Or
Big Sissy whines about The Cold.
I'm planning a kayak "ridgewalk" down a VA river, and need some help keeping warm. We have already found two wet caves along the river that need to be surveyed, and I expect to find more. There's also a good chance that we'll get wet in the river itself.
I've caved in a wetsuit only once, on a wet survey trip. On our first try at surveying a long stream crawl, we had no wetsuits, and wore a bunch of clothes. After a 9 hr. trip, we were a bit cold, and our clothes weighed 472,000 lbs. The next time, we wore wetsuits. This trip was only 4 hrs., but by the time we reached the beginning of the survey and dug open a near sump/constriction, I was so cold that I only recorded 72' of mostly illegible data before getting a little panicky and slithering toward the entrance. The ectomorphic properties of my frame allowed a bit of slop in the chest of my wetsuit. I don't know if that was a factor. The suit is about 1/8" thick.
What, do you think, is my best option?
1. Find a better fitting wetsuit. (is this possible?)
2. Alter my current wetsuit. (is this possible?)
3. Buy a thicker wetsuit.
4. Put thick polypro under the wetsuit. (does this help?)
5. Quit being a pansy and tough it out.
6. Wait 20 years and hope I get fat.
7. Avoid wet caves entirely and continue to cultivate a reputation of hopeless sissification.
8. Buy some newfangled suit that, by virtue of its incredible expense, will automatically solve this and all of my other caving problems.
9. Die of hypothermia and spare the "online caving community" any more of these stupid questions.
Thanks!