Would you SINK if your drysuit fills with water?

Thank you for these tests

So wet suit inside dty suit?

It maybe a bit uncomfortable, hut it wont make you sink like a rock
The water is neutrally buoyant in the water.... because it's water.

Why would you sink? The water inside your suit is not heavier than the water outside of it.

Seems like a wetsuit is a way better option for kiting.

Needs more testing in different scenarios, but thanks for the input.

Why don’t people wear a life jacket inside the dry suit?

Important video and brilliant.
Los Angeles County Life Guards told me that one common problem are people who just want to wade a little, they're wearing big sweatshirts, sweat pants. They get his by a wave, they're having fun.... but then they try to get out. In the water they're buoyant, but as soon as any part gets above the water -- all that water is dead weight. Can be a hundred pounds. They can quickly become exhausted.
It's important that you made the point that a bag of water in the water weighs what the empty bag weighs. (This is like that false science class demo where they weigh an empty balloon and blow it up and weigh it again. The only way it would weigh more is if the teacher cheats it. )
So the critical factor as you point out is hypothermia, but it's also getting out of the water, or like the one commenter trying to roll his kayak back up with a full drysuit. Trying to get back on board or out of the water in heavy surf might be a problem. People should understand what's happening and know that if they have to, then crawl.
I just bought a dry suit for a sail across the North Pacific. I probably won't really need it...but if I should need it and don't have it.... One key reason I've made this expensive purchase is about ten years ago my kayak bulkheads failed on a summer day off Los Angeles. Air temp 75-80 (25-28C), water temp above 60 (16C). I had a neoprene top, but just a swim suit bottom. Waiting to get rescued I quickly got hypothermic. I've got a lot of experience with cold but I am always surprised by how fast it happens. (Attended funeral of a kayak friend who died in similar temps.) Here's the kicker: I'd often swum for over an hour in water about the same temp wearing only a Speedo. So one tip is, as soon as you have a problem, start moving. I think I had about a 15 minute window where I might've been no longer able to swim. (Don't know. This might make a good video. Can you start swimming and build up some body temp after you start getting hypothermic? ) Stay safe.

Seems like the conclusion is if it fails it's a death bag because you will get hypothermia but it probably won't fail?

try climbing back on top of a kayak with a suit full of water . its a hard task . for my fishing kayak a wear dry pants ,a wet suit top and a ridgeline monsoon smock

Good and interesting experiments you make it myself

A "friend" had a poorly repaired latex collar that came loose while sea kayakking in rather big waves. He failed an eskimo roll, mainly because of this, his suit filled with water rather fast, that didn't sink him to the bottom but it didn't help him floating like a dry suit normally does, and it made getting him back on and into his boat a verry difficult task with 2 people assisting. We were close to cutting the socks of the drysuit to let the water out. The water was not dangerously cold but he was getting hypothermic by the time we could get him to shore and into dry clothes,.. in real cold water or on a solo trip this drysuit failure would have ended quite differently,....

When I started I was afraid that air could shoot into the legs and basically trap my head underwater (like it happens to divers).

But, it hasn't happened, since the drag of the kite basically cancels it out.
However I am still aware that it might happen with a bad crash. And so instead of a linecutter that I normally bring for kitesurfing, I now take a diving knife, just in case.

could you do this same thing again but fill it to the brim with water hose plz

Love your videos guys. I made my way to Ontario and would love a chance to meet my heroes. Where do you guys kite? I am curretly in Beaverton.

If there were waves you'd drown. Sailors have drowned that didn't take off their sea boots after falling overboard.

Anyone who does something different will have hatters. The concept of sinking requires heavier than water volume. Water is not heavier than water. This is OBVIOUS. So its a bunch of idiots that have no idea what they are saying and just want to say your wrong because .... I am going to say it... they can't afford a dry suit. Simple as that.

Our local kiter died due to a rip in his dry suit and hypothermia. Be careful out there!!

Thanks for busting the deathbag myth. Can't believe you only have 50,000 views. You guys do great videos that are always informative and funny.

Hi, I am a Korean scuba diver - I enjoyed your video.
May I use some parts of your vidoe - I run diving related channel and would like to introduce your experience with dry suit

lol I thought she was about to take off the wetsuit behind him to show us how to do it

Most of the wear and tear leaks will be in the back tape/seams (inside) where you have the harness so its a good idea to add some gaffa/duct tape over it to slow down the wear. I usually kite alone all winter and im never worried. Just gotta take some precautions and not do to many crazy things.

I once joked to pal about the value of a water anchor.. when they deployed it effectively floated... as the water is neutral buoyancy and the little plastic in the container was positive.... I'm still laughing 24yrs later.

Even if the dry suit was full of water the outcome of floating plastics and a body being overall less dense than water you'll float till cold brings another range of problems...

A drysuit looks bulky

Thanks for suffering the cold to test the myth. As a dry suit owner I never gave it any thought. I would imaging a few air pockets will help too.

Would love to see the same test in whitewater...

Wearing a wet suit underneath your dry suit completely destroys this experiment.

Glad I found this vid!! I was wondering what would happen if my drysuit filled with water. Now I know. Excellent video. Very good info.

Wear are the pfds?

I'm not sure where people are talking about it being a deathbag, but in scuba I could see it being a problem. Humans are generally slightly bouyant by themselves, but in the case of scuba, you want to be neutrally buoyant during the dive (not surfacing or descending). So we have to compensate this by wearing lead weights. We only need a small amount of weight with normal scuba gear, but drysuits encapsulate your body in a layer of air for insulation. This makes you significantly more buoyant because water is significantly denser than air. This is similar to having a life jacket on. We then have to use enough lead to compensate for this additional buoyancy. If the suit completely flooded i.e. all the bouyant air escaped and replaced with neutrally bouyant water, the extra lead would pull you pretty fast to the depths. I've never used a drysuit and have been looking into it that's how I stumbled upon this video, so I'm not an expert, but it seems like if you aren't carrying weight to keep you from being positively bouyant, then a flooded drysuit would leave you more or less as buoyant as you were if you weren't wearing anything.

when you burp your suit, go shoulder deep in water (basically as deep as you can without letting water in the neck seal). you essentially vacuum seal yourself in the suit. weird feeling. if you are trying to get all the air out, this is a very easy way to do it

I don't understand why anyone would think that water would sink in water. I would certainly think swimming is a little harder though. Anyway very helpful video!!!

I have a kokatat suit that zips apart, and I’ve wondered about whether it would be safe to just wear the bottoms. Did you try climbing out into your sup or a kayak with a full suit?

That was a great test, so thanks for your effort. I have been wondering for some time what would happen if my suit sprung a leak.

What would happen if you filled it with a hose pipe then tested it in a pool?

ah why not do this test on a warmer day? I am super happy you did the testing and great video.

I think the theory applies more to whitewater kayaking or if there was some waves/flow/current, than you become part of the flow/heavy and can't control where you go!

Great video, I did this same test, only I did it during the summer so I would not freeze, lol. Lake Ontario is cold during the winter.
Kayaker from the East GTA.

As an old scuba diver, I would not want to fill my dry suit with water. Sorry to say, the woman had lots of air in the suit. And how long befor hyperthermia set in. And your body would shut down and you could not swim. I think this was not a good test... just a person who dove a dry suit that was alot like yours....

😂 always wondered about that good review 👍

You might not sink but you will be in a bad spot if your dry suit fills not to mention freeze . Some one should try a 6/5 Xcel hooded surf suit the top of the line one . Your lucky if you can get that suit fully wet inside . I kayaked in 40f degree water in that thing and was in total comfort the whole time . Little tough at 1st to get use to the chest zip (peeing sucks) getting in and out and after having it on 1st couple times I think I know what it feels like to having a snake eat ya . After a few wears it is really comfortable for cold water and weather .

I think that the problem is when kayaking and such. It would be much harder to climb back into the kayak when the drysuit is full of water. You should wear a life-jacket when using a dry-suit as the air may be forced into your feet when you are in the water. This may cause you to be stuck feet up and head under water.

Excellent review and experiment guys, I personally wear a dry suit in the colder months on a jetski and wetsuit in the summer and I’ve always wondered about water getting in. Now I know 👌

The hypothesis was irrational to start with. Water inside the suit has the same density as water outside the suit so it won't drag you down. The trapped water does have mass, so it's normal that it makes any movements a little more difficult. Total loss of air in the drysuit is improbable, though not impossible, and that air still gives you some bouyoncy. However, a life vest with a whistle is always recommended.

funny this is all stuff the whitewater community figured out 20 years back...

Could you not simulate a deep water pack down with a kite and wear a harness ?? Very informative thou. Cheers

compeletely meaningless test.

UK kiters have been wearing surface drysuits since 2002ish that I know of, probably longer, and kiting throughout the year. How is this still a myth that keeps getting brought up?