Dry suits - who in their right mind would buy one?

Having raced dinghies in the winter in wetsuits ( it was a while ago ) a drysuit is worth its' weight in gold !

my last one - a Typhoon cheapo job - got too tight around the neck - way beyond being watertight, ( maybe it was trying to strangle me as a service to sailing ) which is worth checking.

Bog standard drysuits start at around £200, brilliant for dinghy sailing* but I wouldn't use one on a yacht; oldbilbo refers to the ' relief tube ' for male fast jet flyers; there's a reason for that !



* Try going into the 'oggin after Christmas and having a wetsuit slowly fill around you; probably contravenes several Human Rights Bills and the Geneva Convention.
 
I used a two-piece Ursuit drysuit during the mini-transat and it was a revelation. Waterproof and breathable, and it was relatively easy to get the top off for sleeping (when I was always more comfortable by removing the outer layers) or for comfort breaks.

I wore it for about three days straight while going upwind off the coast of Brazil in 25 knots (that wasn't in the brochure) and despite the very warm weather the breathability made it a very comfortable time. Also wore it almost constantly for about a week while going down the coast of Portugal upwind (also not in the brochure) to Madeira in somewhat cooler conditions. Again, very comfortable.

If I was going to be doing a lot of offshore again I wouldn't be without one.
 
Yes its been great, but more for taking lines ashore in unusually small scottish anchorages, or checking the prop etc

And funnily enough my neighbour gave me it, its a good diving one, spent 100 on neoprene seals
 
Seajet said:
Having raced dinghies in the winter in wetsuits ( it was a while ago ) a drysuit is worth its' weight in gold !

my last one - a Typhoon cheapo job - got too tight around the neck - way beyond being watertight, ( maybe it was trying to strangle me as a service to sailing ) which is worth checking.
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Advice from a friend with many miles of long distance open cat sailing was to re cut the neck seal so it is not too tight, they come to fit the smallest neck and some have rings marked so you can cut a bigger hole to suit the neck. I had the same problem with mine.

Price wise you can get an excellent two piece dry suit with relief zip for £300, or the one piece as used by fire services which I have for £200 no yachty/sporty brand names but a quality product. Have a look at Lomo or ewestuits.
kayak-drysuit.jpg
 
Neil_Y,

Ta for that, I particularly like it being conspicuous yellow rather than daft black !

The ' relief zip* ' too...:)

*High altitude recce Spitfires and other aircraft had a copper ' relief tube '; one had to be very careful in sub-zero high altitude conditions not to get ones' anatomy frozen onto it...
 
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£1200 for a drysuit?
In the Lifeboat magazine, which came today, it says that "an Inshore lifeboat crew member's drysuit costs £319", and the RNLI is not noted for buying the cheapest.
 
Breathable dinghy sailing suit was £400 about 10 years ago, diving one was made to measure three years ago for £700 plus another couple of hundred for a made to measure undersuit and just over £100 for some boots, spare diving one was £300 second hand, tried on a £2200 diving drysuit last year and would have bought it if they had any stock. Dinghy suit has latex socks and dive suit has neoprene socks as I much prefer proper boots to the built in ones. We dive all year around and regularly do a winter under the ice dive, last year it was much warmer in the water than out of it due to the sub-zero temps but nice and toasty in my drysuit.

Pee valve and fittings are essential for diving and if I did more dinghy / kayaking I'd fit one to that suit.

Diving drysuit also has dry gloves which I reckon are another essential bit of kit.

As mentioned above Lomo do very good quality well priced gear.
 
I think people are failing to understand the type of drysuit in question. Since big boat sailing is mentioned in the opening post, I believe the type in question to be of the ilk of the Musto HPX drysuit, which has all the features of a set of ocean foulies but with the added benefit that it stops the water getting in at the ankles, cuffs, neck and between jacket and breeks when being swept by a greenie and increases survival time if you actually end up in the drink.

The OP also mentions paying half of an RRP of £1250 (which is rather excessive even for an HPX drysuit as they routinely retail at around £800), so I assume gave £625 for it.

It's all there in the initial post if you read it.
 
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I've been wondering, in unguarded moments, about the connection between 'jamesuk' and 'simondjuk' and '.....marineandoutdoorclothing.co.uk' and why one of 'em has chimed in with some personal quibbles.

Then the penny dropped.

They're both involved in the boating clothing business, as far as I can see, may evn be related, and it's that one at the end of the hyperlink. So is 'Grumpy ol' Futtock' about to have a 'Craig Smith' moment....? ;)

FWIW, HM The Queen paid for my first several drysuits. They were manufactured out of what seemed like linoleum and truck tyres, and me mates and I were blurry grateful - despite the discomfort. As for my interest in an effective pee-tube, 'Seajet' is not wrong when he alludes to the little local 'polar vortex' that was the cockpit of a high-flying recce Spitfire - and a high-flying recce Canberra! The Outside Air Temp encountered on a daily basis was very frequently around -47°C and only about 2.5mm of aluminium insulation and some rivets came between the air whistling past 'the office' at several hundred knots and me pink and wrinkled nether regions. One tried very hard not to utilise the supplied pee-tube. It was a culture and honour thing.....

However, spending hours in the cockpit of a boat in serious weather certainly necessitates a functioning pee-tube. I would encourage the OP to give some weight to that requirement, for clambering half-out of an 'inconvenient' drysuit down below when one needs a widdle will seriously test his patience and his perspicacity.

The 'all-singing, all-dancing' kit I now have is made by Musto. It even has a little tube let into the chest which permits one to suckle from one's hip flask ( worn in an inside shirt pocket... ) as one sails along in the dark and stormy.

Now, back to me slippers and cocoa... ;)
 
oldbilbo said:
I've been wondering, in unguarded moments, about the connection between 'jamesuk' and 'simondjuk' and '.....marineandoutdoorclothing.co.uk' and why one of 'em has chimed in with some personal quibbles.

Then the penny dropped.

They're both involved in the boating clothing business, as far as I can see, may evn be related, and it's that one at the end of the hyperlink. So is 'Grumpy ol' Futtock' about to have a 'Craig Smith' moment....? ;)
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First it was the guy who was convinced I worked for the manufacturer of PSS seals, now I'm in the marine clothing business. All I can say is that I wish I were being paid for all these jobs I don't do.

As to my comment relating to your comment relating to the pee tube, I was responding to you responding to a poster other than the OP who had mentioned a Typhoon drysuit which retails at £500 odd. Different poster, different drysuit, so I'm not sure how you conclude that I was chipping in on the OP's behalf there.

As to my later post re the Musto suits and how much the OP paid for whatever suit it is he's bought, I was just getting a little bored with people repeatedly asking how much the OP paid, when if they'd bothered to read the very words they were commenting on they would have known, and comparing the cost to a simple dinghy sailing drysuit, despite it seeming apparent from the opening post that this wasn't the type in question, unless 68 foot dinghies have caught on lately. :)
 
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