RE: [Paddlewise] PaddleWise Drysuits

Insulation under both the coated and the Gore-Tex drysuits is going to be
damp after strenuous paddling.  Gore-Tex works when the vapor pressure of
the water inside the garment exceeds the vapor pressure of the water outside
the garment.  As a result you have close to saturated air and damp
insulation under the drysuit.  Damp fleece is not a good an insulator as dry
fleece.  My experience using my Gore-Tex drysuit in MN in the winter
provides anecdotal evidence to support this.  On New Year's Day and on a Dec
4 paddle with air temps near or below 32 F.  I was warm paddling and chilled
very quickly when I stopped.  I warmed up when I removed all my damp
insulating layers and put dry fleece on.  

Dana

 > -----Original Message-----
 > Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 16:14:06 -0800
 > From: ralph diaz <rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com>
 > Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Drysuits
 > 
 > JSpinner_at_aol.com wrote:
 > 
 > SNIPPEDD
 > >     I hear coated is bad when out of the boat from wind 
 > chill on the suit
 > > that is over wet clothes. I haven't experienced much of 
 > that but I have seen
 > > people in GorTex huddled behind me in the wind. 
 > 
 > I am not certain why anyone would say that the coated stuff makes you
 > feel cold because of the wet insulation underneath.  Your 
 > experience, my
 > experience, points to this being a fallacy.  Wet stuff is 
 > not going to
 > chill unless it is exposed to air...coated is fully air 
 > proof.  Goretex
 > is not since it does have pores that breath and let heat out with the
 > moisture being transported outward.  That is why normally people with
 > about the same metabolism will want a bit more insulation under a
 > Goretex dry suit than under the coated one at least as far as the
 > question of feeling chilly outside of your boat. 
 > 
 
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