Drysuit question

Does anyone know if their is a difference between scuba dry suits and paddling dry suits ?

Does anyone know if their is a difference between scuba dry suits and paddling dry suits ?

Huge difference. the scuba drysuits are bigger and bulkier. Not very suitible for a kayak. I used one once, it sucked and I tore one of the wrist gaskets because they are not protected like the paddeling ones are. Scuba suits are made for under water. I was most unconfortable the one time I used it on a kayak.

Scuba drysuits have inflation and exhaust valves, which aren't needed on paddling drysuits.  Some scuba drysuits have insulation such as compressed neoprene built into their shell, which makes them bulkier and stiffer than paddling drysuits.  Scuba drysuits tend to be much more expensive than paddling drysuits.

Drysuits for use on sit-inside kayaks have a flap or "tunnel" which goes on top of a spray skirt, which isn't needed on a scuba drysuit or on a drysuit intended for rafting or for paddling a sit-on-top kayak.

Most scuba and paddling drysuits have wrist and ankle cuffs to protect their wrist gaskets and ankle gaskets or dry socks from damage, but some drysuits of both kinds don't have wrist and/or ankle cuffs.

I had a similar question.  I see that some of them seem to be obviously not good choices.  But others look like they might work.

Anyone use an OS-systems for paddling?

Like this one?

You will sweat your ass off

No doubt, but compared to?

I see some use neoprene farmer john wetsuits with a dry top.  Would this be worse than that?

I am not headed off shore but just the near shore in the sound.  I think a drysuit is in order, but cost is the issue.  Drysuit will probably just remain a future goal and I will limit my risk by location choice.
 

Watch craigslist. You can find a used kokatat for $300 ish if you are patient.

No doubt, but compared to?

I see some use neoprene farmer john wetsuits with a dry top.  Would this be worse than that?

I am not headed off shore but just the near shore in the sound.  I think a drysuit is in order, but cost is the issue.  Drysuit will probably just remain a future goal and I will limit my risk by location choice.
 

Cost was always a problem for me since Im always in school, but outdoor play has a good selection of drysuits. I purchased their Kokatat Men's Tropos SuperNova Paddling Suit a while back with a promo code that knocked 20% off the retail price. You can get on their email list and once in a while they will send you a promo code for a discount. Also, you can always use the NWKA discount code with them and get 15% off any of their full priced items anytime. Outdoorplay.com has great customer service plus you don't pay shipping or taxes with them.

I have owned several OS Systems paddling dry suits, and am currently using an OS Systems stream count dry suit for snorkeling and speargunning for pike. Used it today, in fact.  A major disadvantage of the drysuit in your picture is that it is a rear entry drysuit.  With most rear entry drysuits, you can't close or open the zipper yourself.  Somebody else has to.  I encourage you to avoid rear entry dry suits, and stick with front entry (diagonal zipper) drysuits.

I have owned several OS Systems paddling dry suits, and am currently using an OS Systems stream count dry suit for snorkeling and speargunning for pike. Used it today, in fact.  A major disadvantage of the drysuit in your picture is that it is a rear entry drysuit.  With most rear entry drysuits, you can't close or open the zipper yourself.  Somebody else has to.  I encourage you to avoid rear entry dry suits, and stick with front entry (diagonal zipper) drysuits.

Well, you can work the zipper on some rear entry suits (if flexible enough), but it's challenging...  Done it few times when diving (Bare D6 neoprene).

Jim

Pmmpete - So other than the rear entry this suit would work? 

One major advantage to this suit is it is $50 on craigslist.  But I don't want to buy something that just would not work.

Widgeonmangh:  The price is right, but another disadvantage of the drysuit is that it doesn't have a relief zipper.  That means that periodically you will need to get to shore, get the rear zipper open, pull the drysuit down to your waist, and let fly, probably under some time pressure.  You could install a waterproof relief zipper or a pee valve system (which would require you to wear an external catheter, but would allow you to pee at any time and as frequently as you want merely by relaxing your sphincter), but those improvements would add to the cost of the drysuit.

If despite the rear entry and relief zipper issues, you're still thinking of buying this very inexpensive drysuit, here's some things you can do to check it out further:

1.  Try on the drysuit to make sure you can fit inside it with room for a lot of extra clothing.  If it's loose and baggy, don't worry about it.  You apparently aren't trying to make a style statement.  But if it's too small, it won't work.

2.  When trying on the drysuit, see if you can figure out a way to operate the rear entry zipper by yourself, probably with some combination of a cord or strap attached to the zipper pull and a stick with a hook on it.  If you can't figure out how to operate the zipper yourself reliably and conveniently, I suggest that you forget about buying the drysuit.

3.  This drysuit looks like quite an old drysuit.  Check the fabric carefully for delamination.  In the 90's, OS Systems had problems with the fabric on their drysuits delaminating and leaking.

4.  This is a used drysuit.  Also check the fabric for cuts, punctures, and abrasion.  In addition to inspecting it from the outside, check the integrity of the coating on the inside of the fabric.  And bring the drysuit into a dark room and run a florescent trouble light around inside it.  Holes will show up as spots of light.  Individual holes can be easily fixed, but a widespread pattern of small holes might be difficult to fix.

5.  Check the condition of the neck and wrist gaskets.  Stretch them to see if the latex has started to crack from age, sunlight, body oils, suntan lotion, etc.  If a drysuit is being used heavily, the neck gasket may need to be replaced every couple of years, but in my experience wrist gaskets rarely need to be replaced.  If a gasket is extensively deteriorated, it's eventually going to break.  The question is, will it break as you're getting dressed to go fishing, and potentially screw up a day of fishing, or will it break as you're undressing at the end of a day of fishing, which is not so bad.  If the neck gasket needs to be replaced, you can buy one from OS Systems or Kokatat and glue it in yourself (I have done this many times).  Kokatat used to have instructions on its website for replacing neck gaskets.  Or you can pay a local water sports store to replace the gasket.  Price out the cost of replacing any seriously depreciated gaskets.

6. E-mail a picture of the drysuit to OS Systems, ask them how old it is, and ask them what the intended purpose of the drysuit was.

7.  Consider that if you buy that drysuit, other kayak fishers may frequently eyeball it and ask you "What is that thing you're wearing?"  Mull over whether that will bother you.

8.  If the fabric isn't breathable, and it almost certainly isn't, keep in mind that you'll get condensation inside the drysuit, which is undesirable but not a significant problem. Breathable drysuits are much nicer for paddlesports use.

All things considered, unless you are on a very tight budget, I think you'll be happier buying a new or used drysuit which is better suited to kayak fishing.

8.  If the fabric isn't breathable, and it almost certainly isn't, keep in mind that you'll get condensation inside the drysuit. Breathable drysuits are very desirable for paddlesports use.

breathable is the characteristic I picked up on watching this thread develop.  kayak paddling dry/semi-dry suits need to be breathable since you will spend most of your time above the water, plus the relief zipper/flap issue...LOL

I have a Kokatat Supernova Angler and have spent as much as 6 continuous hours on the water in it in warm (70F) conditions, very comfortable, especially like the neoprene adjustable neck gasket, no moisture issues inside, I only get too warm under direct sun...being more comfortable means I wear the suit more often than not...

Great information and responses.  I don't know if this particular one will work because it is geographically further than makes sense (the price of gas is greater than the cost of the suit).  But this is the info I was looking for in evaluating the decision. Hope it is helpful to the original poster of the thread.

Here's a rear entry drysuit story.  On a three-day kayak trip on the Middle Fork of the Flathead in Montana, starting from the backcountry airstrip at Schafer Meadows, a friend (who I will call John, because that is his name) was using a back-entry drysuit.  Which kaykers virtually never use.  In the Spruce Creek Gorge we jumped out of our kayaks to scout a rapid, and John headed off into the trees to respond to a call of nature.  After scouting the rapid we jumped back into our kayaks, ran the rapid, and eddied out at the bottom to wait for John, forgetting that he would need help with his drysuit.  After a minute John emerged from the trees, looked upstream, looked downstream, and didn't see any other people at the top of the rapid.  His shoulders slumped.  He knew he was in trouble, because he couldn't close the zipper on his drysuit without help from somebody else.  We couldn't get back up to help him because of cliffs along the rapid.  So for about 15 minutes we watched from the eddy as he went through many entertaining contortions as he tried to get the zipper shut.  Finally he was able to hook the strap on the zipper pull over a branch and use that to close the zipper.  After that incident, John got a front entry drysuit.