I purchased a Kokatat Meridian Dry suit for my two month kayak expedition around Vancouver Island.
The suit is comfortable, gives you plenty of mobility to paddle with ease, and assuming that you have the appropriate underlayers, it should be breathable enough that you won't be drenched in your own sweat in a hot day or strenuous paddle.
I do however, have one major complaint about the suit. The price. Kokatat suits are almost twice as expensive as their competitors, but the additional price doesn't come anywhere close to a proportional increase in quality. During my expedition around Vancouver Island my suit developed microscopic punctures around the arms, legs, and bootie socks. These didn't compromise the integrity of the suit, however, at the end of a day's paddle, I would find several soaked patches around the arms, legs, and feet.
This was really disappointing because I was very careful with my care of the suit, making sure that I never walked on the booties, washed it with fresh water after nearly every use, waxed the zippers, and kept it away from rough surfaces. However, the issues began to appear after just 10 days. There's nothing worse in a kayaking expedition than having to put on damp salty socks and pants in the morning, and paddle a for ten to twelve hours at a stretch. The itching in you butt will drive you crazy!
It's not unusual for micro punctures to appear in a dry suit with normal wear and tear over time, however, I cannot point to anything of greater value that Kokatat is providing in their product to justify charging nearly double the price of the competition. When I pointed the micro puncture issues on my suit, the company said that these were due to normal wear and tear (which I find dubious), and therefore not covered under their lifetime replacement warranty for factory defects, and charged me about $60 for the repair, once shipping costs were included.
The repair was successful, but to justify their premium price, Kokatat should offer a no questions asked, one free repair, on the first year for any suit.
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