"I'm aware that quite a few paddlers bring along repair kits for their boats. Especially along rocky shores. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't bring along a drysuit repair kit on those same trips? You can put it in the same bag/box. -Shoni" It is a very good idea to carry a drysuit repair kit. Duct tape makes a decent repair kit also. The problem is that when you capsize in rough conditions in cold water it is impossible to repair the suit and dry your clothes while re-entering the kayak and paddling, etc. A dry suit full of water can be hard to move around in to say the least! It is however worth noting that it would be worth making some sort of effort in the direction of fixing the suit! Let's say you ripped the neck seal. If you had some sort of patch that would work on wet latex and nylon (without permanently sticking to skin and hair!) it might be worth slapping it on the rip. You might be able to drain some water out of the suit by prying the ankle seals open as you strugle up on the rear deck of the boat. All of this could be simulated in practice sessions without ruining the suit by wet exiting with the zipper partly open. It would be worth trying this some time if you are thinking that dry suit damage is possible in conditions in which you paddle. I would not try this experiment except in shallow warm water with competent freinds standing by to assist me. The Tsunami rangers don't use dry suits when paddling in surf filled rock gardens because they have had some bad experiences with ripped drysuits. They use surfer-type wetsuits which allow better arm mobility than do diver's suits. Nick Lyle *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Oct 14 1999 - 11:39:15 PDT
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