Guest guest Posted May 9, 2001 Report Share Posted May 9, 2001 All, A question or two has come up regarding protective swim gear, such as wetsuits, as well as after-swim garb. A wetsuit works by trapping a layer of water against the body and then heating it. (So the suit is permeable). They are usually made of neoprene. Warmbelly.com makes wetsuits that fit someone as small as 20 inches (55cm)/ 10 lbs (4kg). A drysuit is made out of different material altogther. A drysuit completely keeps out water. It is used for cold water diving, kayaking, etc. Usually a layer of fleece is worn inside of the drysuit, in order to keep you warm. Cotton does a great job of keeping you warm until it is wet. When this happens, it actually steals body heat. Once out of the pool, instead of putting on cotton, use a fabric that wicks away moisture. Polypropolene (sp?) or even fleece works well. Even polyester works better when wet compared to cotton. Propro also dries very quickly. Wicking shirts, shorts and pants can be found in any number of outdoor catalogues, such as REI, LLBean or Landsend. (They all have websites, too). FYI, Polypro is often listed as its namebrand - CoolMax. I like to kayak, so the above has come in handy on more than one occasion. I hope it helps. (Uncle to Judith and Steve's (RSS) and (non-RSS) 15mo) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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