Bag Dry Suit: How Dry?

(PeteCresswell) wrote:

> I'm thinking that GoreTex has it's limits for transmitting moisture and what I'm
> seeing is just plain old sweat.... But I've got to wonder why my legs aren't
> similarly affected.

I have the same thing happening - it is just sweat. You say you are paddling
hard - your upper body is going to generate a lot of heat and therefore
perspiration as a result. Like you, I get more sweat on my upper body than my legs.

There are several factors that contribute to this. Your leg muscles are not
working as hard as your upper body and don't generate as much heat. Your upper
body may be covered more - spray skirt, PFD etc reduce the ability of the suit
to breathe, while your legs are not so affected. You paddle a SOT, right?, so
your legs are more likely to breathe than your torso - mind you, you don't have
a skirt to add to the problem. If your paddling dry suit has a sprayskirt
tunnel, that also reduces breathability (two layers of Gore Tex). As you say,
there is a limit as to how fast the suit can remove water vapour. If you are
producing sweat faster than it can evaporate off your skin and that in turn is
faster than the Gore Tex can breathe, you're going to get wet.

Gore Tex is great but it's not magic. Wearing two layers of wicking materials
works for me at keeping the sweat off my skin and it tends to dry out during
lunch breaks etc. However, that's a cold weather solution and if you're
paddling in a warmer clime, two layers may be too hot.

Drysuits have a harder time with salt water than fresh. You may need to touch
up the DWR to keep the salt off. Make sure you rinse the suit out well after a
paddle and keep it clean - follow the manufacturer's instructions. That will
keep the Gore Tex at its best.

Mike
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(PeteCresswell) wrote:
> I've been using a Kokatat GoreTex bag suit this year.
>
> After a typical hour of fairly hard flat water paddling, my shirt undergarment
> picks up about 400 grams of water. That's fairly wet - almost dripping.

Are you wearing a PFD? Goretex doesn't breathe as well with 1" of foam
strapped over it, in my experience.

Steve
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It's sweat, plain and simple. The difference between a Gore-Tex (or
other breathable material) suit and a non-breathable suit is:

- You'd get even wetter in a non-breathable suit.
- You'll dry out in a breathable suit when your effort level drops or
you take a lunch break.
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Just for fun and kicks - try putting on a clean, dry long sleeve shirt
and long pants (cotton is good for this test; try white, khaki or
denim) then put on the dry drysuit making sure the seals completely
touch your skin at all points. Jump in the water and thrash around a
bit. You'll find out soon if there are leaks and if you dry off the
suit before taking it off you should find out where water is
transferring, if anywhere.

You'll also get some interesting bystander looks.
 >> Stay informed about: Bag Dry Suit: How Dry?