I've just come across Anglia Water's rules, and rule 40 is quite perplexing: 'Waders in boats- neoprene and breathable only allowed.' Does this mean my lead lined pvc chesties are illegal? I wouldn't want to wear waders in a boat normally (though I have, after struggling on the bank, and not having other waterproofs with me), but the only disadvantage I can see is not being able to get back in the boat once they fill up.Having said that I would favour holding onto the boat and making for shore, which seems a lot safer for all concerned.Has anyone got any experience of a ducking, and did you get back in the boat? Presuming you survived that is...

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hi
I wouldnt recommend wearing waders in boats but I think the problem is pvc waders arent as tight a fit as neoprene or breathables. Also I assume its not the waders filling up when you are in the water as you should be alright as ive heard you will weigh them same, not sure if this is true or not. I think the difficulty is getting into the boat as you will weigh more getting out of the water, but to be honest what I have written may be a load of mumbo jumbo.

Hope it helps.

John

Not at all, perfectly sensible.

I find it surprising that any waders are permitted in boat whether thigh, waist or chest and irrespective of material.

I you were to fall in wearing waders then the advice to simply hang on to the boat is good - trying to haul yourself or be hauled back into a boat is a recipe for further disaster. Hang on until you're in the shallows and then crawl out on hands and knees.

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gadusmorhua

I don't have any experience of falling out of boats (other than deliberately whilst wearing a dry suit !) but as a long time British Sub-Aqua Club Senior diving instructor (retd) there is no difference whatsoever between breathables or pvc once flooded. They would act in exactly the same way as a flooded membrane drysuit.

As you correctly stated, flooding itself is not a problem (other than the temperature of the water !) but getting up a bank or into a boat is a major problem because of the weight of water inside the chesties / drysuit.

If you wany to get out of the water, best advice is to try and get rid of most of it - easy for a diver who always carries a knife and can cut the lower legs of the drysuit to make 'drains' if there is no other alternative.

For a flyfisherman, wading, get to the bank and then get your horizontal leg(s) onto the bank - higher than your head / chest - this will allow the water to drain and you will be able to inch out, horizontally, with elevated feet first, until you can turn over and crawl or stand up.

For a flyfisherman who has just fallen out of a boat....ideally, you might want to try and take the chesties off if you can - but your idea is probably the best, stay with the boat and head to the bank. If you do try to get back into the boat make sure you try at either the bow or the stern - never amidships unless you want the flood the boat or turn it over over !

For those who have never experienced a ducking - waders / chesties / membrane drysuits will not drag you down. The water inside the gear weighs exactly the same as the water outside the clothing so there is very little change in buoyancy. The problem (apart from getting wet and cold) is the weight of water trapped inside the chesties as you try to emerge from the water - all of a sudden the contents of your chesties weigh 1 kg. for every litre and you can take quite a few litres on board !!!!

The moral of this story is, it is probably not a very good idea to wear any sort of waders in a boat (LOL)

Hope this helps,

Nigel

Hijacking the thread slightly (in the name of safety):

I have to admit to being a bit blasé whilst wading and sometimes go really deep in the outback, where no one would find me for hours, if not half a day if I didn't return, found myself sort of backwards skating up a silt bank the other day, trying to avoid slipping into a shoulder deep pool (when just into a Grayling); managed to get a foot hold, re-anchor myself land the fish (years of skiing mean the part of my brain that panics when slipping down hill has been retrained to roll with it a bit).

In hindsight though, stupid on my part, as I'm not getting any younger or fitter, probably about time I got a bit more safety conscious re sailing close to the wind - what is the common sense deal if you go down in steep banked river environment (slow, medium or fast water)?

I guess if there’s a little shingle beach down a bit you should head for that but if you’re stuck ½ mile up a steep banked section what do you do then?

Presume if you can stand again it's a long cold wade back out?

Should I be buying one of those expensive life vests?

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your spot on boony. it,s when you try and take the water out with you it weighs aprox 1 ton per square meter. as b.i.b pointed out when trying to get back in a boat always use the front or back never the sides unless you want the boat tipped.

If you wear a wading belt, that will limit the amount of water that can go down your waders as i discovered about three years ago on the Traun in Austria. I stepped off into 1 foot of crystal clear water, only to discover it was 3 feet of crystal clear water. Having done a total immersion and let go of my rod, I rolled onto my back and paddled my way to the shore - about 10 yards. I then rolled onto my front and crawled out. I was surprised at how little water had actually managed to get inside my waders. I reckon about a pint or so each leg. It was certainly perishing cold. After draining out and discovering that my compact digital camera was also full of water, I waded out, retrieved my rod and carried on fishing. Incidentally, the camera survived and works still to this day.

I have taken this stance for many years despite objections from others.

Waders have no place in boats & are inherently dangerous. Not just for the reason I had to recover an angler that had taken a topple. Believe you me is is very hard to get someone out of the water into a boat when their chesties are filled with water.

Tight Lines

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I'm not trying to be smart here, but the easiest measurement of weight for volume of water to remember is 10lb per gallon. Six gallon per cubic foot, 27 cubic ft per cubic yard, if my memory is not playing tricks. That's 1,620lbs. I'm still living in the pre-decimalisation era.
Hi, Splashy, the late Hugh Falkus recommended what I can only think of as lying back and enjoying it when you fall in a river while wearing waders. Lie in the water, arms outspread, and drift, paddle your way to the shallows. He was very adamant about not raising the arms above the head. If you do that, you will sink.
To every boat angler who values his life, I would recommend wearing a life jacket. I have heard all the spurious arguments on here against them, but that sort of talk is just so much bravado. I owned three boats, used mainly on Ullswater, over a period of about 14 years, and I've seen it rough. Not as rough as a day I once had on Lough Conn. I wouldn't want to go out without a life jacket. We've had numerous ill-informed people die in the lake.
The only time I fell in while wearing neoprene chesties was while boat fishng for salmon on the Eden. No life jacket that day, as it doesn't get rough on the river, and I didn't stand up to fish. I did stand up to retrieve a spinner from a tree, as a result of someone not listening to what I said. To compound his malfaisance, he stepped across to my side of the boat, to help, he said, and I went over the side into 8ft of water. It was February. and the water was cold. Luckily, I grabbed the gunnel as I went over, so I kept my hat on! and I got back in over the stern, and I didn't even swear.
I left the waders on, carried on fishing, and before long the water, up to my knees, didn't feel so bad. It was when I drove the little Panda 4-wheel drive up the woodland track back to the car park that I felt the water climbing up my legs. You can guess the rest --- it would have made 'the snip' redundant. TC
PS We wore our waders in the boat only because the beat was fished both while in the boat and from the bank.

If your mate has gone swimming in his chesties and you are trying to get him / her back into the boat......a) as previously mentioned, use only the bow or the stern ! b) the best / easiest way (for the rescuer) is to lift them by their feet initially - so that water drains out of the chesties as they come inboard - same as getting out on the bank. The victim won't like this method at all as at some point their hat is going to get wet LOL ! .....but hey, it is the easiest method for the rescuer. Any other way is extremely tough as Highlander has so rightly pointed out !!

Nigel