Dana said: <snip> <<<My question is have others who paddle in cold had similar experiences with insulation dampness? If so, have you found a solution to the dampness?>>> Dana, When it comes to paddling, you can either be cold and damp or warm and damp, your choice :-) Other than that snippet of silliness (true as it is), I find a tight neoprene spray skirt around one's torso to be doing a bit of a disservice to the whole notion of insulation and dead-air space. After a good long paddle in colder conditions, my kidney area, abdominal area, and lower chest are extra cold from all that compression against it of the various layers. I have a breathable dry-top, but with it bunched up under the skirt's tunnel, it can't breath -- and as I mentioned, I become very chilled. Some conditions I encounter require a bombproof skirt, unfortunately, so I'll be keeping the tight unit. In summer, it works out much better, as the skirt is tight against one layer of polypro and 3 mil wet suit, so the normal thin layer of insulation occurs against the skin. Of course, it is all a bit less relevant in warmer temps. I also find that from the waist down, there isn't much movement in kayaking. It is the 50% above the waistline that sees action, and this is the area that tends to perspire and gets cold in winter. My skirt covers about 40% of that 50%, ergo the problem with the lack of breathability. I may eventually buy a neoprene skirt with a nylon or gortex bib, and see if that helps. Good luck with your search for the ultimate set-up. DL *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 11/27/00 10:04:07 PM, dana.dickson_at_unisys.com writes: << My question is have others who paddle in cold had similar experiences with insulation dampness? If so, have you found a solution to the dampness? >> Hi Dana, I have found a similar issue with dampness inside my GTX dry-suit. I know we're all supposed to dress for immersion but I will certainly suffer from heat stroke if I wear more insulation inside my suit. I wear Polypro with 100 weight Polartech fleece inside the suit. This seems to be good for air temps around freezing while I'm paddling as the moisture build up is minimal. If I stop for lunch, I strip the top of the suit off and put on another fleece with a shell. I have immersion tested this setup and while I would not want to spend a lot of time in the water it certainly affords me more than enough time for a slow self rescue. And with a reliable roll, I feel well protected. I find that the range of temps is very limited with regard to comfort. If I wear more the sweat builds up in the suit if I wear less I go mildly hypothermic. I'm starting to think the solution lies outside the drysuit. Maybe an insulation layer outside the suit coupled with a windproof shell will do it. I'm already using a fuzzy-rubber hood to attempt to manage my heat loss At the end of the day my polypro is moist but not wet. It seems to dry with about 10 minutes of exposure to the dry air. I think if I can workout the insulation issues external to the suit that I'll have a workable system. It also helps to back-off of the pace just a bit and really strive for an efficient stroke. But for me, with the testosterone junkies I paddle with, that's just not a viable solution. Good Luck Jed *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
LedJube_at_aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 11/27/00 10:04:07 PM, dana.dickson_at_unisys.com writes: > > << My question is have others who paddle in cold had similar experiences with > insulation dampness? If so, have you found a solution to the dampness? >> > > Hi Dana, > I have found a similar issue with dampness inside my GTX dry-suit. [snip] > I find that the range of temps is very limited with regard to comfort. If > I wear more the sweat builds up in the suit if I wear less I go mildly > hypothermic. I'm starting to think the solution lies outside the drysuit. > Maybe an insulation layer outside the suit coupled with a windproof shell > will do it. I'm already using a fuzzy-rubber hood to attempt to manage my > heat loss I am puzzled by the narrowness of your comfort range. I wear a GTX top with a farmer john wet suit bottom, and have a range of maybe one layer of 100 weight fleece up or down from whatever basic setup fits the air temp. and I'm still OK -- with the use of an insulating hat or not to fine-tune my heat balance. Note: my insulation regime handles the winter water temps here no problem, as the water temp winter-long is pretty close to 45-50 F. I do find I need to adjust some to handle very cold air, however. Evaporative cooling? I don't know. Jed, are you paddling in very dry air? Our air here is very wet, and so my evaporative cooling is fairly constant all winter long. Re: the issue of dampness unde the GTX: mine is always damp, but not wringing wet at the end of a day, and I can **almost** always "dry" it by continuing to wear it while I set up camp on overnights, or while putting up gear and loading yaks/eating at the end of a day trip. Caveat: I am a known warm blooded person, and am not cold when others are. For contrast: my SO invariably needs to change out of her stuff when she hits camp, and could not comfortably "dry" her fleece the way I do. I don't know what she does with all that wet fleece ... make sheep? I suspect variability amongst people is the biggest variable here, not the fleece arrangement used. I think Jed is doomed to suffer until he puts on a few pounds <grin>. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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