Drysuits tested:
A very common question I get asked is: "I can't afford a drysuit, is my wetsuit ok to kayak in the Spring?" Assuming that the person asking the question has the proper skills to be cold water kayaking, we are going to look into what our group of kayakers use to go kayaking in the early spring months.
For our test paddle in mid March, the air temperature was 2°C and the water was 4°C. Amy started out in a wetsuit and David in a drysuit. We will look at the charastics of the two suits and then compare them. Both have their uses.
Drysuits carry an interesting stigma, I am not sure if it is because people are trying to convince themselves not to spend the money, or there was some time in the past when they were inferior to the performance of wetsuits.
I have heard a lot of the reasons why people don't buy them. They are too expensive, they can fail (tear) and become dangerous, or they are uncomfortable.
We can address these issues separately and then compare them to a wetsuit.
The cost of a quality drysuit can be 3-4 times that of a paddling wetsuit. That may be a sticker shock in the beginning, but when you buy a high end suit from a manufacturer such as Kokatat, you get very good warranty. Something else that I feel strongly about is, dry suits can be repaired, the gaskets replaced and the suit patched. with proper care, a drysuit can last a very long time.
It is very true that if you rip a drysuit, it becomes compromised and creates a dangerous situation on the water. If the suit is not completely sealed, it will let water in and the wearer will be at the mercy of the water temperature. From our tests, the material on the Kokatat suits is heavy duty Gore-Tex. It would take a serious gash in the suit to rip it. Precautions and tests need to be made before each paddle, but this issue seems like a red herring.
The comfort issue is a big issuefor a lot of people. The neck gasket can be very uncomfortable. Drysuits have an advantage that the gaskets can be replaced when required and will stretch over time. Once the drysuit gets too comfortable, it's time to replace the gaskets. This issue is in my opinion the biggest down fall, but it's a sacrifice that you make to kayak in cold water.
A positive aspect to the comfort of a drysuit is, you can layer beneath the suit according to water temperature. This can be much more comfortable than a wetsuit if you are going for a day long trip.
I usually try to add some humor to these posts but drysuits are so.......dry. I will be here all week.
Everyone seems to have a wetsuit laying around. They range in thickness, surfers like to wear a .5MM in the summer to protect from jellyfish; where as a diver will wear a 2 piece 8MM suit in the winter. The overlapping parts are 16MM thick!
It goes without saying, the thicker the suit, the harder it will be to paddle. The reasons that people love wetsuits are: price, durability and comfort.
For our test, we used 5/4 triathlon wetsuits that we had from prior seasons.
Wetsuits are cheap, really cheap. The cost of Amy's and my wetsuit combined, was less than half of a drysuit.
A big advantage of the wetsuit over the drysuit is, even if you tear it, it will still keep functioning as intended. In reality, both kinds of suits would be pretty hard to tear if they haven't been worn out, and are taken care of.
I get that it is kinda fun to run around a conservation area or a park looking like a superhero. Sometimes I think people enjoy looking badass in them. I get it, trust me, I do.
I do not understand people who say the wetsuit is more comfortable. When you take it off, you are usually covered in a nice layer of sweaty, rubber, stink sludge. Yuck, the horrible latex neck gasket on a drysuit is much better than the BO-bomb of a wetsuit after a day in the sun.
Comparison: We did our test in 3 stages, on the shore and on the water and in the water..
While we were getting ready to go out, Amy was freezing in her wetsuit. She had to put a scarf and windbreaker on just to stay warm enough to go on the water. The root of this is, that wetsuits are designed to keep you warm with a thin layer of water between you and your body. If you aren’t in the water, you have to rely on the suit itself to keep warm. In these conditions, it was not the correct choice of attire. David on the other hand, was only cold until he zipped up his suit. He was warm and dry throughout the entire day, including the tests in the water. He could wear clothes warm enough to stay comfortable underneath the dry suit.
For on the land, the clear winner is the dry suit.
On the water it was the same story. Amy was getting cold, even while we were paddling and she had on a few extra layers. David and myself, in dry suits, were toasty warm. We are basically horrible people for making Amy freeze all day. (Full disclosure: she is far tougher than we are).
For in the kayak, the winner is the drysuit.
When we did the water tests, the results became extreme. David was ok to splash around and play in the water for a while. He submerged during rolls and did a cowboy rescue. Other than a devastating ice cream headache, he was dry and warm. Amy on the other hand, hit the water and ran out so fast, we didn’t even get a picture. She had to change clothes and put on the drysuit to warm up. (Do not try this at home). No question that the dry suit is the way to go.
It would be unsafe to wear anything but a drysuit with proper thermal layers.
The final, and debatably most important metric is Instagramability. If your focus is to look awesome and get the best shot possible. Then safety be damned, wear a wetsuit and look like you are Aquaman’s slightly out of shape sidekick. As they say on Instagram you will “get the feels”, by that, they mean cold, wet and miserable.
The hands down winner, is the dry suit. If you want to paddle in the cold months. Save your pennies, buy a top of the line suit, such as the Kokatat Icon or Radius and make sure you have the proper abilities, training, and experience.