Doug Lloyd wrote: > A dry top has advantages that far outway a normal paddling jacket with > neoprene wrist seals, if that is what you are talking about. A good dry top > seals at the wrists much more effectively than neoprene or velcro > arrangements. For winter paddling, keeping water from entering up the > sleeves is important. The neck seal is obviously better with a dry top's > latex seal, rather than other arrangements, but may be a bit much for > touring. A popular jacket these days has become a dry top with a good waist > seal, latex wrist seals, but a regular neck seal, so providing more > comfortable recreational paddling. A real bargain in the latter is the Kokotat Goretex version of what is described. It has latex at the wrists with overlapped velcroed neoprene sleeve ends that helps protect the latex and gives you a backup if the latex were to rip or wear out suddenly. At the neck, this top does not have latex but rather a velcroed Darlexx adjustable collar (or its eqivalent) which is like neoprene but doesn't absorb any water into the material itself and actually provides a tighter fit than neoprene. The waist is just about as good as these waist seals can get without resorting to overlapping latex matchup with pants. It costs under $200 which is a great price for any Goretex jacket let alone one with latex wrists and all the nice features of a paddling jacket. > >Oh, another thing to consider with dry suits: some of the newer models > have zipper arrangements whereby the seated paddler can and may unzip > easily due to the front entry, and drop the top portion down around your > waist if things get too hot -- like when a high class female model paddles > up near Ralph in NY Harbour :-) Speaking of this, I was informed back channel by a friend that the regular free trip to the Statue of Liberty from the Downtown Boathouse took place yesterday despite the rain and three Swedish good looking ladies went on it. Back at the Boathouse they proceeded to strip off their wet gear to total naked right in the middle of the place. My friend, upon seeing this, walked right into the bow of a rack stored kayak. This will teach me for being a fair-weather paddler! :-) > >I don't wear a dry suit, as Vancouver Island is riddled with barnacles, > and a tear in the suit, if I were to bail, could pose a serious problem, as > could a blown gasket. I mentioned this before but as Doug knows in the early days of dry suits there was a concern that a tear would seriously compromise the suit. As far as I know, this has not been the case. The materials at one point in the European suits was almost shirt weight thin but most dry suits are made of super duper weight nylon and gaskets are generally covered except some companies not doing it at the neck. Still, I have torn paddling pants made of similar material when sitting up on a dock and hitting a jagged nail head. So....perhaps always a potential problem. I know that Jack Martin on this list advises wearing one of the Polartec watersport fleece suits under your dry suit as a second defensive layer were a drysuit to tear in its material or gasket. > > > >While were on the subject, does anyone reading this post know about > Titanium flecks in wetsuits. They are supposed to reflect more heat back to > the wearer. Is this a marketing ploy, or do I need to ask? My understanding is that it does work to a degree. ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Oct 11 1999 - 06:51:07 PDT
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