5 Tips for Cold Floats

1. Build a closed cell foam seat. Using closed cell foam to build a raised seat on your tube goes a long way to staying warm. I shaped mine to fit my tube then used 1 inch webbing to strap it into place. It keeps you sitting high and out of the water, and the closed cell foam insulates great. It also is more comfortable.
2. Wear bulky layers. You want to trap as much air between your legs and the water as possible. I wear a Patagonia Capelene 3 base layer, synthetic pants, and then 2 pairs of larger high pile fleece pants over the puff pants. Doing this allows me to trap a lot of air inside the wader. The downside is looking like the marshmallow man when gearing up.
3. Bring a hot drink. Nothing like hot coffee to warm you warm when a cold snowstorm starts to bite through the layers. We have new insulated North 40 Outfitters’ Klean Kanteens, or use a Nalgene and keep it under your coat.
4. Use some hand warmers. I like to put them next to my wrist under the sleeves of my top layers, or in my hand warmer pocket on my waders/coat.
5. Size up your boots. If you normally wear a size 10 wading boot, grab a size 11 for winter float tubing. You want to wear a 3 sock system (thin liner, heavy wool, bulky fleece) for best insulation. Again, we are trying to create dead air space to protect against conduction. If your boot is too tight, the bulk of your socks will become compressed and less effective at insulating your feet.

In super cold conditions, like spring ice off, nothing is going to work perfect. When your feet get too cold, get out of the boat for a few minutes and start swinging your legs back and forth and do some jumping jacks, you want to get blood down into your toes to rewarm your boots.