a good choice for squirt boats. I recall another local paddler who had solved the problem a different way. He'd had a local wetsuit maker do up a pair of custom paddling boots, based apparently on original Greenland footwear that was made of sealskin. My recollection is fuzzy after several years, but I believe they had a soft rubber sole and came to just below the knee, sort of like neoprene mukluks. They laced from the top to several inches down, thus forming a wider and tighter seal than the simple single lace on "yachting" boots. The paddler said he could wade through deep water without "down flooding" his footwear. Cheers, Philip T. **************************************** Mountain Equipment Co-op 1655 West 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J 1K1 Tel: 640-732-1989 Fax: 604-731-6483 email: pid_at_mec.ca Visit our website at: http://www.mec.ca ***************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Oct 19 1998 - 11:17:23 PDT
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