Drysuit query

[Mextli]

Greetings, fellow Ribbers,

I currently own a crewsaver drysuit of some sorts(I am not sure about the model but it is a very basic one.). After having driven the boat through rain during my Heligoland cruise, I noticed that after a short time, it seemed to start letting water in at the bum area(where you sit on the jockey seat). Is this normal and to be expected or not? When you jump into the water with the suit it is completly watertight.
I am asking as it was quite uncomfortable last time, and we are thinking about getting new ones, but if this is the case with all suits then we wont bother.

Cheers
Luke

[Gobuchul]

It could be just sweat.

If it's a non breathable fabric then you can get quite significant condensation build up.

Try ventilating by cracking the zip open.

A breathable suit should prevent the worst of this but they are a lot more expensive.

[treerat]

Hi - no, it's not normal.

Dry suits really should be dry. It's either a failure in the material so lets water in, a seam or seal failure that dribbles down to that area or it could be sweat!

Dry suits let you boil in the bag and unless you're wearing something that will wick and store you'll get a wet bum.

As you've said it's an older suit I suspect it's a failure of the seam in that area.

I only wear one when I know I'm likely to end up in the water, even the worst British weather the coat and salopettes does the job nicely. So much more comfy to wear then then dry suit.

[Andy_Rs600]

I would imagine its condensation build up. Even if it is a breathable suit once the facing fabric (the out layer) "wets out" i.e become saturated it won't breath much or at all. The area of you that is sitting on the seat won't allow much/any moisture out.

You should be able to dip just the area of concern into a bath of water and weight it down. If you leave it immersed like that for a few minutes you'll soon find out if it's leaking or not. If you use slightly warm water in the bath it will help you detect water as it won't cool the fabric and you won't feel the wet/cold sensation when touching it unless it's wet.

Hope that helps.

[Mextli]

Hey

Im not sure if it is sweat because it started a few minutes after the rain began,(it was on the back leg of the journey), whils during the journey to heligoland, i had no problems whatsover despite the sun. The drysuit is maybe three years old, or four, we bought it new while it was on sale.

We've had this issue before, but only when it was either raining or there was a lot of spray.

When boating over longer distances i much prefer a drysuit, if you fall in, you can just climb back out.

Luke

[jeffstevens763@g]

Zip it up seal the neck and arms up plastic bottles in the arms make a pipe up to your boat pump through one of the bottles and blow up and do as if your looking for a leak in a boat tube with fairy liquid