Rash Guard vs. Dry Shirt

Scott B

Member
What's the difference?

I have a rash guard, and it is made of dry shirt type material. Am I missing something?

Or is a rash guard just cut to be tighter fitting?
 
What's the difference?

I have a rash guard, and it is made of dry shirt type material. Am I missing something?

Or is a rash guard just cut to be tighter fitting?

A rash guard is usually made of nylon. It's slick and clingy. I believe that it was originally meant to go under a wet suit, which it made easier to slide on. I wear long sleeve rash guards in the summer as stand alone UV protection. Luv 'em.
 
Rash Guards are meant to protect from the sun, and when snorkeling/diving marine life scrapes. So these are just to protect skin pretty much, where as drysuits are used to keep you warm, either when the waters cold, or when you will be exposed to the water for long periods of time, or both. Underneath drysuits fleece undergarments are worn to keep you warm, the drysuit itself has little if any thermal value...in fact basically only crushed neoprene dry suits offer insulation by themself..
 
I believe you misread my original message. I was asking about dry shirts.

As I understand the rash guard was developed to protect from chafing occurring due to the wax (the rash part) associated with water board sports such as surfing. It is for warm-hot weather and it is highly breathable (water in and out at will) moisture control is not its purpose. The UV protection part came later as a very nice extra.

Dry Shirts, opposite to rash guards, are meant to protect from cold wet weather. It is somewhat breathable but its main purpose is to keep water and wind OUT. Think of it as a kind of sport Gore-Tex. I am guessing that if it is fit enough to your body will also protect you from chafing, but it is not meant to be used in activities where being submerged is inevitable like swimming, surfing, snorkeling, but rather activities where you will be exposed to cold moisture and winds, a rainy track day, football (both types), fishing and SAILING.
 
Rash Guards are mostly used for sun protection around here in Canada. I wear one when I swim outdoors as I'm allergic to sunscreen lotion and therefore worried about sun exposure. Rash guards are also designed to be tight fitting.

Dry shirts (from what I know) are designed to be breatheable and not absorb sweat when you're running, jogging, hiking etc. I wear one for Tae Kwon Do fighting as I tend to sweat like a madman and wearing sweaty shirts under my uniform is no fun.
 
My dry shirt repels water and spray and keeps me...well dry. Also warm and UV protected. My rash guard gives me UV protection as do the other various techie shirts I wear. That's how it works for me, I'd never be on the water without long sleeve UV protection, regardless of the tempurature
 

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