The inventors of the Heated Wetsuit and series winner on last years New Inventors TV Programme have just finished developing a Heated Kidney Belt which can now turn any wetsuit into a Heated Wetsuit.
How does it work? It has a built in reusable chemical heat pack which can be activated through your wetsuit when required by locating and then pressing an activator button.
A chemical reaction (phase change) will then provide an instant heat of 50C/122F.
The pack remains warm for up to an hour and can easily be recharged after each surf and sail by boiling it in water for 15 minutes. This process can be repeated hundreds of times.
Chris Lyons, founder and inventor of Hotsuits says "We wanted to change the way you think about cold water forever. It's a fact that when your body is subject to prolonged exposure in adverse conditions it will inevitably lead to heat loss. Using an external heat source assists in maintaining the core temperature allowing you to remain in the water longer even in the coldest conditions."
I don't expect any self -respecting Laser sailor would ever use one of these.
4 comments:
I would do it. I despise / fear drysuits. I hate them so much.
So anything to warm up my wetsuit is welcome, but only if it lasts more then an hour...
Wait, reading this over again, it seems like it'd be hard to use. You boil it, and then use it.
It works for an hour. Then you have to boil it again.
Where would you boil it again? I don't know about you, but my sunfish doesn't have a hotpan on it...
Actually, those heat packs have been around for some time, although not with the specific adaptation for a wetsuit. Tadpole took a few with him for the Boy Scout Klondike Derby last month.
Inside a well insulated jacket, the heat put out by one of those packs lasts a good hour or more. The trick is to have several packs that you set off one at a time. At the end of the day, you boil them all up to get ready for the next day.
By the way, those packs are also good at the end of the day to relieve achy muscles. And, given that they are re-usable, unlike the products widely advertised on television, they are a great bargain financially.
I can see that these would be an absolute life saver for those who have to risk immersion in the sea as part of thier work.
I once did an offshore survival course for working on oil and gas platforms in the North sea and I learnt that the survival time in the sea in the middle of winter, even with a Dry suit is not that long. A device like this may well extend that time significantly. I wonder if they use them?
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