Coach Potter
Life of the Party
My son and I recently spent 5 days fishing 24 miles of roadless river in Idaho. There is a decent amount of gear and planning that has to be considered when you get dropped off that far away from your vehicle. I have spent enough time backpack hunting the wilderness that I felt pretty confident in our gear when it came down to camping and survival. We had a great shelter, sleep systems etc. There were two pieces of gear that I wasn't sure about. The first was what to wear on our feet and the second was what do we wear on our lower half.
Our departure date was June 2nd and that's a time of year where weather can be very unpredictable. Daytime temps can range from 50's to 80's and water temps are cold. I don't carry a thermometer so I can't tell you what the water temps are but they're not warm. If our departure date would have been July 2nd wet wading in shorts or super lightweight pants would have been the no-brainer decision but that wasn't the case. Neither one of us wanted to wear waders for this kind of trip but we did consider wading pants.
I had heard of a light-weight neoprene tight that some folks were using as an alternative to straight wet wading but didn't personally know anyone who had worn them. I saw Backcountry Skinz advertised somewhere and decided to give them a try. They have two different versions (AIRBLITZ and Z series) and in retrospect, I wish I had ordered one of each since I was buying two pair but I spaced it at checkout and ordered two of the exact same. I bought the Z series which is their original model. I believe they were $127/pair.
They claimed to be compact, lightweight, breathable, durable, comfortable, and quick drying. Those were all characteristics that I was interested in for this trip and possibly others like it. I followed the sizing chart and ordered Larges for both of us. I fit perfectly in their sizing chart box as a normal sized dude. My son just finished playing college football and those guys never fit in anyone's sizing chart
. He's 3" shorter than me and 15# heavier with giant quads/butt and a tiny waist.
They looked a little small out of the box but they fit both of us really well despite the differences in our respective builds.
I found them to be extremely comfortable to wear in the field. They definitely took the edge off the cold water temps but I didn’t find myself getting overly hot while traveling. There were times when we had to walk through Devil’s Club and other brush with stickers and I never got a scratch. I wore these skinz 10-12 hours/day for 5 straight days and was totally comfortable at all times.
At the end of the day I hung them in a tree and by morning they were mostly dry. We weren’t getting off the water until just before dark so they never had sun to dry out completely but they weren’t hard to get on even as they were a little damp. I felt like they met every claim that they advertised.
My son had a slightly different experience. On the second day of wearing the skinz he began to chafe as he was wading waist deep at times and he got wet up to his waist. In fairness, he also chafed again on day 5 as he got his shorts wet without the skinz. He has huge quads and any moisture in his shorts or clothing next to his skin around his quads makes him chafe. The skinz trapped the moisture and might have made it worse. It’s been 15 years since I had big athletic quads so chafing was a non-factor for me. He decided not to wear them on days 4 and 5 and they folded up small and fit nicely in his pack.
The only thing I can’t speak to is their durability as I’ve only fished in them 5 days. I did put the through a lot in those 5 days but to me, durability is determined with time. I will be wearing them a lot in years to come.
Our departure date was June 2nd and that's a time of year where weather can be very unpredictable. Daytime temps can range from 50's to 80's and water temps are cold. I don't carry a thermometer so I can't tell you what the water temps are but they're not warm. If our departure date would have been July 2nd wet wading in shorts or super lightweight pants would have been the no-brainer decision but that wasn't the case. Neither one of us wanted to wear waders for this kind of trip but we did consider wading pants.
I had heard of a light-weight neoprene tight that some folks were using as an alternative to straight wet wading but didn't personally know anyone who had worn them. I saw Backcountry Skinz advertised somewhere and decided to give them a try. They have two different versions (AIRBLITZ and Z series) and in retrospect, I wish I had ordered one of each since I was buying two pair but I spaced it at checkout and ordered two of the exact same. I bought the Z series which is their original model. I believe they were $127/pair.
They claimed to be compact, lightweight, breathable, durable, comfortable, and quick drying. Those were all characteristics that I was interested in for this trip and possibly others like it. I followed the sizing chart and ordered Larges for both of us. I fit perfectly in their sizing chart box as a normal sized dude. My son just finished playing college football and those guys never fit in anyone's sizing chart
. He's 3" shorter than me and 15# heavier with giant quads/butt and a tiny waist. They looked a little small out of the box but they fit both of us really well despite the differences in our respective builds.
I found them to be extremely comfortable to wear in the field. They definitely took the edge off the cold water temps but I didn’t find myself getting overly hot while traveling. There were times when we had to walk through Devil’s Club and other brush with stickers and I never got a scratch. I wore these skinz 10-12 hours/day for 5 straight days and was totally comfortable at all times.
At the end of the day I hung them in a tree and by morning they were mostly dry. We weren’t getting off the water until just before dark so they never had sun to dry out completely but they weren’t hard to get on even as they were a little damp. I felt like they met every claim that they advertised.
My son had a slightly different experience. On the second day of wearing the skinz he began to chafe as he was wading waist deep at times and he got wet up to his waist. In fairness, he also chafed again on day 5 as he got his shorts wet without the skinz. He has huge quads and any moisture in his shorts or clothing next to his skin around his quads makes him chafe. The skinz trapped the moisture and might have made it worse. It’s been 15 years since I had big athletic quads so chafing was a non-factor for me. He decided not to wear them on days 4 and 5 and they folded up small and fit nicely in his pack.
The only thing I can’t speak to is their durability as I’ve only fished in them 5 days. I did put the through a lot in those 5 days but to me, durability is determined with time. I will be wearing them a lot in years to come.
