Kokatat Drysuit Maintenance

If you have a newer Kokatat paddling suit, you probably have the plastic zipper.  Kokatat includes a small tube of lubricant with these suits.  The lubricant allows you to more easily seal the zipper at the end of its' stroke.  You can still complete the seal without the lube but it takes a lot more effort.
 
After washing my suit recently I forgot to re-lube this feature and learned the hard way why it was included.  I assumed that the amount of force I was using was sufficient to close the seal but I was wrong.  The leakage wasn't bad but after a 50 yard swim I was less than comfortable....  So, do yourself a favor, lube your zipper closure.   

Here's a nice little maintenance video from Kokatat:

Great bit of advice, but more importantly.... is there an incriminating video of this 50 yard swim out there somewhere dying to be posted on YouTube? 

Thanks for this! I was just about to ask about drysuit maintenance and came across this. Do you think any washer without an agitator would be OK?

Thanks for this! I was just about to ask about drysuit maintenance and came across this. Do you think any washer without an agitator would be OK?

My washer has an agitator that moves reaaaaaaally slow when set to gentle.  I'd say as long as you have a gentle or hand wash cycle on your machine, you'll be ok.

Great bit of advice, but more importantly.... is there an incriminating video of this 50 yard swim out there somewhere dying to be posted on YouTube? 

There was a drone circling and probably 30 people around when it happened so there should be video.    Unfortunately, it was a concious choice to leave my kayak and provide support for a fellow who wasn't able to re-board his own craft.

-Mark-

Thanks for this! I was just about to ask about drysuit maintenance and came across this. Do you think any washer without an agitator would be OK?

My washer has an agitator that moves reaaaaaaally slow when set to gentle.  I'd say as long as you have a gentle or hand wash cycle on your machine, you'll be ok.

Thank you, I will try it, I have some dye free, fragrance free soap to use. I haven't properly cleaned my drysuit before and the smell is starting to get worse, so hopefully these tips will help it.

I wash my drysuits by hand.  If a drysuit has dry socks, it's hard to pour all the water out of the legs so the suit will dry quickly, and the water certainly isn't going to come out of the suit in the spin cycle.  After you drain and sponge out all the water you can, hang it up with a fan blowing into the entry zipper so the inside of the drysuit will dry out as fast as possible.  Mildew smells bad and creates leaks in nylon.

Thanks for this! I was just about to ask about drysuit maintenance and came across this. Do you think any washer without an agitator would be OK?

My washer has an agitator that moves reaaaaaaally slow when set to gentle.  I'd say as long as you have a gentle or hand wash cycle on your machine, you'll be ok.

Thank you, I will try it, I have some dye free, fragrance free soap to use. I haven't properly cleaned my drysuit before and the smell is starting to get worse, so hopefully these tips will help it.

You can machine wash it. Kokatat recommends McNett M-Essentials Wetsuit & Drysuit shampoo: http://www.amazon.com/M-Essentials-Wetsuit-Drysuit-Shampoo/dp/B000NIB32S/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1438637842&sr=1-1

I machine wash mine on a front loader using detergent designed for poly pro (Sportswash).  I hang it up to dry, then I turn it inside out and hang it again. I have done this several times with no problems on the goretx model.

Love the Hangair!   

It has a waterpoof fan in the neck that blows a very large amount of air inside the drysuit/wetsuit to dry it out quickly.  The power cord is 15 feet long so plugging it in the garage isn't an issue. 

One thing I do with mine is to hang the suit on the hanger and let the bulk of the loose water inside run down into the feet, then pull the feet/legs through the relief zipper to drain out all of this water.  Then push the feet back through and leave the relief zipper open while the fan circulates air through the suit to dry it.  It will dry in a matter of hours, not days. 

Then I just roll the feet up the legs and tuck them under the skirt and leave it to breath in the garage until I need to pack it for another day on cold water.

http://www.uwkinetics.com/products/hangair-drying-system#.VcAKKflViko