Survival/Immersion/Drysuits

[DoubleEnder]

It’s an interesting subject. I was blooming freezing last week and thinking about clothing. But I’m confused by the terminology: drysuit/immersion suit/flotation suit. And with limited space I struggle to stow one suit of conventional oilskins per person in a tidy manner so maybe I’ll just stick with my current arrangements for now. And just clip on.

 

[dom]

I carry a Fladen flotation suit ( 2 piece ) for when it’s cold or for those overnight watches. It’s a little bulkier than my normal wet weather gear and it might not be the height of fashion as it’s really designed for fishing/workwear but is beautifully warm and should keep me warm in the briney for a while if I’m unfortunate enough to go overboard.

No deal for me:
- means that a single hour and my body temp is 35.3°C. I want to be alive in 2 days if necessary...

I've seen the Fladen suits and they seem good value. As a matter of interest, is the fabric breathable and what form does the internal insulation/buoyancy take?

Re the various ISO standards, I agree, the warmth of a drysuit is typically not inherent to the garment and is instead almost entirely dependent on the garments worn beneath and whether they are dry or not. This enables the entire system to be specced for the envisaged water temp, to possibly include wetsuit gloves/boots, balaclava's, etc.

 

[Kukri]

For those who do carry/wear dry suits which style do you go for?

Seem to be 2 main options - those designed for kayaking / dinghy sailing that are simply a dry suit and those designed for sailing that have many of the features of oilies (hoods, pockets etc). Those strike me as being more cumbersome (I wear my ocean oilies as rarely as possible)

Sailing type. Hoods, pockets, etc. but also reinforcement at knees, etc. The fabric is much tougher. My son ripped the backside out of his dinghy sailing one in a season's dinghy sailing. If I have a whinge it is that my Henri-Lloyd ones don't have drainage in the pockets. I find them less cumbersome than the whole three layers of conventional oilies, because there isn't a double thickness (salopettes + jacket) over my torso. But I wouldn't wear a drysuit to the pub!

 

[Daverw]

Often warn them in pubs during lunch stop on paddling trips, have had some very strange looks, although near many common stops quite the norm.

 

[Iain C]

So...how come if I run out of talent dinghy sailing and end up in the water I don't die wearing only a 50N bouyancy aid? What's all this 275N malarkey?

 

[LadyInBed]

Sea Angler did a comparison of immersion suits HERE
I have a one piece for when it is cold and miserable but I wear a lightweight salopee under it as when I have to do any deckwork I take the immersion suit off else I sweat buckets.
Sailing solo, I put a lot of effort into not falling overboard, as if I did then I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I would die !

 

[srah1953]

For those of use with a weak bladder, how easy / hard is it to visit the heads wearing a dry suit?
Mind you, if I have a lot of layers on, it's not always that easy with ordinary foul weather gear!

 

[Kukri]

For those of use with a weak bladder, how easy / hard is it to visit the heads wearing a dry suit?
Mind you, if I have a lot of layers on, it's not always that easy with ordinary foul weather gear!

Good question...

Older sailing dry suits (many still in use - they go on for decades) have a zip across the back between the shoulder blades and a fly zip in the obvious place. You can't zip yourself into these on your own - you need a friend - but you can pee without external assistance - unless you do what we are all told to do and sit down in the heads... Younger sailing drysuits (less than about 15 years old) have a diagonal zip starting on the left shoulder and ending at the crotch. These can be put on and taken off "single handed". You unzip the last few inches of the zip to pee. Arguably, this is easier than undoing the LJ to undo the jacket to get to the fly zip in the salopettes...

 

[dom]

For those of use with a weak bladder, how easy / hard is it to visit the heads wearing a dry suit?
Mind you, if I have a lot of layers on, it's not always that easy with ordinary foul weather gear!

The somewhat euphemistically named feature you're looking for is a "convenience zip"!

 

[zoidberg]

The somewhat euphemistically named feature you're looking for is a "convenience zip"!

On many 'drysuits' that zip gives access to a rolled-up 4" diameter rubberised fabric tube about 6"-8" long. Try finding your way in through that on a cold, cold night..... or rather, try finding your way out!

 

[Kukri]

Haven’t seen that on a Henri-Lloyd or Musto offshore drysuit.

Henri-Lloyd and Musto are much the same except that:

Henri-Lloyd use an even more bullet - proof looking zipper than Musto.

Musto do put a drain in the lower pocket, but like H-L there are no drains in the other pockets. This is Very Annoying!!!

Musto include a manual inflation tube which you can use to add buoyancy if you find yourself swimming... (presuming that the lifejacket has worked as it should...)

Both use the same collar and hood arrangements as on their respective top of the range jackets.

Frankly, both excellent apart from the lack of drains in the pockets.

 

[Red Panda]

I've got a Typhoon kayaking drysuit that's kept me warm and dry during whitewater and sea kayak safety & rescue courses, and on a couple of unplanned out-of-kayak river descents. It sometimes gets brought along on sailing trips. It's much less restrictive than a full set of foulies, and I'd much rather be in the drysuit were I to find myself in the sea.

If you're new to drysuits - make sure you've done up the convenience zip before rescue practice!

 

[Kukri]

Good point!

And I agree that a drysuit can feel much less "clumbungy" (lovely old fashioned seamanship term!) than oilies.

One thing that really puzzles me is that both H-L and Musto sell offshore smocks with drysuit neck and cuffs. I suppose the idea is that if you are reaching above your head to deal with a sail, in "very moist conditions", the water does not run up your sleeves, which is one of the joys of a drysuit, but, other than that, these seem to be garments that combine the worst of both worlds.

Perhaps a keen racer can drop by and explain it?

 

[madbowman]

Good point!

And I agree that a drysuit can feel much less "clumbungy" (lovely old fashioned seamanship term!) than oilies.

One thing that really puzzles me is that both H-L and Musto sell offshore smocks with drysuit neck and cuffs. I suppose the idea is that if you are reaching above your head to deal with a sail, in "very moist conditions", the water does not run up your sleeves, which is one of the joys of a drysuit, but, other than that, these seem to be garments that combine the worst of both worlds.

Perhaps a keen racer can drop by and explain it?

I'm looking at buying a drysuit myself for offshore sailing (including the Fastnet race this year), either the Henri Lloyd or Musto (second hand you can get them for roughly the same price as a new set of MPX salopettes that I am replacing!). Any advice as to which one is better is welcomed. Mainly confused about the advantage or otherwise of the inflation tube...

I already have one of these 'dry' smocks. On the bow or even on the rail you can have water jetting onto you and over your head occasionally - depending on the seas - jackets are useless at keeping the water out, and even smocks with the adjustable necks can leak so you have the nice feeling of water trickling down inside your waterproofs!

With a dry top over salopettes and a decent pair of boots (I've got the Musto MPX boots with gaiter - highly recommended!!), you can stay reasonably dry - maybe not as dry as a drysuit though!!

 

[Kukri]

I was put wise to drysuits by my late friend and colleague Andrew Williams who was Frank Pong’s foredeck on Jelik long ago.

I’ve got a Henri-Lloyd as has one son and the other son has a Musto. I have the impression that, unlike with HPX salopettes, where Henri-Lloyd make rather slim fit ones, the Henri-Lloyd ocean drysuit fits a bigger waistline than the Musto one does.

I don’t think there is any point in the inflation tube.

If buying secondhand, try to get one with the front zip not the back zip unless you can be sure of help in putting it on.

 

[madbowman]

Thanks

 

[Muddy32]

Sea Angler did a comparison of immersion suits HERE
I have a one piece for when it is cold and miserable but I wear a lightweight salopee under it as when I have to do any deckwork I take the immersion suit off else I sweat buckets.
Sailing solo, I put a lot of effort into not falling overboard, as if I did then I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I would die !

+1 Don't fall in in the first place. 65 years so far with self and all aboard, staying there.

 

[KellysEye]

We didn't carry dry suits when long distance sailing the whole point is no to go overboard. We had a U bolt in the cockpit, tethers both sides of the deck and a harness with one long and one short tether to stop us going over the guard rails when going forward the long one was put around the mast when reefing to stop falling back. We always clipped on at night and bad weather.

 

[[3889]]

There are many threads on here about PLBs, EPIRBs, and AIS beacons, the first two of which are close on worthless offshore in normal UK conditions.

I had a PLB self-activate last year and got a phone call from the Spanish Coastguard within 10 minutes. A Helo can travel 50 miles in 30 minutes so not sure why you are are so dismissive of PLBs?
This guy was in the water for 30 mins+ in December with the strength to hang onto nets, whatever the USCG says.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...lyn-pier-nathan-rogers-rnli-a8702051.html?amp