Has anyone tried one of those combi-suits used by jet-skiiers, boardsailers, water skiers etc.? The suits have been around at least a dozen years. These one piece suits consist of neoprene from the waist down, either 3 mm or 5 mm. The upper body part is loose coated drysuit material with neck and wrist latex gaskets, sometimes topped off with back up velcroed neoprene closures. In some cases, the drysuit material portion at the top is lined with fleece. It is quite loose and can accomodate all kinds of insulation and look like they would give lots of freedom of motion for paddling. In a way, having neoprene at the bottom is a fail-safe feature in that no amount of failure of the waterproof zipper or latex gaskets is going to flood the pants legs and hinder movement in re-entry attempts. Such suits are high on graphics and so it is fairly easy to find one with the arms and shoulders in a light color that would keep one from heating up in the sun. Would look a lot sexier than a paddler's drysuit. The suggested retail price is that of a coated drysuit used by paddlers, i.e. around $349 or so, so it should be available a lot cheaper in stores. Being as there are more such watersports people than there are paddlers, it is a buyers market not a sellers market vis-a-vis price discounts on items. When I bought my dry suit back around 1990, I eyed the combi suits in some literature but never saw or tried one on. They are still around. As far as I know none are made of Gore-Tex. It ain't that jetskiers can't afford Gore-Tex. Hell they pay $5,000 to $8,000 for the typical jet-ski and I don't know how much for a trailer. This industry also produces regular drysuits at list prices that are the same as those for paddlers. Again, with the nature of this buyer's market, it may be possible to get one cheaper than a paddler's drysuit. And the seasons being what they are, the sales are likely to be in the fall since the jetskiers are not intent on being out in the winter. Anyway some thoughts to file away regard alternate, reasonably priced stuff to what we have dedicated to us. BTW, I believe in looking at what other users of the water have in the way of gear. Their equipment needs are often the same as ours sans engine parts. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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 Sat Mar 13 1999 - 06:41:38 PST
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