Dry suit or full length wet suit for low 40's water temp?

[Kurpski]

I am picking up my SN next weekend from marina after it gets un-winterized. I am planning to put boat in water and get out for a couple days if the weather is nice.

My boat is in NW Pennsylvania, I can only assume water temps are in low 40's. For that water temperature, will I need a dry suit or will a full length wet suit be fine for some skiing?

I currenly have a 3/4 length wet suit but am confident that is not going to cut it.

[AbunDiga909]

Low 40's I'd say you need a drysuit no question. I'd think its be more than stupid to go in without one. Even if you do get up in those temps, you'll be too cold to do anything. I go in high 40's and still freezing my head and hands off in a drysuit. Have fun! The lake is usually empty though.. ;)

[bkhallpass]

I'd say drysuit. But, if you're going to do a wetsuit, I'd suggest a thick one. 7 mil in the
body and 5 mil in the arms would not be out of the question. BKH

[todda]

Yep, I would definitely agree. Up here in the Northwest, our lake temp is about 45 right now, and we are in drysuits, still cold on the hands and feet. Todd

[surroundsound64]

Dry suit.

[BASC]

Dry suit definately.
To save the feet get one with the socks attached or buy a pair of almost skin tight rubber socks (not neoprene).
To save the hands, a pair of 'marigold' (trade name) rubber gloves under your ski gloves, keeps the windchill down.
You still struggle to do much but will help keep up some level of fitness during the colder months.

[igkya]

SW PA, water temp 50 degrees yesterday. Drysuit.

[Kurpski]

Thanks for all the information, sounds like a dry suit is in order.

igkya, where in SW PA do you ski/wakeboard? My boat is up at Conneaut Lake.

[igkya]

Yough **** (part of it is in MD). Just curious, why go all the way to Conneaut, there's a few dealers closer to you and a new one just opened in Pittsburgh.

[MARK-S]

Why would you ski in a full wet suit when dry suits are so nice these days. Get a nice dry suit and ski in it until you can switch to a Neo top and shorts. Why get cold in a wetsuit.

[Hydrofoilmaniac]

Buy the dry suit. I love the dry suit but I can't wait to ski without it. I'm traditionally on the water before all the ice is off and am generally skiing into November (Nov 11th - 41F ambient temp & 39F water temp). There's no way I'd be out there without a dry suit. Heck, you can wear jeans and a sweatshirt.....and still say dry!

Contact me off line and I can hook you up with a good suit. A friend of mine sells Barefoot international Dry suits.

[Brad_K]

dry suit, for the hands i like a pair of woolly gloves under some marigolds duck taped to my suit to keep the water out.

[MARK-S]

over on the nichols thred, I learned about surgical gloves. They can buy you another 10 minutes in the cold water. I wear kevlar liners, put a surgical glove over that, followed by your gloves. Make sure the surgicals are over your dry suit not under. Dry, warm hands every time.

[Kurpski]

Thanks again for everyones help and information. I purchased a BF2000 dry suit from Bart's. I was able to try it out last weekend when we got our boat out of storage. The water temp was around 49-50 degrees and the dry suit kept me fairly warm and dry.

I had also bought the latex dry socks Bart's sells, those did not work all that well. It was next to impossible to get the ski on with them on. after a couple minutes, they were filled with water.

I also got the latex gloves and fleece liner, they also filled with water but provided some additional warmth. The down side was, with the fleece liner and latex outer glove, grip strengh was decreased. I ended up ditching them for my full finger water ski gloves.

All in all, it was great to get out in mid-April skiing.

[CHassmann]

Here's a link to an article about when to wear a wetsuit or drysuit.

http://waterski.about.com/od/wetsuitcare/a/wetsuit_temp.htm