Long John westuits?

Does anyone here use a Long John wetsuit? While searching on e-bay for a new heater top I came across these and thought about how practical they might be for late fall riding. I typically wear a heater top until I can't take it anymore, then I go to a dry suit. However, sometimes the dry suit is too much, say in late November in Texas.

What appeals to me about these John suits is that they are the same thickness throughout the suit, not just 3mm in the torso and then 2mm in the legs. The one in the link below is 3mm all the way around.

I'm thinking that if I wore this with my 2mm heater top that would give me 5mm on my torso, 2mm on my arms, and 3mm on my legs. After a set I could take off my heater top and throw on a hoody, while keeping the john suit on in-between sets.

I'm not thinking of this as a replacement to my dry suit when it's butt ass cold, I'm thinking this may hold off the dry suit until January or so. Your thoughts?

here's a link:

http://www.pleasuresports.com/3mm-2-...it-bottom.html

You could truthfully wear that all year round but I agree drysuits are a little nicer. We wear 4/3 year round for surfing of the west coast of Vancouver Island and they keep ya warm. The lakes around here I usually drysuit it then just man up and wear a shorty once it starts getting a bit warmer.

My brother in law wears one. He really likes it because sometimes he can just wear the bottom and when it's real cold go all out.

Are you refering to fullsuits?

My dad has one and he loves it because he can rock the bottoms but then you have the jacket if its too cold. they also sell just pants which could be nice to go with your heater top. So you could have a top and the pants and it will do the same thing.
http://www.wetsuitwearhouse.com/page...utm_medium=cse

I've seen the pants and have a pair of shorts myself, but when you take a digger that burst of cold water at your waist is shocking. The upside to the john suit is that it covers your torso which doubles your "core" insulation as well as keeps that burst of cold water from getting to your bare skin on a digger.

I also looked at the matching jackets, but I don't like how they are like a shorty wetsuit, meaning you have to step into them. On days when all you need is a heater top I wouldn't want to have to completely undress in-between sets to take off the jacket. With a heater top you can just take that off while keeping your board shorts on. That's why I think the combination of a heater top and john suit bottoms will be pretty versatile for wakeboarding.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the john suit from the link I posted above. I'm still waiting on my heater top to ship as well, so when I get them both in I'll report back how they worked out.

Today I tied out my john wetsuit bottoms with a heater top. The results were very good. The john suit I bought is 3mm throughout and my heater top is 2mm throughout. This gave me 5mm at my core, 2mm on my arms, and 3mm on my legs. It was a little chillier out today than expected, so I also wore some 2mm shorts over the john suit making my groin 5mm.

The water and air temps today were both in the mid 50's. While in the water and while riding I wasn't cold at all. It was really quite comfortable out there even with a 15 mph wind. When back in the boat is was nice to be able to take off the heater top and put on a warm hoody, but I have to say that my lower body was getting pretty cold wearing a wet wetsuit in-between sets. Perhaps next time a pair of fleece pants or something could help with that.

When compared to a dry suit the riding experience was definitely better going with layered neoprene. I felt much less restrictive with the neoprene than I do with a dry suit. The flip side is that a dry suit allows you to stay dry, so time spent in the boat in-between sets is much more comfortable. Like I said, I think next time I'll come a little more prepared for in-between sets and I think I'll be fine.