Post
by okieboater » Sun Nov 07, 2010 1:00 pm
Mike,
good question:
"One question I've had is how much does breathability matter (in terms of one drytop to the next) when you've got a spray skirt on the bottom half & a PFD on the top half?"
Based on years of paddling jacket use, here is my opinion.
In the winter time, long as you have good layers of fleece or wool underneath, my take is it does not matter much long as you are paddling hard enough to generate a lot of body heat. And, you do not take on much water into the boat. In the hot summer, I often wear a paddle jacket over a silk weight tee capilene tee shirt and roll to get every thing wet to cool down.
Specially in the cooler months, when you stop paddling hard, my take is it matters quite a bit. In really cold weather I have been chilled when I stopped paddling hard in wet from sweat fleece and if stopped, down right cold.
regardless of what the pundits say, I have found wet fleece or wool to be way less warm than relatively dry fleece or wool.
again for me at least, if you are boating in just cool weather, the wet fleece / wool warmth factor when wet does not matter a lot.
when it is really cold, windy and maybe drizzle rain - honest gore tex over fleece or wool that only gets a bit damp is a lot warmer to me.
By the way, I am moving more and more towards the merino based wool layers. Not quite sure how much better if any they are, having not been out in really cold boating weather, but the wool seems to work better at least for me.
I have been thru a lot of paddle jackets/dry tops over the years. Used the kokatat gore tex dry top then went to Stolquist breathable for a couple or so years, for the cost factor. Last year got tired of buying a new Stolquist every year or so even at a close out discount and went to the Kokotat Gore Tex Rogue. Extremely happy with the Rogue going into the second year and it still works like new.
I have switched over to Jackson kayaks and Snapdragon spray skirts since the Mega Rocker came out and have been a ton dryer. Might just be the progress made in all materials but I have made a lot of trips in this combo and zero to little water inside the boat. One tip is when I have had water in the boat it came in down the small of my back. It is hard to get a good seal back there. I have thought about some sort of glued in neoprene pad to my spray skirt, just have not got around to doing that.
Okieboater AKA Dave Reid
We are not sure when childhood ends and adulthood begins.
We are sure that when retirement begins, childhood restarts
.
