C-Forum

The spandex bunney suit, which I put a polypro undergarments over, makes me sweat under my new Kokatat GFER.

Recommendations for wicking wear under my new Kokatat GFER?As temps decline, how many layers?

Thanks!



Big Al

How about posting some pictures of you wearing that Spandex bunny suit, Al?

I heard a good idea:

wear a cotton t-shirt over your wicking layer it will suck up the water.
I have not tried it yet (no water here in NC), so let me know.

The trick is when the gore tex is wetted out it won't breath, so the water will stay in your bunny suit, regardless what fancy material it is made of.

You have anything to paddle up there right now AL?

J. Wood

How about posting some pictures of you wearing that Spandex bunny suit, Al?

NOoooooooooooo!!!!!!!

driftwood wrote:I heard a good idea:

wear a cotton t-shirt over your wicking layer it will suck up the water.
I have not tried it yet (no water here in NC), so let me know.

Some folk around here use that setup, but it's mainly for those having non-breathing suits. Gore-tex breathes really nice when wheather is cold or dry enough. If not, it either means to me it's not cold enough for the dry-suit or... maybe you might as well wear a mask and tuba diving kinda setup?

Cotton should not be a good idea. True, a wet-out Goretex (or similar textile material) breathes less, but it will if dried. If it wets-out fast (no beading of spray water any more) re-impregnate it. Other than that, I have made the best experiences with structured next-to-skin layers like the waffled fleece (mid-weight or heavyweight MEC underwear - I think its polartec brand, but whatever) or Light Odlo underwear (although that abrades a bit.. but mine is 6+ years old, they have new, probably better (softer to the skin) stuff now).

The waffled stuff, which I also wear as a top first layer under my long john kombination, really feels nearly dry when soaked. Highly recommended!

Ditto on the waffled MEC polarwear; incredibly breathing and still very warm and comfy. Also hear some very good feedbacks on the merino wool but haven't tried it yet just wacky expensive $$$ !!!

any links to this waffled MEC polarware??







Big Al

Patagonia's version is the R1:
http://www.patagonia.com/us/shop/regula ... k=51-1D-a6

If it's cold, I wear a wicking layer and a wool layer on top of that. If it's not that cold, just a light wool layer.

I've also tried wearing the wool layer with a thicker polyester layer over it and that works too.

i like nice thick, fuzzy, fleece next to my skin. and another layer of fleece over that to catch some of the moisture and insulate. thick or thin, depending on temps .

My base layer for my legs is Merino wool. I really want to get an upper merino wool base layer to replace my polypro.

So for the bottoms:

Merino wool
Fleece PJ pants
Wool socks

For the top:
Polypropylene base layer
100% polyester T-shirt
100% wool sweater
Zip-up fleece

Remove layers for slightly higher temps (that still require a dry suit) as needed.

merino wool is where its at if you can find it cheap. i wear merino on my skin, w/ fleece over that. i'm always sweaty and wet when i take off my drysuit, but i'm still warm.


i heard a rumor that sam's club has cleap merino layers. haven't checked out yet myself....

EMS Techwick and Kokotat Polartec bunny suit

Paddled last week -- air temperature was 4 degrees above freezing; light snow flurries.

Usually the Kokatat Polartec bunny suit is all I need, but this trip I added a MEC polyester t-shirt, and a long-sleeved Stanfield's kroy wool undershirt.

On the bottom, I added kroy wool long johns, cut off above the knees (the old problem about fitting into the bulkhead), and wool knee-socks.

Glacier gloves, and a light neoprene hood under the helmet, and was comfy all trip, (which featured lotsa rolling practice.)

Don't know whether Stanfields still puts out the kroy wool undergarments, but they're good -- and cheaper than merino.

BTW -- my bunny suit is brown. Someone snapped a pic of me, clad in the bunny suit, on top of my truck tying down boats. I looked like an elderly beaver without the tail.

Rick