Drysuit. What to waer on your feet?

ProDave

ProDave

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simple question.

My shiny new drysuit arrived today.

The feet like rubber boots.

Obviously you are supposed to wear something over them, or else they won't last 5 minutes.

All I can think of is an old pair of (already leaking) wellies, with some holes drilled in them to let the water out.

What's the proper thing to wear on your feet with a drysuit?
 
Drysuits can have either attached boots, ankle seals (rare, but used by surfers etc), or attached socks. Sounds like you have the latter. As you say, they're designed to be worn inside some kind of shoe. In the diving world, the dedicated items are known as "rock boots", they're a sort of canvas sneaker with no extraneous foam or wadding to soak up water.

You could wear almost anything, depends what you're using the suit for.

I currently have a pair of these: http://www.goliath.co.uk/gpst1060/orange.html . They were quite cheap on eBay, £20 delivered, although I can't see any on there now. Excellent boots for the money, but they do soak up water when immersed and feel a bit squelchy. I also wouldn't want to do much swimming in them.

I have previously used cheap high-top plimsoles as a sort of poor-man's rock boots - would do the job nicely but these particular shoes just didn't fit me very well.

Wetsuit boots struck me as another possibility.

Pete
 
maxi77 said:
Most people I know use wetsuit boots. I always found them ideal, kept the feet warm and protected the drysuit sock
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Depending on the weather, boots or shoes. My personal rule is that I wear a lifejacket whenever I wear a drysuit. If any air is trapped in the suit (and there will be) it will be buoyant. But the air can move around and it would not be very comfortable for your feet to be buoyant. Very difficult to get upright when you are inverted with buoyant feet.
 
I wear a pair of cheap neoprene wellies, one size bigger than normal. I've never found a need to drill holes as they are a reasonably neat fit.

You should consider your normal use? In water or on a RIB for example. My use is normally in a RIB with some beach work so the wellies are fine. You could consider canyoneering type boots / shoes as they are designed for rocks, water and everything in between.
 
I put my sailing drysuit on similarly to my diving drysuit; don & zip up then squat down pulling the neck seal open to let as much air as possible out. The dive drysuit has a valve to let the air out and I keep thinking about putting one on my other suit.

Another source of decent boots for a drysuit are jet ski boots such as http://www.roho.co.uk/watersports/Jobe-Neoprene-Boots-Black.html or better still some proper dive rock boots http://www.othree.co.uk/products/boots-21/abyss-boots-80.aspx

The O3 ones are fantastic, just like a normal pair of boots but with holes in and sausage laces so they don't come untied. I've used a pair on my dive drysuit for a good few years but I was lucky enough to pick them up at clearance sale price.

The "rubber boots" are probably either latex, which is thin and fragile and won't last long if you walk anywhere in them, or neoprene socks which are a bit thicker but again not designed to be walked on. Another thing to watch out for is not to pull the suit off by pulling on the socks, only pull on the suit above the sock or you may end up pulling the sock off or pulling it in bits.
 
the drysuit will be for use on the RIB so I can go in the water during launch and recovery without getting wet.

Conventional wellies would fill with water doing that hence the idea of drilling holes to let it out again?

I agree the proper boots would be better, another thing for my wish list.

Yes my suit has neoprene socks built in, and I know about "burping" the suit to get the air out.
 
DinghyMan said:
I put my sailing drysuit on similarly to my diving drysuit; don & zip up then squat down pulling the neck seal open to let as much air as possible out. The dive drysuit has a valve to let the air out and I keep thinking about putting one on my other suit.

Another source of decent boots for a drysuit are jet ski boots such as http://www.roho.co.uk/watersports/Jobe-Neoprene-Boots-Black.html or better still some proper dive rock boots http://www.othree.co.uk/products/boots-21/abyss-boots-80.aspx

The O3 ones are fantastic, just like a normal pair of boots but with holes in and sausage laces so they don't come untied. I've used a pair on my dive drysuit for a good few years but I was lucky enough to pick them up at clearance sale price.

The "rubber boots" are probably either latex, which is thin and fragile and won't last long if you walk anywhere in them, or neoprene socks which are a bit thicker but again not designed to be walked on. Another thing to watch out for is not to pull the suit off by pulling on the socks, only pull on the suit above the sock or you may end up pulling the sock off or pulling it in bits.
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Good advice.

I, too, have a diving dry suit and one for dinghy sailing. For the latter, personally, I put an old pair of socks over the latex feet/seal and then a pair of diving neoprene wet boots.
 
Walking socks on under your drysuit, wetsuit boots on over the top, possibly one size too big, but snug fitting. Use talc on the wetsuit socks or "wear" a plastic bag on each foot to help you get the boots on if needed.

Don't wear crocs or wellies with holes in...you'll get grit in them which will wear holes in your drysuit socks.
 
I fyou are wearing any type of boot over the dry suit socks then get them a size large so that you can wear a thin pair of old socks over the dry suit. It makes getting the boots off so much easier.
 
ProDave said:
simple question.

My shiny new drysuit arrived today.

The feet like rubber boots.

Obviously you are supposed to wear something over them, or else they won't last 5 minutes.

All I can think of is an old pair of (already leaking) wellies, with some holes drilled in them to let the water out.

What's the proper thing to wear on your feet with a drysuit?
Click to expand...

I have a Helly Hansen Ocean Drysuit and wear £33 Gill Aquatech boots.

I Bought the Gill Drysuit socks to give more protection for the expensive investment.
 
davidjackson said:
Good advice.

I, too, have a diving dry suit and one for dinghy sailing. For the latter, personally, I put an old pair of socks over the latex feet/seal and then a pair of diving neoprene wet boots.
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I like the idea of socks over the drysuit socks - I'll try that next time I put my sailing drysuit on. When diving I wear neoprene socks, then put drysuit on which also has neoprene socks, then O3 rockboots so feet stay stay nice and toasty just like the rest of me - I don't do cold but dive all year around so use decent thermals and always wear drygloves
 
Sorry to say it but IMO, neoprene socks are a complete PIA. They ar just an excuse for the manufacturers to get the suit cost down. I've used dry dive suits & surface suits for years & the worst one I've ever had was fitted with neoprene socks. The biggest problem is that the only way to comfortably put boots on is to lube the socks with talc or vetenary KY Gel type stuff. Talc is only useable when they are perfectly dry. Even then the socks pull tight over the toes. If the boots are losse enough to avoid that, they don't fit properly.

If you can, consider getting the suit modified to have proper boots fitted. Every other suit I've used had boots & I can wear whatever thickness of socks I want dependant on dive/surface/winter/summer. Plus the suit is just so much easier to put on.
 
wooslehunter said:
Sorry to say it but IMO, neoprene socks are a complete PIA. They ar just an excuse for the manufacturers to get the suit cost down. I've used dry dive suits & surface suits for years & the worst one I've ever had was fitted with neoprene socks. The biggest problem is that the only way to comfortably put boots on is to lube the socks with talc or vetenary KY Gel type stuff. Talc is only useable when they are perfectly dry. Even then the socks pull tight over the toes. If the boots are losse enough to avoid that, they don't fit properly.

If you can, consider getting the suit modified to have proper boots fitted. Every other suit I've used had boots & I can wear whatever thickness of socks I want dependant on dive/surface/winter/summer. Plus the suit is just so much easier to put on.
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There is no need to lube either latex or neoprene socks if they are the correct size, either are easy to put on and off, latex needs a bit of talc to protect them but neoprene don't.

I would never have another dive drysuit with bots on, proper neoprene socks and proper boots are much better.
 
wooslehunter said:
Sorry to say it but IMO, neoprene socks are a complete PIA. They ar just an excuse for the manufacturers to get the suit cost down. I've used dry dive suits & surface suits for years & the worst one I've ever had was fitted with neoprene socks. The biggest problem is that the only way to comfortably put boots on is to lube the socks with talc or vetenary KY Gel type stuff.
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I used to have a diving drysuit with attached boots, which was fine. But my present surface suit is ex-Navy (seaboat boarding party etc) and has quite tall socks allowing for combat boots. I rather like the flexibility of different footwear - as I posted above, I currently use these boots which work well in a Zapcat-style boat where you get a lot of spray and there's a small possibility of being bounced out of the boat, but you're not expecting to definitely go swimming:

GPSP1060mr.jpg


The loose-fitting wellies on my diving suit were fine for slopping about on boats or shore-dive carparks, but I wouldn't have wanted to walk any distance in them. Whereas these boots I could walk around in all day, the only downside being sweaty feet from the impermeable rubber socks. The suit itself is breathable and amazingly comfortable to wear. I just need to get round to having a pee-zip added for all-day use :)

I don't recognise your comments about having to lubricate the socks at all. I just put the boots on and do up the laces as normal. I guess maybe you're talking about slip-on style wetsuit boots?

Pete
 
My latest dinghy drysuit has fabric feet.
I wear one size bigger dinghy boots with it for dinghy sailing.
The odd time I wear it on a rib, I might wear ordinary sailing wellies.
Currently my preferred dinghy boots are Rooster or Crewsaver, velcro fastening types, as zips can scratch the varnish on the 'old beast'.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.

I did a dry run today (pun intended)

well the old wellie idea is out. My normal size old wellies simply won't go on over the drysuit socks. So any welly solution would require an over sized pair.

Ultimately I will get a pair of proper boots. I guess I need to buy a size or 2 larger than my normal she size?

As an interim and what I will probably try for the first proper outing is a pair of crocs. They fit nicely but not too tight. I appreciate the hazard of grit getting in but the only immersion should be launching the rib from a concrete slipway so minimal chance of grit as long as I'm careful not to step off the slipway onto the seabed.
 
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