A lot of this is going to be personal preference. My choice is a full "farmer john" wetsuit, 3 mm neoprene, with a zipper which will open from the bottom or from the top. Many others prefer a "shortie" farmer john which comes only to thigh level. The double zipper is nice to have, so you don't have to unzip whole suit down when you need to pee. Bit it's not essential. Double nylon (?? - cloth, anyway) facing is important - facing on the outside to minimize abrasion damage to the suit, and facing on the inside to make the suit more comfortable and make it less difficult to get off. I'm a skinny guy, but I've found that I have to order the wetsuits about a size larger than I'd think I need, or they're too short, and too tight in the calves. So - though I'm "only" 6 ft 1 inch and 175 lbs, I order an extra-large full-length farmer john in order to get one which fits. And as others have said, I order from NRS, which seems to have good-quality suits at a very reasonable price. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
-----Original Message----- From: Bhansen97_at_aol.com <Bhansen97_at_aol.com> <snip> > >Double nylon (?? - cloth, anyway) facing is important - facing on the outside >to minimize abrasion damage to the suit, and facing on the inside to make the >suit more comfortable and make it less difficult to get off. Nylon on the outside holds water and is colder after an immersion and recovery because of evaporative heat loss. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Matt Broze wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bhansen97_at_aol.com <Bhansen97_at_aol.com> > <snip> > > > >Double nylon (?? - cloth, anyway) facing is important - facing on the > outside > >to minimize abrasion damage to the suit, and facing on the inside to make > the > >suit more comfortable and make it less difficult to get off. > > Nylon on the outside holds water and is colder after an immersion and > recovery because of evaporative heat loss. > Matt Broze > http://www.marinerkayaks.com I am glad that Matt brought that up. I have had several neoprene wet suits (each discarded as I gained a bit of weight re-distribution or the neoprene plain shrinking, which it does). The only good one, which I still have, is the Seda one. I believe that Seda is the only manufacturer who is still making wetsuits with naked rubber on the outside for just the reason that Matt mentions, evaporative heat loss. While the naked rubber has no protective cover, it dries in a jiffy. Also it will wear reasonably well on its own. At worse you will get a few small pieces flaking off which will make you look like a true veteran paddler instead of a neophyte. Oh yes, the Seda suits have ridiculous long zippers that come well down to the crotch and will allow you to pee, albeit you do have to open from the top down. So a semi-relief zipper in a sense. ralph diaz > > *************************************************************************** > PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List > Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ > *************************************************************************** -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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