Any suggestions on staying dry and warm? | SouthernPaddler.com

Any suggestions on staying dry and warm?

kee41

Member
Jul 25, 2005
18
0
Mary Esther Florida
Now that is colder, I want to fish on Lake Talquin but are trying to figure out how to stay warm and dry. Any suggestions? I have read that wearing waider is dangerous if you tip over and the same for rain suits. Any truth to this?

Kelvin
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Friend Kelvin,

Ta stay warm AND dry, ya better look at the dry suit Joel iz sewin'. If ya caint sew, they got store bought if ya got an extra arm 'er leg. :wink: I quit tryin' ta stay dry 'n settled fer warm. I wear a thin shell over polartec 'er a merino wool shirt. I wear wool socks 'n river sandals on my feet. Even tho I dont wear 'em often I got a polartec hat 'n some neophrene gloves fer sleet 'n such. A stylish hat that sheds water would be nice. :wink:

I figger if ya turn bottom upwards in deep water wearin' boots, waders 'er heavy clothes, yer in truble. Anybody who dont see it that way oughta dress heavy, then go out 'n turn over....jest fer practice. :roll: :roll: Warm, light weight clothes that dont hold water do jest fine....'n a light thin shell ta help keep the heat in.

I aint figgered out the pants yet. I dont recall ever wearin' any long britches in a canoe.....even that time it went ta sleetin'......but there iz a heap a stuff I caint recall. Fer the last few years I jest paddled bare legged. :lol: Keep yer head, feet 'n hands warm 'n the rest oughta be okay....particularly if ya layer some polartec/wool nylon shell round yer core.

regards
bearridge

There is no greater mistake than the hasty conclusion that opinions are worthless because they are badly argued. Thomas H. Huxley
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
Down here in Florida ... I would suggest not tipping over and to stay nice and warm in our almost cold weather.

Either camp and fish at home or get yourself a one of the Gore Tex rain suit's , pants and shirt. They will let the moisture and heat from your body pass threw the fabric but will stop that cold air from getting to you.

This lets you be nice and warm , without the wind chill and if it rains .... big deal , let it rain , you are waterproof and protected. :D

Now as far as tipping over , not a good idea , something we try to avoid doing , but with the rain suit it would be a lot easier to swim in them then a pair of waders which would drag you to the bottom of the lake.

The rain suits you are referring to have to be Ponchos , if you don't know how to get rid of one in a hurry then it can be a nightmare. The Gore Tex rain outfits are just like wearing some normal pants and a shirt. :D

Best bet as I said ... Keep the wet side of the boat in the water , the dry side up there with you. :wink:

I have a set of the Gore Tex and trust me it goes where ever I go out on the water , took a long time for this old goat to come around to that idea but I sure am glad I did , Really Glad , best thing I have ever done ... OK .... Almost the best but it ranks right up there with the best for personal comfort , forgetting about my favorite boats.

They are a little expensive but what value do you put on comfort and your life when you are out on the water enjoying the good times. Might as well have something that makes those times even better. :roll:

Chuck.
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
Our water doesn't get properly cold but in what passes for our winters, I wear a surfer's springer suit under my normal? paddling clothes, with a wool watch cap or beanie and diver's booties. A thin nylon rain parker and nylon track pants on top and it is warm enough for me.

Some of the Canadian paddlers who visit here from time to time might be able to help.
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Friend Mick,

Kelvin lives in what used ta be a very special part of the Sunshine State. They dont have cold water.....unless they are makin' margaritas. :wink: However, if it rained on him in winter, he mite git chilly. :lol: Ya'll make margaritas downunder? Miz Bear kin drink one.....kinda like a legal date rape drug. :mrgreen:

regards
bearridge

Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer. W. C. Fields
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
The one thing that hasn't been mention in this post are the one I posted
is if you have on wadders a jacket alot of clothes WEAR YOUR PFD
In cold weather or cold water thats one law I never break and they are another thing to keep you warm.
Ron
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Waders seem to me to be a death trap. If they are the rubber kind, they can fill with water and you sink. If they are neoprene then you float upside down. Neither choice is appealing.

I agree with the PFD at all times when dear the water. Mine is the inflatable Mae West kind, so it doesn't keep me as warm as others do, and it isn't as hot and stifling in hot weather either.

The rain suit I like is L.L. Bean's Stowaway gear. Not only does it set off my innate - and stunning - handsome physique, it keeps me dry too.

Unless, of course, I fall in. Then, it helps to keep me warm even when wet. But, best to get into dry clothes. Kato is always always nearby, inconspicuously, to hand me dry clothes.
 

kee41

Member
Jul 25, 2005
18
0
Mary Esther Florida
Thanks for all the input. I always wear my PFD and my Tilly Hat. The hat floats better than I do! I have been looking at the Gore-Tex at Bass Pro and since it's Christmas, what a better time!

Winter fishing to me is the best! Very few boats in the water and loads of fish if you know where to get them.

The wife is scared of the peerow so now I am going to build some floats to stabilize the boat and make her feel more secure. We love to camp and fish. Unfortunately you can't double tow a boat behind a camper so the peerow on a Thule rack on top of the truck fits the bill perfectly.

I wish there were plans for something like a Gheenoe!

Kelvin
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Friend Ron,

Last October I went inta NOC store 'n tole the fella ta show me the big fella life savers. Two years ago I blew out in the falls on the Nantahala 'n had a hard time keepin' my head above the water. Part of it wuz me holdin' onta my paddle, but it scairt me some. I dont figger I will ever wear waders 'er boots in a boat.

If I turn bottom upwards in any water, cold 'er not, I wanna be floatin' high.

regards
bearridge

Common sense is in spite of, not as a result of an education. Victor Hugo
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Kelvin,

If you're trying to cool our head, that cotton Tilley hat will do well. If you're tying to keep warm, it will not do well. Wet cotton will suck heat from you fast.

Wear a hat made of wool or fur felt or fleece. I prefer an Akubra hat made in Australia of fur felt. http://www.davidmorgan.com/ They are a real fan-the-fire-water-the-dog hat.
 

hairymick

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2005
2,107
2
Queensland, Australia
Bearridge Wrote

Ya'll make margaritas downunder?

Oh yeah!! :D :p

Re the waders, I don't hold with wearing them in a paddlecraft. There has been some heated debate on other forums about them, but I just don't go with the idea of trying to swim wearing large plastic bucket full of water.

Those who argue for the waders, correctly argue that the water inside them is the same weight as the water outside, therefore, the water in them will not make you sink.

My argument however, is that the water they hold in an immersion is too heavy to allow for deep water re-entry and that they are just too hard to get out of in deep water.
 
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tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
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Waco Tx
Boy I am fixing to stir the pot.
I use to do a lot of duck hunting The fellow I hunted with was geezer. had been hunting for years and he always wore waders chest type we got to talking about them and falling in a hole are out of the boat. Here is what I learned waders weigh next to nothing in the water maybe a few ounces you want sink they want drag you down as much as clothes that soak up water's only danger from them is if you are trying to get out onto the bank are reenter a boat in the water On land just crawl out slowlythey will drain in deep water shuck them and always wear a belt around the outside at your waist it will cut the amount of water that can get in your waders a bunch.
A note about how hard headed Texans are that summer I put on my waders tried it The geezer was right.
Ron
 

Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
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Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
Ron,

I may be wrong on this; I've never filed tested it. But if you have a belt around waders and go in over your head, won't air filled waders float to the top and your head be submerged? That would just ruin the rest of your day, I think.
 

tx river rat

Well-Known Member
Feb 23, 2007
3,043
2
Waco Tx
not iif you have a pfd on and the air leaks out around your waist but it doese it pretty slowly.
Ron
PS
I am a good swimmer but when you come down you will find that 99% of the time I will have a pfd on when in the boat. also there is always a knife on my pfd and I can stand to loose a pair of waders
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
tx river rat said:
A note about how hard headed Texans are that summer I put on my waders tried it The geezer was right.
Friend Ron,

Did ya try swimmin' in them waders? Seems ta me that would be awful hard.

regards
bearridge

Such a wife as I want... must be young, handsome. I lay most stress upon a good shape, sensible a little learning will do, well-bread, chaste, and tender. As to religion, a moderate stock will satisfy me. She must believe in God and hate a saint. Alexander Hamilton
 

bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
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way down yonder
Well, mebbe it aint so hard.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006 BY FRED J. AUN

For the Star-Ledger
The death of a Montville fisherman on Saturday is a tragic reminder that fishing can be dangerous, but it shouldn't be seen as proof that waders are unsafe.

Nobody really knows what happened to Justin Everrett except that the 44-year-old angler drowned near the junction of the rain-swollen Beaverkill and Willow Weemoc rivers in Roscoe, N.Y. It's not that nobody was there to see it: four of the Morris County residents' friends watched in horror.

They saw him slip while crossing a 75-foot-wide part of the stream and they saw him get swept to a place where the depth suddenly increases drastically -- going from about two feet deep to about 16 feet.


But here is where we encounter a problem, an assumption unfortunately based on a tenacious myth. Some are saying it was Everrett's engorged waders that killed him. Consider one news report, where the writer -- citing a New York State Police investigator -- wrote that "Everrett's chest waders filled with water and, like anchors, pulled him down. ..."


If waders turn into "anchors" when filled with water, the angling community might have lost one of the 20th Century's greatest trout fishing icons -- Lee Wulff -- long before his death in 1991 at the age of 86. In the 1940s, Wulff gathered some outdoors writers and staged a somewhat famous demonstration designed to dispel the myth about waders morphing into lethal anchors or, conversely, into balloons of trapped air that flip anglers onto their submerged heads.

Wulff slipped into his waders and jumped off a bridge (in February) into about 30 feet of water. His waders quickly filled to the brim, but Wulff didn't sink like the Titanic or float feet-first like a bobber. He simply swam to shore.

Despite Wulff's gallant attempt at dispelling it, the myth of killer waders survives. A report in the Great Falls Tribune of Montana described the November 2005 drowning death of an angler named Benson who slipped in the Missouri River while trying to release a fish. "The chest-high waders that Benson was wearing filled with water and pulled him under," said the paper.

In a stream situation, there are a few seconds when water rushing into waders can cause an angler to lose balance. But Wulff tried to show that once the waders are full, the water inside them is no heavier than the water in the stream and they're pretty much irrelevant to an angler's ability to survive.
If an angler can swim without waders, he or she can probably swim with them. Those who can't swim should avoid wading or use inflatable vests. And everybody should be using a wading stick, especially in fast water.
The real danger, aside from hitting heads on rocks and losing consciousness, is panic. Often, those unaccustomed to swimming in moving water flail, fight the current and succumb.

Note what the investigator said happened when two of Everrett's friends tried to save him: "The current was too strong. They had to back off." Even if it's only two feet deep, strong current can kill you, waders or not.
 
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bearridge

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2005
3,092
4
way down yonder
Most of the time ya dont need waders on the river, but back at camp....when the Master of Flowbizness gits cranked up (if he aint floppin' round on the ground with hiz legs stickin' up cuz hiz geezerator fried him agin)......hip boots jest wont do. A good pair of waders would come in mitey handy. :roll: :roll: :roll:


The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal privacy in exchange for safety and security. Louis Freeh