dry suit or wet suit?

What's your opinion on the horse suit?

You need to use the WHOLE horse Billy.  The WHOLE horse. 

-Mark-

There is a reason that I have never heard of someone going from a dry suit to a wet suit and plenty of people go from wet suits to dry suits.
If you want to wear a wet suit because you feel a dry suit is too expensive ... fine. But don't go kidding yourself and trying to talk others into why a wet suit is better for kayaking than a dry suit.

Wet suits are designed and made to keep you warm WHILE IN THE WATER. They are not intended to keep you warm while out of the water.

I'm going to go in shorts so i can save money for a dry suit.

Nice way to describe this.  If you know you'll be wet and can deal with the 30-60 seconds of cold shock then a wet suit is fine.  When dry, most wet suits are ineffective -- to be warm, you need to get wet.   And wet suits must be tight on your skin to stay warm in the water  while layering isn't really an option.

Kayaks aren't jet skis (runabouts) going 70mph and threatening to dump you in 45 degree water at every turn.  Staying warm on a kayak in both air and water is simpler in a dry suit.

That doesn't mean a wet suit won't work, you just need a different plan.

If the above is true, please tell me how much water I need to let into my breathable waders with the neoprene socks before they work.

I think you have a Q-tip stuck in your ear....

I said wet suits are designed to keep you warm while in the water. When you are wading in your breathable waders you are IN THE WATER. There is a reason that people don't use neoprene socks while hiking.... because they aren't IN THE WATER.
Additionally, most people I know don't rely solely on the neoprene of their stocking foot waders to keep them warm. They are worn with socks underneath and boots over the top.

Please tell me that your next well thought out counterpoint is that you once saw a horse standing in a river and the horse wasn't cold so now you are going to wear a horse suit while kayaking ......

Dry suits are a better option for cold water kayaking than wet suits .... period.

Drysuits are a better option, and not only because you can adjust the warmth to the condition by what you wear inside.

My point is that the idea that a wetsuit needs to have water in it to keep you warm is....horsepucky. Water is a conductor, not an insulator. It does generate heat. The reason the water gets warm is because it is getting that warmth from your body. What does happen, however, is that by restricting the flow/transfer of water, a wetsuit continues to work at insulating you once water gets in, not BECAUSE water gets in.

Dang, a huge thread full of opportunities for Safety Cop comments and I'm just now seeing this?! My game must be slippin'! I see Bill found the thread just fine thoguh.

Spot nailed this one so I I'll leave it at that, but I will say I'm surprised at the lists of gear worth spending money on mentioned earlier. They seem to be missing the #1 on my list. If I'm splurging money on one thing, it's a PFD.

OK so the reason i said i will go in shorts in tell i get money for a dry suit is that i now if the wet suit in dry and you walk or move it gives me a rash so paddling for a long time will not be good plus i want to go into the water as little as possible. and i have rain pants, rain boots and a rain jacket . if you duct tape the pants over the boots and the jacket to the pants you can go into chest deep of water

OK so the reason i said i will go in shorts in tell i get money for a dry suit is that i now if the wet suit in dry and you walk or move it gives me a rash so paddling for a long time will not be good plus i want to go into the water as little as possible. and i have rain pants, rain boots and a rain jacket . if you duct tape the pants over the boots and the jacket to the pants you can go into chest deep of water

Doing that just once will remind you how fun that was. 

yea...been there, done that. nope!

i think these are reasonable recommendations: http://www.paddlinglight.com/articles/wetsuit-vs-drysuit-for-paddling/