Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

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Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby austen.noyes » Dec 8, 2011 11:23 am

What is your favorite/best kind of clothes to wear in a wet caves? Opinions?
Last edited by Squirrel Girl on Dec 8, 2011 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Changed "cloths" to "clothes"
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Scott McCrea » Dec 8, 2011 11:41 am

How wet? What temp?
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby austen.noyes » Dec 8, 2011 11:52 am

Water up to neck. Bathtubs etc... So very wet. Caves we go to are in indiana so water might be alittle colder than normal.
Wont be in water for extend amount of time so no wet suit required
Last edited by austen.noyes on Dec 8, 2011 12:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Chads93GT » Dec 8, 2011 12:01 pm

wetsuits, and skin tight synthetic shirts to protect the upper wetsuit and a pair of cordura shorts to protect the ass. i dont wear baggy suits, i want NO water retention at all in wet caves.


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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby austen.noyes » Dec 8, 2011 12:11 pm

I hate cotton and i was looking for something to replace my jeans. Because they stay wet forever! Underarmor shirts will dry fast ? I think
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Jeff Bartlett » Dec 8, 2011 2:44 pm

If you're wearing jeans, ANYTHING is an upgrade. Naked would be an upgrade.

There are two most-common ways to dress for caving, if we're already ruling out a wetsuit and assuming you're not standing in one place for long periods of time doing cave survey or what-have-you:

1. Synthetic base layer + nylon coveralls from Lost Creek or Meander. This is the expensive route. Some find coveralls to be too warm, some don't. YMMV.
2. Synthetic base layer + some kind of synthetic shorts & top. This is inexpensive and best if you're just whistle-dicking through caves without stopping too long in one place.

NO COTTON.

With base layers, you get what you pay for. I recently gave in and started wearing Patagonia Capilene 3 as my go-to base layer under a pair of coveralls, after years of wearing the cheap stuff, and now I'm kicking myself for being cold all this time to save a couple bucks. That said, it's 'spensive stuff. Then again, so is UnderArmour. Go to Wal-Mart and spend $30 for a Starter top & bottom, and go from there.
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby JR-Orion » Dec 9, 2011 1:06 pm

Up to your neck in an Indiana cave? Sounds like wetsuit time.
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Bama632 » Dec 11, 2011 10:10 pm

Need some boots for caving just dont know what i need :shrug: any help is appreciated :big grin:
($60 dollars or under preferred)
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Chads93GT » Dec 11, 2011 10:22 pm

Whatever you get, this tread pattern is hands down the best for not slipping and busting your ass on clay/mud.

Image

The v wedges allow mud to slip into the tread but it jams down into a more narrow channel, causing your not to fall (as much) as other big luggy tread designs.

walmart carries these brahma boots in this tread pattern that i use, $40. i shoe goo the toe tips brand new and the goo never falls off. I do this because of crawling and toe dragging.
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby cavemud2 » Dec 12, 2011 10:15 am

Chads93GT wrote: i shoe goo the toe tips brand new and the goo never falls off. I do this because of crawling and toe dragging.


What do you mean by this??
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Cody JW » Dec 12, 2011 10:32 am

cavemud2 wrote:
Chads93GT wrote: i shoe goo the toe tips brand new and the goo never falls off. I do this because of crawling and toe dragging.


What do you mean by this??
Chad, I agree with the shoe goo thing but if you want to take it one step further you can use fiberglass resin like they use to do structural fiberglass boat repairs along with the fiberglass mesh strips. You can normally obtain this from your local boat repair shops, most will have extra laying around and give it to you for free if you bring your own jar for the resin. You just use a cheap brush and put the resin on then the fiberglass mesh . Put a few layers of that on cave boots when they are new and allow to dry between layers. If you do this I do not care if you crawl around the equator on sharp lava rock, your toes on your boots will outlast the soles.
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby caveflower » Dec 13, 2011 12:43 pm

Walmart brand Rockywear heavyweight thremal tops and bottoms. $16 each peice.
These things are really warm wet or dry. I have a cave suit but some kind of ployester pants from the goodwill works great and cheap too. Like the old lesuire suits. I'm not kidding either an friend of mine wears this caving. Less the high rise boots. :laughing:
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby caveflower » Dec 13, 2011 12:47 pm

Or maybe this one.
Image


Ok now I'm just being silly. :big grin:
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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Dec 13, 2011 2:20 pm

Bama632 wrote:Need some boots for caving just dont know what i need :shrug: any help is appreciated :big grin:
($60 dollars or under preferred)


I buy all my caving boots off of EBAY. You can get some really great brand name boots for less than a fraction of the price. There are a lot of folks out there that buy the expensive boots and then for whatever reason never use them, don't like them and put them up for sale on EBAY. Take advantage of this.

I also wear a Typhoon Suit from Blue Water Sports in the UK for wet caving here in TAG. Unless I am surveying I ususally don't wear a wet suit so I have found this Typhoon suit under my PVC suit is a great combination... And you can also buy it on EBAY. Search for Typhoon Lightweight Dry Suit... With shipping it's around $60 and they get it to you fairly quickly too (within 2 weeks).

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Re: Best Clothes For Wet Caves!

Postby Chads93GT » Dec 13, 2011 2:26 pm

cavemud2 wrote:
Chads93GT wrote: i shoe goo the toe tips brand new and the goo never falls off. I do this because of crawling and toe dragging.


What do you mean by this??


Crawling on cobble, sand, clay, mud, shale, breakdown, will eventually wear holes right through the toes. If you wait till they are starting to get holes, shoe goo wont stick to the leather due to dirt contamination.

When the boot is brand new, out of the box, coat the toe tips with shoe goo before you ever get them dirty, and the shoe goo will protect the toes for the life of the boot. The rest of the boot will trash out long before the shoe goo ever tries to fall apart.

Jeff, I w ouldnt use fiberglass for the simple fact that its not flexible, shoe goo is. and like I said, the boots will wear out eventually. Shoe goo on the toes takes a few minutes, stand them up, let the goo dry and its ready to go. Fiberglass is a bit more in depth, mixing, cutting fabric, lol.
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