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Putting on a drysuit - what do you stand on?

Mowog73

Mowog73

Paddler
Joined
Apr 27, 2021
Messages
107
Location
SW Ontario
This might sound like like a silly question but I am wondering what do people stand on that keeps your feet and drysuit (especially the drysuit's socks) clean while you put your dry suit on/off? I've tried towels and bits of carpet but they tend to get full of sand or dirt quite quickly and don't work well when the ground is wet. Maybe an indoor/outdoor mat would work better.

What do other people use? What have you found that works well?
 
I use an outdoor mat sold at REI. At camp, the Mat becomes a "Welcome" in front of my hammock. I've heard of people using a plastic tub at the car launch point. They stand in the tub (I'm guessing balancing against something next to them - the car) and put on the suit. When they return to the launch point, they stand in the tub and take it off - leaving the wet (outer layer) suit in the tub.

You'll get more exercise with the mat option because when you leave it at various launch points you get to paddle back to retrieve it.
 
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On day trips I usually stand on the lid of the tote that holds my paddling stuff. When camping I usually put on the drysuit before taking down my tarp, so I'll stand on my ground sheet.
 
My booties. Shoe off, drysuit sock on, booty on. Repeat for the other foot, then pull pants up etc. Easiest when seated on a convenient log, car-seat, tailgate, but doable standing/squatting.

Yoga helps...
 
Tubs and totes sound great for daytrips. On camping trips, I have the heavy-duty Seals cockpit cover, which also makes a good drysuit doffing/donning platform.
 
Sounds like I do similar to Jasper. Try to do one leg at a time without putting the foot down while the dry suit sock is still on and no water shoe is over it. But I do it in places where if I do put my foot down to get my balance, there won't likely be any damage.
 
Thanks guys, some really good suggestions here.

What got me to ask this question is that a number of the rivers we like to do in the spring can have very mucky ground, lots of clay soil, and its usually a really balancing act trying to get the drysuit on. It sounds like I should take up yoga again, namaste.

Daytripping using the tote or tote cover is in interesting idea. When out on a trip, using the seals cockpit cover is a really good idea, two uses for one item. A small outdoor mat is good too.
 
kayakwriter said:
Tubs and totes sound great for daytrips. On camping trips, I have the heavy-duty Seals cockpit cover, which also makes a good drysuit doffing/donning platform.
Click to expand...
Good idea. I've used my Seals CC too. Takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin'.
 
My wife and I were out for an easy paddle yesterday, just on one of the meandering rivers found in SW Ontario.

This was her first outing wearing her new Stohlquist AMP drysuit and she really found it comfortable to wear, even with the air temperature being around 20C, water temp was 9C.

This was a bit of an impromptu outing and I hadn't got around to buying a mat to stand on while donning and doffing our drysuits, but when I looked around the garage that morning, I saw one of those 18"x18" interlocking foam mats, and you know, it worked really well.
 
Thanks for sharing. I found a very helpful discussion for my home. I always found good and uniques products.
 
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