Drysuit vs Wetsuit: Which Do You Need for Cold Water?

Wetsuits and drysuits both turn up wherever people get into cold water, from inland dive sites to sailing clubs, but they keep the wearer comfortable in opposite ways. With a wetsuit, a thin film of water seeps in next to the skin and the body heats it up, and once it’s warm it stops drawing heat away. A drysuit is built to keep that water out entirely, which hands the job of keeping warm to whatever’s worn underneath. Water temperature and time spent in it are what settle the choice, and the answer comes out differently on a dive boat, a kayak, a wakeboard or a lifeboat.

What Is a Drysuit and How Does It Work?

A drysuit is a waterproof one-piece suit that water can’t get into. The neck and wrists are closed off with latex, neoprene or silicone seals, the entry is closed with a waterproof zip and the fabric doesn’t let anything through. That is the main difference between a wetsuit and a drysuit, since a wetsuit lets water in on purpose and leaves the body to warm it.

Every suit from Hammond Drysuits is cut, stitched and finished by hand at its workshop in Dartford, Kent, where drysuits have been made for over 45 years. All suits are made from tri-laminate fabrics, and the seals change from model to model: the HDS Pro-Elite SD diving suit has neoprene at the neck and wrists, while the KX100 kayaking suit comes with latex seals as standard. The Pro-Elite models also include a fly zip for the wearer’s convenience, made to the same specification as the main zip.

Full detail on those fabric and seal combinations sits in the material guides, alongside the complete new drysuits range.

How Does a Drysuit Keep Its Wearer Warm?

Keeping water out is the drysuit’s whole job, so warmth comes from what goes on underneath: usually a thin base layer next to the skin with an insulating layer or undersuit over it, and another layer on a bitter morning if it’s wanted. Swapping those layers around lets one suit cover anything from a mild spring day to a midwinter dive.

So a membrane drysuit is not a warmer kind of wetsuit, and with nothing under it there is no insulation at all. Hammond’s own range of Coretek undersuits is built specifically for this role, giving a wearer a way to tune warmth to the conditions rather than relying on the suit to do it alone. Under a wetsuit there is normally nothing more than swimwear, since the neoprene and the warmed water do the insulating between them.

Is a Drysuit Comfortable to Move and Swim In?

Fitted properly for its activity, a drysuit won’t restrict the wearer; it is roomier than a wetsuit, and deliberately so, since the layers underneath need space. Swimming in one is possible, although the looser fabric catches the water in a way skin-tight neoprene doesn’t, so surfers and open-water swimmers who need a suit that hugs the body are better off in a wetsuit.

Each Hammond suit is cut around the job it will be doing. On the rescue side that means extra room is allowed in the cut, letting crew members move in awkward spaces without pulling on the seams. Differences in cut like this are why sport-specific options exist rather than one suit trying to do every job.

Hammond makes both standard sizes and made-to-measure drysuits, and every suit, whichever route is chosen, is made to order rather than taken from a general size run. How that process works, from first measurement through to a finished suit, is set out at how made-to-measure drysuits work.

Which Suit Is Better for Which Activity?

There isn’t a winner across the board in the drysuit vs wetsuit choice; what tips it one way or the other is how hard the body has to work during the activity and how long the wearer will be in or by the water, and those two things come out differently for diving, paddling, watersports, and rescue or commercial work.

Diving

Conditions change so much from one dive site and season to the next that divers rarely settle on one answer. Where a drysuit earns its place is on long dives and on days with two or three dives back to back, since the diver stays dry the whole time and can add or remove a layer between dives, whereas for a quick dive in warmer water plenty of divers are happy in a wetsuit. Hammond’s scuba diving drysuits are cut with this kind of use in mind, with zip positions chosen to make donning easier before a dive.

Kayaking and Paddleboarding

Nearly all the effort in kayaking and paddleboarding goes through the shoulders and upper body, so a suit that pulls across the arms is noticed within minutes, and the decision mostly turns on how long the trip is and whether a swim is likely. For a day-long trip, or a session where capsizing is expected, the drysuit wins on staying dry, while for a quick summer paddle the wetsuit’s freedom is hard to beat. Many paddlers find this the closest call of all, and Hammond makes the KX100 specifically for kayaking and canoeing and the PB3X for stand-up paddleboarding.

Watersports

Water-skiing, wakeboarding, jet-skiing, windsurfing and kite surfing all involve bursts of hard effort followed by spells of standing on a board or sitting in a boat or on a jet-ski waiting for the next run. During the runs a wetsuit does the job, but it offers little once the wearer stops and sits still in the wind. Hammond’s watersports drysuits are built with that mix of fast movement and standing around in mind, giving a dry base to layer underneath instead. The barefoot waterskiing drysuits are specially designed to withstand the high-speed impacts associated with this demanding sport. As barefoot waterskiers travel at much higher speeds than conventional waterskiers, hitting the water can force water past standard seals. To prevent this, the workshop fits a double neck seal and additional protective covers over the wrist and ankle seals, known as storm cuffs. These outer seals and cuffs slow down the force of the water on impact, allowing the inner seals to maintain a watertight barrier and keep the wearer dry.

Rescue and Commercial Work

Search and rescue, lifeboat, commercial, industrial and fisheries teams make up a core part of who wears a Hammond drysuit. These crews often spend a whole shift in or near the water while the weather changes around them, and a sealed suit with layers that can be added or taken away copes with that far better than a wetsuit, whose insulation is fixed the moment it goes on. The SR Pro, made in front-entry and rear-entry versions, offers a choice of latex bellows or 3mm neoprene neck seal, and the industrial suits give the same choice, so a team can match the seal to the work.

When Is a Wetsuit the Sensible Choice?

Swimming, surfing and lots of short, warmer-water sessions put freedom of movement ahead of staying dry for hours, and that is what a close-fitting wetsuit provides. Plenty of paddlers and divers who keep their trips brief never need more than a wetsuit. Buying a drysuit without thinking through what the day involves misses the point, as each suit was designed for a different job.

Still not sure which one suits your plans? Book a virtual appointment to talk it through with the workshop team, or call Hammond on 01474 704 123.