Why Hasn't Someone Invented Heated Paddling Gloves or a Heated Paddle?

[prudenceb]

53 minutes ago, dsigall said:

Yesterday morning I tested my new drysuit & layers by spending 10-15 minutes swimming at Pavillion beach. It only took a half a minute to determine my gloves are totally useless in current air & water temps. Thanks for starting this thread Prudence! After reading all the replies I'll order a pair of Glacier Gloves. What version do you folks like? Perfect Curve appears to be the obvious choice but...?

I have the curved ones. 

[Inverseyourself]

1 hour ago, dsigall said:

 

Yesterday morning I tested my new drysuit & layers by spending 10-15 minutes swimming at Pavillion beach. It only took a half a minute to determine my gloves are totally useless in current air & water temps. Thanks for starting this thread Prudence! After reading all the replies I'll order a pair of Glacier Gloves. What version do you folks like? Perfect Curve appears to be the obvious choice but...?

 

I was watching you with interest while chilling in the car with my son having coffee and eating chocolate croissants. I was thinking about commenting on your obvious sea kayaker outfit but was too comfy to get out :-).

Around the same time 2 people, a man and a woman, took a swim, the woman even twice (of course).

[dsigall]

Yeah, really thought I would be the only swimmer that morning. I was very impressed with their lunatic enthusiasm. Some fellow wanted a photo and the man wouldn't oblige- said he doesn't do it for attention. Tori, his friend volunteered to swim for the photo but only if the article would mention the health benefits of cold immersion. I wouldn't be able to tell if I were freezing or on fire in that water with just a speedo.

 

 

[Michael_Crouse]

On 12/26/2020 at 4:56 PM, Paul Sylvester said:

 Assume you are bringing hot water to dump in your gloves on breaks? (insert usual safety info about scalding water entering gloves)

  The problem I have is getting XXl gloves. 

YES YES YES on the pouring some hot water in your gloves on a break. Obviously you dump it out and wait a minute, no one wants to treat burned hands on a winter paddle.

also yes on the XXL gloves ?

On 12/26/2020 at 4:56 PM, Paul Sylvester said:

  

 

[Joseph Berkovitz]

@pitt16 I similarly find bare hands in pogies do work great. However if I wind up swimming in 40-something water, my hand will turn into an inoperable claw within a minute. Which is the main reason why I wear gloves. People have gotten in big trouble simply from being unable to grab deck lines after a brief cold water swim.

Prudence recently gave me a pair of those latex dipped fishing gloves on this weekends trip, and they were great until I had to put them back on after lunch. I think 2nd-pair-in-drysuit is a good way to go. 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Joseph Berkovitz

[Nancy Hill]

I wore my NRS Maverick gloves last week and found water leaking in in a few areas that were worn (mostly thumb and cracks in the seam where the knuckles bend). I ran a bead of neoprene cement along the knuckles and coated the thumb pads along with the tips of the index fingers with two coats on all those places. After trying them in a cold basin moving my hands around, opening and closing my fists, they are completely dry inside. I've always liked those gloves and it seems I have given them some new life, for now. <fingers crossed>.

Most have said to have dry gloves to change into at lunch, or sometime(s) along the way. I agree with that!

 

 

[Jim Snyder]

Again, and risking sounding stupid here, isn't the idea of neoprene gloves that they act like a wetsuit for your hands? I know they are advertised as being waterproof but that doesn't make sense to me. If I just wanted waterproof I have much warmer gloves I could wear but they would be useless if water got inside them. Likewise I wouldn't think of grabbing my glacier gloves to go play in the snow. What am I missing here? 

[prudenceb]

16 minutes ago, Jim Snyder said:

Again, and risking sounding stupid here, isn't the idea of neoprene gloves that they act like a wetsuit for your hands? I know they are advertised as being waterproof but that doesn't make sense to me. If I just wanted waterproof I have much warmer gloves I could wear but they would be useless if water got inside them. Likewise I wouldn't think of grabbing my glacier gloves to go play in the snow. What am I missing here? 

I don't know what you're missing, Jim, but I found wearing nitrile gloves under Glacier Gloves with cuffs tucked under neoprene drysuit cuffs kept my hands warm and dry.

[Joseph Berkovitz]

I don't think your point is really wrong... it's only, I don't think neoprene gloves are permeable on purpose like a wetsuit. I find most (undamaged) neoprene gloves to be quite waterproof, in terms of the barrier aspect of the glove. With a fresh pair of neoprene gloves on, my hands stay completely dry even when immersed up to the wrists.

The wrist seam is another story though. With any waterproof glove, whether neoprene or latex or [insert miracle textile here], some water eventually seems to get in around the wrist opening. For me, that happens mostly when swimming or when taking the glove off and putting it back on again. At that point the glove does indeed act like a wetsuit. The small amount of water trapped inside warms up to your hand, assuming your hand wasn't cold in the first place. But if your hand has gotten cold again in the meantime, forget it. At that point only a warm dry glove will do to make things better quickly.

[Nancy Hill]

5 hours ago, Jim Snyder said:

Again, and risking sounding stupid here, isn't the idea of neoprene gloves that they act like a wetsuit for your hands? I know they are advertised as being waterproof but that doesn't make sense to me. If I just wanted waterproof I have much warmer gloves I could wear but they would be useless if water got inside them. Likewise I wouldn't think of grabbing my glacier gloves to go play in the snow. What am I missing here? 

Neoprene is waterproof. A good pair of neoprene gloves that are advertised as waterproof will have the seams sealed where they are stitched or glued together, making them truly waterproof. Think of the seams of the gloves like the seams of a tent fly that has to be sealed along the seams to be waterproof. My NRS Maverick gloves (old style) have a circular cutout at the wrist which seals it fairly well over my drysuit gasket. I haven't seen any other gloves made that way. The new version has the same wrist. It's called a HydroCuff.

I don't think one can generate enough heat in the hands to warm a constant inflow of new cold water into a glove (if it is leaking). It  is not my understanding that a glove is intended to work the same as a wetsuit, particularly in cold water. In fact, when the water is really cold, divers switch to a drysuit and there are different gloves and systems to keep the hands dry. Some of the gloves have a wrist gasket, like on our drysuits. Any neoprene glove that is advertised as waterproof and isn't was not made properly.

[Pintail]

Since  manufacturers of drysuits offer Goretex socks for the feet, one wonders why they cannot design and offer a (sized for the customer) Goretex mitt as another option?  Imagine the luxury of having totally <dry> hands, in woollen gloves inside your drysuit!

[Paul Sylvester]

4 hours ago, Pintail said:

Since  manufacturers of drysuits offer Goretex socks for the feet, one wonders why they cannot design and offer a (sized for the customer) Goretex mitt as another option?  Imagine the luxury of having totally <dry> hands, in woollen gloves inside your drysuit!

They could zip to your outer cuff so you can still keep your inner cuff intact. Remove them in the warmer months..Go pitch to Koky..

  I have bought more gloves and mitts then set them aside because they were too tight. ...

[spuglisi]

Pru,

Glad that worked out for you.

[EEL]

Seldom mentioned and not often seen, but the Level 6 Neutron mitts worked well for me once I got accustomed to paddling in mitts..  Greg Stamer raved about them after his trip around Newfoundland which is a far better based recommendation than I can offer.

Pairs of Glacier gloves for swapping and waterproof liners usually made things tolerable, but confess I  rarely paddled when air temps were much below 25F so comments based on limited experience with cold weather paddling.

Ed Lawson

 

 

[Brian Nystrom]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:08 PM, Joseph Berkovitz said:

I don't think your point is really wrong... it's only, I don't think neoprene gloves are permeable on purpose like a wetsuit.

Let's dispel a few misconceptions about neoprene clothing:

• Wetsuits are NOT "permeable on purpose". Ever.
• A dry wetsuit is warmer that a wet wetsuit. Don't take my word for it, ask a diver (I used to do that, too).
• A wetsuit will keep you warm in spite of water intrusion, NOT because of it. However, that's predicated on limited water intrusion and flushing. The less, the better.
• A wetsuit that fits loosely and allows water to flush in and out readily is basically worthless in cold water. A wetsuit must be a snug fit to work properly. My diving wetsuit only allowed a tiny amount of water intrusion at the wrists, ankles and neck. Water never reached my core.
• Neoprene is inherently waterproof, but thin neoprene is prone to leaking, especially where it stretches and wears. I have never owned a pair of neoprene paddling gloves that stayed waterproof for more than a few months, no matter how much they cost.
• If you really want to stay dry, you need a dry suit and dry gloves, but even with that, you will get somewhat damp from perspiration. You just won't get soaked from the outside. When it comes to paddling clothing, "dry" is relative.

 

[EEL]

Neoprene is waterproof, but is it inherently "windproof"?  My experience has been that  it is not and it is the cooling effect of the wind that makes neoprene gloves less than ideal. Neoprene gloves/mitts with a smooth outer surface from a coating or some process which makes them more windproof seem to be much warmer to me.

Ed Lawson

[mbhazeltine]

Late to the discussion - I agree that thin Nitrile gloves are key.  I have also been known to bring a small thermos of hot water to pre-warm or re-warm my wet gloves.  Unsweeten tea works - coffee not so good.

 

[prudenceb]

OK, so nitrile liners under Glacier gloves have worked pretty well for me.  But yesterday I tried a new combo in my endless search for warm hands and think I finally hit a home run:  nitrile gloves under Kokotat mittens.  I wore them yesterday for the first time in the second half of a chilly outing.  We were paddling into a headwind our whole way back, but my hands were completely toasty the whole time, despite the wind and being repeatedly splashed.  The mittens shed  water. I was also easily able to pull them off and put them back on even over wet nitrile gloves when I wanted to get to my camera.  The mittens aren't very thick and I had a much better feel for the paddle than I do wearing Glacier gloves.  
 

Prudence

Edited January 9, 2021 by prudenceb

[Brian Nystrom]

Ed, neoprene is windproof, in that wind will not pass through it, but water evaporating off the surface will cause cooling. That's why "skin" neoprene is warmer than fabric-covered neoprene; water just runs right off of it, so there's no evaporation. Unfortunately, it's not as durable, so it's not a great material for high-abrasion areas like the palms of gloves.

[Bill H]

Heated gloves 

[Jim Snyder]

Bo Gus. They're not heated.

https://www.smartsaker.com/products/warm-thermal-gloves-cycling-running-driving-gloves-1?variant=32967030276180

[prudenceb]

18 minutes ago, Jim Snyder said:

Bo Gus. They're not heated.

https://www.smartsaker.com/products/warm-thermal-gloves-cycling-running-driving-gloves-1?variant=32967030276180

And the text in website so ungrammatical, I wouldn't trust the product!

[Brian Nystrom]

On 1/14/2021 at 7:49 AM, prudenceb said:

And the text in website so ungrammatical, I wouldn't trust the product!

It's just another poorly translated ad for a Chinese product. That doesn't mean it's a bad product, but if you read the ad and check out the pics, it's obvious that they're not suitable for paddling.