The recent issue of Canoe & Kayak has reviews of a half-dozen spray skirts and as I looked at the accompanying pictures of paddlers in their kayaks, I noted that none of the paddlers were wearing PFD's I am assuming that was because the pictures were posed and intended to show the whole spray skirt, including the features of the tunnels. The paddlers dry tops were all worn inside the tunnels of the spray skirt, I assume for the same reason, however, that brought some questions to my mind. My first instructions in what to wear, and how to wear it, while kayaking were to don the spray skirt first, then the dry top with its tight waistband down over the skirt's tunnel, and then the PFD on top. This manner of wearing these has always shed spray and splash and rain very nicely and kept me dry inside. On a recent tour I was chastised by a professional guide for wearing my PFD over the spray skirt and instructed to put on the PFD first and pull the tunnel of the skirt up outside of it. We were paddling on very calm water on a warm day, so in order to keep peace (and with very skeptical second thoughts), I did so, though the pockets in my PFD were covered up. 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/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Bishop wrote: > The recent issue of Canoe & Kayak has reviews of [snip] The paddlers dry > tops were all worn inside the tunnels of the spray skirt, > > My first instructions in what to wear, and how to wear it, while > kayaking were to don the spray skirt first, then the dry top with its > tight waistband down over the skirt's tunnel, and then the PFD on top. > This manner of wearing these has always shed spray and splash and rain > very nicely and kept me dry inside. If you swim, that method for the skirt and DT invites water entry inside the DT. I would not do it that way unless I had a double-closure dry top, so I could put the skirt tunnel over the _inner_ DT closure and under the _outer_ DT closure. I own such a DT, and it seals water out from the outside, and keeps me dry underneath if I swim. I agree the PFD needs to go over it all. > On a recent tour I was chastised by a professional guide for wearing my > PFD over the spray skirt and instructed to put on the PFD first and pull > the tunnel of the skirt up outside of it. We were paddling on very calm > water on a warm day, so in order to keep peace (and with very skeptical > second thoughts), I did so, though the pockets in my PFD were covered > up. Don't understand where the guide is coming from, unless his main paranoia was entrapment with the skirt on the coaming. I would never paddle that way. -- 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/ ***************************************************************************
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/ ***************************************************************************
This reminds me somewhat of the debate whether jeans should be tucked into cowboy boots (like Roy Rogers) or left outside like virtually every real cowboy I've ever known. Unless you want a lot of dirt and... um.... fresh cow stuff in your boots, wear the jeans over them. So now... on to spray skirts. There's a segue for ya... I wear poly-pro clothing first (Pam... are you paying attention?), then the drytop (with the dry-bibs if appropriate - thanks to Sue), then the sprayskirt, then the PFD. The drytop is not there simply to keep spray off your while you paddle or just to keep you warm while you set up for a roll; it's there to keep you safely warmer and dryer if you swim. And to do that it needs to have some close seal around your body. Now, granted, if you wear clothes under the drytop then you will have some water entry unless the seal is against bare skin. But you're going to get a LOT more water entry under that spray skirt if you bail out of your cockpit. As far as the instructor telling you to pull the spray skirt up over the outside the PFD I am at a loss. This would introduce a fair bit of water down the sprayskirt if you took a wave over your chest. He must've been a Roy Rogers fan. :) Craig Jungers Royal City, WA PS: Ok, ok... sometimes I just wear jeans and a tee-shirt and no spray-skirt and my PFD behind my seat. Does that make me ineligible for the "on the fringe" club? On 11/17/06, Dave Bishop <bishopd_at_jps.net> wrote: > > The recent issue of Canoe & Kayak has reviews of a half-dozen spray skirts > and > as I looked at the accompanying pictures of paddlers in their kayaks, I > noted > that none of the paddlers were wearing PFD's I am assuming that was > because > the pictures were posed and intended to show the whole spray skirt, > including > the features of the tunnels. The paddlers dry tops were all worn inside > the > tunnels of the spray skirt, I assume for the same reason, however, that > brought some questions to my mind. > > My first instructions in what to wear, and how to wear it, while kayaking > were to don the spray skirt first, then the dry top with its tight > waistband > down over the skirt's tunnel, and then the PFD on top. This manner of > wearing these has always shed spray and splash and rain very nicely and > kept > me dry inside. > > On a recent tour I was chastised by a professional guide for wearing my > PFD > over the spray skirt and instructed to put on the PFD first and pull the > tunnel of the skirt up outside of it. We were paddling on very calm water > on > a warm day, so in order to keep peace (and with very skeptical second > thoughts), I did so, though the pockets in my PFD were covered up. > > So, my sea kayak paddling Paddlewise colleagues, how do you wear these > items? What do you put on first, second, and third? *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:43 PDT