RE: [Paddlewise] (Paddlewise) Spray Skirts/PFD's/Dry Tops

I have gone through many variations of skirt-jacket combinations.  
Although I believe there is no one right way to wear a skirt and jacket
there are some benefits to wearing certain types of skirts and jackets in
certain ways.   A major factor in determining how you might want to wear a
skirt/jacket combination is the angle the tube of the skirt naturally makes
with the skirt deck.   Skirts with a neoprene tube and deck (if sized
properly) have a 90 degree angle between the tube and the deck.   The
opening in the deck is small enough so that the deck comes right up against
your torso so the tube can rise up at the 90 deg angle.   An improperly
sized skirt or one with the opening too far forward may not have the
desired 90 deg angle.   This 90 angle is desirable because it lets the
jacket and PFD go over the tube without forcing the top of the tube lower
down on your body.   

The driest combination is a double tunnel jacket with an all neoprene
skirt.   The skirt goes on first, but the tube is rolled down.  The jacket
is put on with the inner tunnel down and the outer tunnel up.   The
neoprene tube is then rolled over the outside of the inner tunnel.  The
outer tunnel is pulled down over the skirt tube and tightened.  The PFD is
then worn over the jacket.   More effort to get on and off so you have
lunch with you skirt on and learn to use the facilities without removing
your skirt.

With a single tunnel jacket and an all neoprene skirt the major decision to
make is whether to wear the skirt against your skin.   With a paddling
jacket (no latex seals)  you may find water working its way up your sleeves
and up under the bottom.   If you are rolling you can get significant water
inside the jacket.   If you wear the tube against your skin with a shirt
outside the tube then water coming in and saturating your shirt will not
drain down inside the tube.   I think you get a little better seal against
bare skin than against a shirt.   So in this case you have skin, neoprene
tube, shirt, jacket, and then PFD.  The downside is that you can get a rash
from the neoprene against your skin.   If you are not rolling or in waves
breaking over your deck you probably do not have to worry about water
draining down your shirt.  

Although you might find an all neoprene skirt with a very large tube,
normally the tubes are selected to tightly fit the torso so you do not even
have the option of wearing the tube over the PFD.   You could wear one over
a jacket, but with wrinkles or pleating in the jacket material I would
think you would get a much worse seal than wearing the tube under the
jacket.

With skirts with nylon tubes (either neoprene/nylon combos or all nylon)
the size and location of the opening in the deck is my main concern.  If
the opening is small and properly centered then the tube will almost make
the same 90 deg angle with the deck as it does a neoprene tube.   In this
case I recommend wearing jacket and PFD over the tube just like with the
all neoprene skirts.   If the opening is fairly large or not centered
properly over the seat (a condition likely in rental fleets where equipment
must work on multiple kayaks and multiple sizes of people) the tube will
angle out away from the body when it is pulled up to its highest position
on the chest.   If you try to put a jacket and/or PFD over the top of the
tube you end up pushing the top of the tube lower down on you body.   I
have seen some situations where the tube was pushed so far down that the
top of the tube was actually below the bottom of the PFD.   This is an
invitation for water to come under the PFD and  jacket and go over the top
of the lowered tube.    If however you pull the tube over the top of the
PFD you can get it up much higher on you chest so it is harder for water to
climb over it.   Also you will find that on the outside the skirt's tube
angle will keep water from puddling on the deck.   Slightly leaky skirts
are really wet if they puddle, but seem dry if you get them to shed water
quickly.  Of course if you wear the tube on the outside and you do get a
big wave in the chest you can get a water into the kayak.    I have rolled
my kayak with a nylon tube on the outside of the jacket and PFD and
although I got more water than with my neoprene skirt under the jacket  it
was not a major amount.   One of the times I like to wear the nylon tube
outside the PFD is in warmer weather where I am not wearing a jacket.   If
the water is calm it is easy to let the tube fall down to the deck to help
me stay cool, but I can quickly raise it up without having to remove my PFD
if conditions get rougher.  


So if you are using a skirt with a nylon tube you might try it both ways.  
If when wearing the jacket and/or PFD over the tube you get lots of
puddling or the top of the tube moves down more on your stomach than up on
your chest then try wearing the tube on the outside of the PFD and jacket. 
Hope this helps.


Of course you always have the option of buying a storm cag and wearing it
over the top of everything else no matter how you put them on.

Mark J. Arnold



>
> So, my sea kayak paddling  Paddlewise colleagues,  how do you wear these
> items?  What do you put on first, second, and third?
>
> Ol' Dave
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************