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I was just curious if ya'll wear your knee pads under or over your cavesuit? I saw that the crawldaddies are made to wear over your polypro and under the suit, they suggest getting a size larger if you want to where them over. I've ben wearing mine over my suit, but then in wetcaves water that gets in my suit won't drain out cuz it gets trapped by the knee pads. Just curious as to what everyone else does.

Over, because my suit's custom-made and I don't want to trash the knees out of it. Also, over is easier to adjust on my knees; for example, I can pull them down over my boot tops to act as gaiters if I'm splashing thru something cold and nasty, or to keep my lace-locks from catching while ascending a cable ladder.

I always wear my Gonzo Guano Gear Regular Knee Armor kneepads (see here) over my outermost layer. This is partially because all the garments I wear caving are either not designed for caving and weaker than those kneepads or designed for caving and considerably more expensive. Also, the cordura on the outside gives good friction for chimneying. But the main reason why I wear them on the outside is that, no matter how I adjust them, they tend to slip around and I need to correct their positioning.

ian mckenzie wrote:I can pull them down over my boot tops to act as gaiters

They act effectively as gaiters? What kneepads do you have?

over, because one of our project caves absolutely shredded my oversuit when i tried things the other way. that's the only reason. oversuits are expensive (and seem to keep going up), and the pads are there as much to protect my suit as they are to protect my knees.

Over.
Once I had it underneath my coverall, and in the middle of 500'long, 2' high popcorn crawlway I had to strip in order to adjust them.

Over, kneepads are cheaper than oversuits.

The one thing I love to do when I get out of a cave is get my kneepads OFF as fast as possible. Hiking in kneepads can sometimes be more painful than crawling. I had gypsum under my pads once and didn't feel it till the next day, you can imagine.....

Evan wrote:Over, kneepads are cheaper than oversuits.

Scott McCrea wrote:

Evan wrote:Over, kneepads are cheaper than oversuits.

so when are you going to start making us kneepads out of the same material the Swaygo packs are made out of? huh? I volunteer to test the first batch!

xcathodex wrote:

Scott McCrea wrote:

Evan wrote:Over, kneepads are cheaper than oversuits.

Over (using a Meander PVC suit).

This also helps with bending legs etc. as the oversuit legs are held up by the kneepads so that there is more materials above the knees.

wendy wrote:I was just curious if ya'll wear your knee pads under or over your cavesuit? I saw that the crawldaddies are made to wear over your polypro and under the suit, they suggest getting a size larger if you want to where them over. I've ben wearing mine over my suit, but then in wetcaves water that gets in my suit won't drain out cuz it gets trapped by the knee pads. Just curious as to what everyone else does.

From reading the responses, I guess I'm in the minority. I prefer my knee pads over my polypro pants and under my B&C Wunderwear pants.

My knee pads cost me >$50 over 5 years ago. My caving pants cost ~$100 . . . put the knees are double layer and could be patched if need be. My last pair of caving pants wore out in the seat (had the seat patched twice) and the knees were still good.

I find that trying to wear the pads over my pants causes fabric bunching behind my knees that is very annoying. Sometimes I wear shorts (I live in a warm area) over polypro. Then of course my knee pads are exposed to the harshness of the cave environment.

I wear mine on the outside for a few reasons (many as stated above). I tend to look at boots, helmet, gloves, and kneepads as components that make up a type of exo-skeleton so to speak. These are all primary wear points for me. Also my kneepads offer more than just cushion - they also offer traction and have litterly saved my bacon on more than one ocassion and offer more traction than my boots. I have a industrial sewing machine at work and hope to do a kneepad mod by placing my current kneepad tread on caver style kneepads. The more friction I can obtain from a contact point the better my chances should a bad situation arise. This style will not aply to all as everyone has their own unique style of caving but it applies to me. No regrets on a 15+ year setup

Thing about this forum is, the US is such a big land mass that advice from one region may be irrelevant to the next. For example, if you wear jeans caving, the knee pad issue is likely different than if you wear full furrys and and oversuit.

ek wrote:They act effectively as gaiters? What kneepads do you have?

I wear neoprene kneepads from Britain, but it seems to me that any kneepad can be pulled down over your boot-tops (assuming you wear boots that have exposed tops...).







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Under. When I wore them over, they'd tend to move out of position, usually when you're in a long nasty crawl where it's impossible to reach back and adjust them. When I started wearing them under they rarely moved out of position.

ian mckenzie wrote:I wear neoprene kneepads from Britain, but it seems to me that any kneepad can be pulled down over your boot-tops (assuming you wear boots that have exposed tops...).

My kneepads are also made of neoprene (with Cordura sewn on the front), and I can't visualize how this would work. Do your kneepads go all around your knees with neoprene? Mine protect my knees in front and have straps that are fastened around back.