Drysuits or wetsuits?

What do you use.

  • Wetsuit (full)

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • wetsuit (Shorti [arms and legs])

    Votes: 16 55.2%
  • drysuit

    Votes: 5 17.2%

  • Total voters
    29
Hey i was wondering what you guys use,preffer and whats the real difference and/or advantage/disadvantage of either wetsuit or drysuit. And if wetsuit is buying a full wet suit compared to just the shorti versions really worth it?
 
Well, I use my hiking pants as a wetsuit, considering it is made of wetsuit material (except the battens of course)


The shape of it doesn't cover my army however, so I'm considering buying an upper-body wetsuit to go under my splash-top. 3/4 length legs work fine with high-topped booties :)
 
I hate sailing in wetsuits. They aren't much good unless you're completely and constantly covered in water. Otherwise they're just hot, itchy and constircting. I simply where my hiking pants and if it's wet and cold, a couple long sleeve rachguards and a spray top. If it's really cold then I'll put on the matching spray pants.
 
ronstan skiff suit with no arms (why do you have no thing for long legs & no arms? cause thats where i would vote!) best wetsuit type thing that i have ever had, doesn't get hot when its warmish here & its warm when its cold, & its ronstan is ozzy owned so its even better YEA :D did i mention that land sucks & i hate land?
when i cant be bothered (to lazy) to put my skiffsuit on (which is when its like 30-40 degrees C), i just wear my rash vest & board shorts (this makes it easier to swim when i jump off the boat as well), i take my spray jacket out as well so i have a head rest if the wind drops out! he he he he.
 
I have stoped wearing my wet suit now that I have hiking pants. They have been keeping me warm enough.... Now I have a Shorti wetsuit and if you don't have hiking pants it worked just fine. The only time you really need a full wetsuit is if you are doing fall or spring sailing beacuse the water is the coldest. It would be completly different if you sail in the ocean... I only really sail in Lake Ontario so I hope that this helped!
-Megs!
 
mm, is lake ontario fresh water? because if it is, it should be colder than the ocean, well, thats what happens down here. when its winter here, the bay & the lakes are way colder than out in the ocean, this is because the water moves around more in the ocean than it does in bays/lakes & the fact that the bay/lakes are shallower, allowing the bay/lake to get colder quicker, i have seen on a graph, our bay goes down to like 0C during the winter sometimes, & the oceans like 15C.
 
I do exactly the same as Yachtie2k4...Ronstan skiff suit, long legs no arms in cold weather with my spray jacket in even colder weather and board shorts & rash top in hot weather. It never gets cold enough here to require a drysuit.

Siege
 
I use both, wetsuit and drysuit. The weather here is very unsettled (in the season 15-32 degrees celsius), so on cold days I need a drysuit, warmer day's my wetsuit (short arm, long leg) and on the warmest days I just use my swimming trunks.
 
emilebr said:
I use both, wetsuit and drysuit. The weather here is very unsettled (in the season 15-32 degrees celsius), so on cold days I need a drysuit, warmer day's my wetsuit (short arm, long leg) and on the warmest days I just use my swimming trunks.

This is also what I do.

The wetsuit, that I use, is original a 3mm-neoprene farmer-John in 3/4 length produced from High-Performance (NZL) and has already battens outside the legs for the hiking. This one is not as light wight as a "Burka"-hikingpant, but for my recreational Laser-adventures in the Netherlands it perfect and i got it very cheap (100 Euro).
My drysuit is made from full-GoreTex(C)-cloth (f.e. the Henry Lloyd "drysuit" without neopreneshoes for the foots). GoreTex(C) has the advantage, that it also is dry inside enough, if I sweat. I use it up to about 20 degrees (Celsius) in the air. If it is really cold (under 10 degrees down to 0 or frostbite-sailing), I use functional underwear (Polyamid cloth from biking) and above that, if needed, a terry-cloth fullbody-thermosuit from HellyHansen (its the best quality here) under the dry suit. With this cloths I could also go bigboat-Offshore-Racing as bowman or so, but it also works good on the Laser here.

On hot summerdays (over 30 degrees Celsius), I take my old cutted bluejeans + Laser-Tshirt, sometimes also a light GoreTex(C)-Spraytop and sometimes my hiking-shorts from MagicMarine, if I have to do hiking long in stronger winds. If I got sweat, I cool down with doing a capsize. :D
Ciao
LooserLu
 
yachtie2k4 said:
mm, is lake ontario fresh water? because if it is, it should be colder than the ocean, well, thats what happens down here. when its winter here, the bay & the lakes are way colder than out in the ocean, this is because the water moves around more in the ocean than it does in bays/lakes & the fact that the bay/lakes are shallower, allowing the bay/lake to get colder quicker, i have seen on a graph, our bay goes down to like 0C during the winter sometimes, & the oceans like 15C.
here is a link to show the temperature of inside our bay to out in the ocean http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~awatkins/temps.html
 
Thanx rob,
Well Lake Ontario is fresh water but seeing how it is in Canada we don't sail our lasers in the winter.... it is a little hard to sail when it is -30. But during the summer the water is on average 15 C.
 
Hey, ya i sail in lake ontario to and that why i was wondering about drysuits, i got my laser very recently, and have only been out once because i snapped my fairlead for my traveller the first day and have been waiting for a piece in the mail from fogh marine, but its been a while so i think it got lost. I was wondering how long you guys generally sail to in lake ontario, i figure i would manage to stay out until the end of october.
 
megan_155372 said:
Thanx rob,
Well Lake Ontario is fresh water but seeing how it is in Canada we don't sail our lasers in the winter.... it is a little hard to sail when it is -30. But during the summer the water is on average 15 C.
no problems megan
 
The year of August said:
Hey, ya i sail in lake ontario to and that why i was wondering about drysuits, i got my laser very recently, and have only been out once because i snapped my fairlead for my traveller the first day and have been waiting for a piece in the mail from fogh marine, but its been a while so i think it got lost. I was wondering how long you guys generally sail to in lake ontario, i figure i would manage to stay out until the end of october.


Yeah I am going to stop sailing probably at the end of september.... but maby longer if the weather stays nice. But I think that after that it would start to get a little to cold for my likeing. you can see if the weather is nice and decide if you want to go out....

-Megan ;)
 
The year of August said:
Hey i was wondering what you guys use,preffer and whats the real difference and/or advantage/disadvantage of either wetsuit or drysuit. And if wetsuit is buying a full wet suit compared to just the shorti versions really worth it?

Totally depends on the weather, if the air temperature is 10C or warmer I wear thermals and neoprene Hiking shorts (which are like a shortie, but minus arms). When it gets cooler I switch to a steamer (full wetsuit) especially if the water is going to be cold. My steamer has a foil layer in it which makes it warmer still and a fleecy bit on the inside over the chest. it's very cosy but in the summer unbearable. It does however hamper movement about the boat especially when you put hiking shorts on top!

David
 
all i use is my SEA hiking pants, rash guard, and gill hybrid smock( which is THE BEST!) and it keeps me worm and dry. i dont have the cash for any of that!
 
i'll second that on the gill hybrid top. although i've started wearing a sea rashguard with a microfleece layer built into it, and have found a rarely need a spraytop (i.e. didn't need it all of cork, but will most likely wear it this weekend in connecticut). thenagain, i rarely get cold. period. (except between races)
 
well the reason i were it is because its the fall and in minnesota its gona start gettin cold and its so comfortable so its like why not?!
 

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