Okay, here’s one I don’t think I’ve seen yet.

Does anyone wear their rain jacket outside their PDF? My thought is that it keeps the water farther away from your core instead of trapping it between your jacket and a soggy PDF.


41 days to depart

PFD on the outside. For me, I don’t think the raincoat would fit over the PFD. I also remove the PFD for portaging.

I do over the pfd, never really thought about keeping pfd dry, it's easier to get the rain jacket on and off. I also carry a EE rain skirt so I don't have to get outta the canoe to put rain pants on.

I have always put the rain jacket on over my PFD. I've been on several trips when the rain showers were short but frequent and I didn't have to mess with my PFD if I just slipped my jacket on over it.
The other reason is if I ever do capsize I want to be able to take the jacket off as I'm sure the sleeves will fill with water and become very heavy.

Several years ago, Cliff Jacobson gave a presentation at one of our Boy Scout leader roundtables. It was kind of an odd presentation because Cliff started going on and on about paddling far northern Canadian rivers near the Arctic Circle when 99.9% of the people in the room only wanted to hear about how to get a Scout Troop to start canoeing flat water rivers in Wisconsin.

But I digress...

In that same presentation, Cliff started talking about rain gear and was encouraging anyone going on wilderness canoe trips to use TWO rain jackets - one UNDER the PFD and one OVER the PFD. He reasoned that two layers would make it far more likely that one would stay dry. He may very well be right, but I thought the idea was a bit much.

Back to the question at hand... I would think that wearing a quality rain jacket with a PFD over that would be sufficient in all but the most hurricane-like situations. But then if one is attempting to paddle during a hurricane, there are more important problems to worry about.

The points being made for wearing a rain jacket OVER the PFD are good ones. I may have rethink this... and see if my rain jacket will fit if I wear it that way.

Usually prefer my jacket over my PDF. If rain starts or stops while I’m paddling, I want to get my rain gear off without having to take off my PFD.

Jaywalker: "Usually prefer my jacket over my PDF. If rain starts or stops while I’m paddling, I want to get my rain gear off without having to take off my PFD. "

+1

Jackfish: "In that same presentation, Cliff started talking about rain gear and was encouraging anyone going on wilderness canoe trips to use TWO rain jackets - one UNDER the PFD and one OVER the PFD. He reasoned that two layers would make it far more likely that one would stay dry. He may very well be right, but I thought the idea was a bit much. "

Wearing two rain jackets is silly, sounds like an idea just for the sake of having an original idea.

Jaywalker: "Usually prefer my jacket over my PDF. If rain starts or stops while I’m paddling, I want to get my rain gear off without having to take off my PFD. "

Yes, me too.

Over the PFD.
Is this the new 'innie-outie' question?

schweady: "Over the PFD.
Is this the new 'innie-outie' question?
"

That it is. Next question will be toilet paper unrolling.
No actually I need a new rain jacket and there’s a lot on sale this time of year here in California.
I just want to know if I should bring my PDF with me to check fit. And to see the strange looks I get

In cold weather, I prefer to wear my rain gear over my PFD since my PFD is an insulating layer I want to keep warm. In summer weather, I wear the PFD on the outside of the rain gear if I wear rain gear at all.

Depends which one I already have on or plan on taking off first.

Jaywalker: "Usually prefer my jacket over my PDF. If rain starts or stops while I’m paddling, I want to get my rain gear off without having to take off my PFD. "

Same!

One question: has anyone ever dumped or tested going into the water with their jacket over their PFD. I'm wondering how easy it is to swim or maneuver with that layer being loose.

I was taught to wear the PFD over the rain jacket. However, I can't remember who taught me that. That's what I do, generally, though I admit to having put my raincoat on over my PFD a time or two, usually in a sudden squall. My raincoat was pretty tight over my old PDF. I haven't tried putting it on over my new inflatable PFD.

Mike

Outside. I like access to the pockets.

andym: "One question: has anyone ever dumped or tested going into the water with their jacket over their PFD. I'm wondering how easy it is to swim or maneuver with that layer being loose."

When lap swimming it's easy to tell the difference in drag between a boxer-style Speedo and a boxer-style recreational swimsuit with mesh interior and loose-fitting legs. Swim team members sometimes add a T-shirt to increase the difficulty of their workout since the added drag is so significant. Swimming in clothing and a PFD in open water is exhausting for anyone so adding a sea anchor as an outer layer will make a genuinely dangerous situation worse. I don't really understand why it's so common for people to over-estimate their swimming skills.

Swimming Skills

Temperature dependent: The "breathable" aspect of my raincoat is defeated when under the PFD so the more likely I am to sweating (higher temps), the more likely the raincoat is outside. In colder temps, my GoreTex is part of my layered insulating system an would be more likely worn under the PFD.

Justpaddlin, I was trying to ask the question in a very neutral manner but I completely agree with you. Having a loose layer on the outside actually scares me quite a bit. Especially in water rough enough to cause a capsize. I was recently swimming in a pool with a slightly loose rash guard and the drag was impressive. Usually for lap swimming I’ll wear a tight one and barely notice it.

justpaddlin: "

andym: "One question: has anyone ever dumped or tested going into the water with their jacket over their PFD. I'm wondering how easy it is to swim or maneuver with that layer being loose."

When lap swimming it's easy to tell the difference in drag between a boxer-style Speedo and a boxer-style recreational swimsuit with mesh interior and loose-fitting legs. Swim team members sometimes add a T-shirt to increase the difficulty of their workout since the added drag is so significant. Swimming in clothing and a PFD in open water is exhausting for anyone so adding a sea anchor as an outer layer will make a genuinely dangerous situation worse. I don't really understand why it's so common for people to over-estimate their swimming skills.

Swimming Skills "

This short article is well worth the read, and I could not agree with it more. As a young lad I was a certified life guard and worked at a scout camp. I was often surprised how many scouts and adults would struggle to complete the basic first day swim test - 100 yards in the lake and then float 1 minute. I suspect some people have an engrandized memory of "swimming all day at grandma's cabin" when young, but in reality there was a lot of jumping off the dock and not so much swimming of distance.

I think AndyM's original point is certainly worthy of consideration. I have not tried it so can only theorize. If I have my rain jacket over my pfd and tip, so long as water temps are moderate, I could take my rain jacket off. Long sleeve shirt, pants, and shoe's/boots will still provide plenty of drag though. PFD over or under rain gear, I think it's going to be a tough swim. The more you can get rid of the easier the swim, but then the worse off you are once on shore. I guess it really depends on water/air temp, distance to shore, and likelihood of assistance from another canoe. This would actually be a good thing to practice given safe conditions.

I'm sure it creates more drag than body hair, which competitive swimmers shave off . . . ;) Probably considerably more.

I rarely consider ease vs difficulty of the swim when choosing my paddling apparel. Perhaps I'll need to consider swim flippers as my next portaging footwear.

Get serious, OCDave. The flippers are for in the canoe. I have the kind that go on over my boots so I can pop them off for portaging.

Ooo! I may have just come up a great (or a terrible) idea...!

I love the Sea To Summit Ultra-Sil dry compression bags. I put my sleeping bag in one, my under quilt in another, etc and then toss them into my CCS pack. All this talk of falling out of the canoe and having dry clothes on land makes me think that it might be cool to have a compression dry bag with a tether on it that I could clip to my PFD and in the event I fall out and swim to shore I would have a full set of dry sweats/socks/undies with me. Perhaps it could even attach on to my CCS pack with Velcro and each time I get into the canoe I clip it on so if I fall in, it kind of follows me like into the water like the yellow barrels followed the shark into the water in 'JAWS' when Quint shot it with a harpoon gun.

Hey, give me a little credit. I'm trying to innovate here. Go easy on me on this one!

There are floats for open water swimming. You tow them with a waist belt so that boats can see you. And some of them have dry bag pockets for your phone and valuables. So your idea is so reasonable that it already exists.

andym: "Get serious, OCDave. The flippers are for in the canoe. I have the kind that go on over my boots so I can pop them off for portaging. "

So your idea is so reasonable that it already exists. (Sorry, could not resist!)
Swim fins that strap on over your boots

Hah. Didn’t know those existed. I was just thinking of scuba fins that go over wetsuit booties.

ducks: "

Jaywalker: "Usually prefer my jacket over my PDF. If rain starts or stops while I’m paddling, I want to get my rain gear off without having to take off my PFD. "

Same!"

Same here also. I always buy my rain jackets a size bigger with pfd in mind. Also as someone pointed out, nice to have access to pockets.
I think I remember Dan Cooke saying he wore his pfd under rain jacket as well.

I usually wear rain wear over my pfd for the reasons others have stated. Something to keep in mind though is that this makes items such as a whistle carried in/on the pfd less accessible. One time on a river trip it had started sprinkling as we were getting ready to launch so I'd slipped a waterproof/breathable paddle jacket over my pfd. Before long the canoe ahead of me turned over as the others who were farther ahead were about to go out of sight around a bend. Fortunately a yell caught the attention of someone ahead, but it would have been better to have a whistle easy to grab and not covered up by my paddle jacket.