The 9 Best Kayaking Gloves for All Weather Conditions
Have you ever been kayaking and found your hand is feeling stiff, sore, or numb from the temperature or saltiness of the water? Even just the sheer friction your palms experience when paddling is enough to cause some if not a lot of irritation.
Even if you're under the impression that your hands are leathery, sturdy, and rough enough to take anything on, a few hours paddling in the sun crisping them up or icy rain numbing them could tell you otherwise.
This is why we have created this kayak gloves buying guide so you can find the best kayaking gloves for you!
What Are Kayaking Gloves?
Kayaking gloves are a type of glove that protects your hands from harsh weather conditions and unwanted friction. Many gloves have protection features like UV protection or thermal protection or extra padding to prevent friction.
Do I Need Kayaking Gloves?
We need kayaking gloves to protect our hands. After all, you want to look after them so you can keep paddling, of course!
Can I Use Cycling Gloves for Kayaking?
Some gloves are designed to be multi-sport gloves so you can use them for kayaking, cycling, or weight lifting. Sometimes kayakers have been known to use cycling gloves as an extra layer to provide warmth and protection from blisters.
How To Choose the Best Gloves for Kayaking?
There are many things to consider when choosing some new kayaking gloves.
You need to make sure that they're made from durable material while also being a sensible enough fabric that you can flex your fingers easily and naturally.
You want to ensure your new gloves are both water-resistant for wet days or submerged in cold water and breathable as well as moisture-wicking for hot warmer days.
Not to mention the thickness, size, fit, grip, and comfort! So much to think about so little time. Not to worry, though, KayakBuds are here to help find the best gloves for you!
Material
We recommend looking for gloves made from neoprene, lycra, or high-quality spandex when purchasing your new kayaking gloves.
Whether you want the palms to be padded is up to you. It's up for debate whether it's better to have padding or not. If you find yourself getting sore or blistering, you might benefit more from padded gloves.
Fabric
Lycra and spandex tend to be used as summer kayaking gloves as they are lightweight, and they offer substantial protection from the sun. If you were to go for lycra or spandex gloves with padding, they could combat sunny days as well as the natural friction caused when paddling.
If you’re looking for kayak paddling gloves for harsh conditions, you'll need some cold weather kayaking gloves. This is where neoprene comes into things. Neoprene fabric is a synthetic rubber that acts as an insulator and happens to be the same material used for wetsuits. Therefore they tend to be the best kayak gloves to keep your hands nice and toasty in the winter months.
Thickness
When you’re looking for a warm fabric, thicker is always better right? Wrong.
Thick neoprene kayak gloves can affect the flexibility of your fingers when paddling. If they are too thick, they can be rigid, stiff, and unkind to those in-betweeny finger bits.
It may cause your hands to get tired more quickly, so it's a good idea to get gloves that fit the shape of your hand when fully relaxed.
A thicker glove fabric can offer more padding and protection but can make your hands hot and sweaty if you're kayaking in the sun.
For warm weather gloves, you might want to consider fingerless 1-2mm thick gloves for cold weather, depending on the temperature of the water, you could buy as thick as 3mm.
Water-Resistant
Using gloves for a watersport like canoeing or whitewater kayaking, you’ll want gloves that will keep your hands warm and dry.
We don't want you to be out on the water with damp, cold, wet gloves and numb, frozen hands.
Luckily, we have you covered. Kayak gloves, for the most part, tend to be water-resistant, and some even quick-drying!
Breathability
Breathe in, and breathe out. Doesn't that feel better? Well, think about your hands; those paws need to breathe too!
Breathable fabric is a good idea as it will help in preventing sweaty palms or internal glove moisture. Having a breathable fabric will allow you to have a much more enjoyable kayaking experience in the long run.
Moisture-Wicking
Speaking of sweaty palms, some gloves wick away any bodily moisture to ensure you're not damp when you're paddling energetically!
Size and Fit
Does the phrase fit like a glove ring any bells? It is essential that you comfortably fit your new kayaking gloves.
Too loose and it will become uncomfortable, potentially causing unwanted blisters and decreasing the level of warmth it should be providing.
Too tight, and you'd think the pair of gloves would keep your hand warm, right? Unfortunately not, a tight pair of gloves run the risk of cutting blood circulation to your fingers, which can become dangerous in cold weather.
Be like Goldilocks, and get a kayaking glove that fits "just right."
Grip
It is super important your gloves have sufficient grip. You’ll want to be able to have a grip on your paddle in dry or wet conditions.
Comfort
When you’re looking for the best paddling gloves, they'd better be comfortable!
To ensure your gloves for kayaking are comfortable, the fit is vital. Gloves are measured at the palm, but everyone's hands are different, so we recommend trying the gloves for paddling on. Remember to consider how comfortable the pair of gloves is around your wrist, fingers, and knuckles to get the most comfortable fit.
Full Finger or Fingerless Gloves?
So, to state the obvious, full finger gloves cover your full hand, and fingerless gloves sport a half finger badass biker look where the tops of your fingers are exposed to the elements.
Fingerless Gloves
The best thing about fingerless gloves is they allow you to use your fingertips, which is useful for opening things, pick things up, fiddle with your fishing tackle, perhaps?
The downside of the fingerless fantasy, they don't offer the same amount of protection from the cold or sun rays and can be prone to blistered fingers. They tend to be better used as a summer kayaking glove for warm weather.
Full Finger Gloves
These canoeing gloves offer full hand coverage to keep your hands warm and protect your hands from the rays and any friction caused by the paddle.
However, on the flip side, the fingerless glove may restrict your ability to open things or pick up small objects, so if you're working with your fingertips a lot on the boat, it might be best to steer clear.
The Best Gloves For Kayaking!
Now that we know the lingo, you'll need to decide which kind of kayaking gloves you are after. That's what we are here for, whether you're looking for the best kayak fishing gloves or the best women's paddling gloves or perhaps you're just after some standard waterproof gloves for kayaking. One thing's for sure, the following top picks are some of the best kayaking gloves on the market.
Summer/Warmer Weather Gloves
1. NRS Men's Boater
These men's gloves are meant for warm weather. They feature synthetic leather palm reinforcement and will ensure sun protection stopping the rays from crisping your skin. As they are not intended for cold weather, they will not keep your hands warm, luckily they are made from a thin breathable material, and the extra padding on the palms increases the durability of the glove.
These gloves sport a fingerless style allowing you to use your fingertips for intricate tasks.
They come in sizes XS-XXL, which works out as 3 inches measured diagonally across the palm to 4.5 inches measured diagonally across the palm, therefore, providing a wide range of sizes to fit all kinds of paddlers hands.
These gloves, made for women, are manufactured from breathable mesh with a synthetic leather palm with a faux suede texture, which will protect your hands from blistering and offer some UV protection.
It is a warm-weather glove option and actually designed for many different sports like cycling, rowing, or weight lifting, so if a padded glove is what you're looking for, this may be the best kayak gloves for you!
While claiming to be a women's glove, these gloves should be considered for men with smaller hands too. They come in a range of sizes from 6-6.7" (S) to 7.4-8.3" (L).
The palms offer sufficient grip in the dry or wet and, therefore, perfect for those days out on the water when the rain sets in.
The Fishing Tree Fingerless gloves are made with summer weather in mind. These gloves are fingerless, making it easy for any fisher person to tackle their tackle! They easily allow you to use the sensitivity of your fingertips to complete intricate or detailed tasks without having to remove them.
These fingerless gloves by Fishing Tree are manufactured using spandex making them lightweight, breathable, quick-drying and offer significant UV protection. They also use a synthetic leather palm that offers protection and padding on the palms to avoid calluses and blistering while on the water.
They are available in sizes XS-XL and have a velcro strap to customize the fit around the wrist.
If you're looking for the best gloves for kayak fishing in warm weather, these paddling gloves could definitely be up there.
These fingerless gloves offer a breathable spandex shell, a synthetic leather palm for reinforcement and comfortable neoprene cuffs.
The fabric is thin, making it quick drying and allowing flexibility for your hands while offering UPF 50+ sun protection, to keep your hands from crisping up.
While unhelpful in cold conditions, these gloves will help with preventing blisters using its synthetic leather palm, especially helpful on longer paddles.
Like lots of warm weather gloves, these gloves are manufactured using spandex and lycra, making them quick-drying, lightweight and flexible.
These gloves have no extra padding on the palms, which some kayakers prefer not to compromise the grip on the paddle.
However, the gloves do feature a reinforced synthetic leather palm, which will aid the gloves in lasting against the wearing tear of paddling. They come in sizes XS-XXXL, which should mean no paddler need remain gloveless! Once you find your size, they easily slip on and off with a velcro wrist strap to adjust.
If you're after quick-drying fingerless multi-sport gloves then these may be the best kayaking gloves for you!
As the trend goes, they are manufactured using spandex and lycra with a synthetic leather palm. These gloves prove to be breathable and lightweight while the synthetic leather palm provides much-needed protection from the natural wear and tear from the friction of the paddle.
The mesh backing helps in preventing excessive sweating and promotes breathability during hot summer days.
The gloves have an excellent grip quality and are fingerless, allowing your fingertips to be used for any spontaneous mid-kayak guitar solos without having to remove your gloves.
There's no need to be concerned when paddling as these gloves will not reduce your ability to handle a paddle. They can be used for kayaking, SUP boarding, waterskiing, canoeing, sailing and other water sports.
An excellent choice for the multisport warm weather kayaker, paddler or sailer.
Winter/Cold Weather Gloves
1. Palm Descent Pogies
Are you looking for some whitewater kayaking gloves? Maybe you'd like to consider some kayaking pogies!
The Palm Descent pogies are a type of kayak mittens that fit around the paddle pole and allow you to slip your hands in to grab the pole from the inside. This ensures a good grip around the pole and protection from any icy water chill.
These pogies are manufactured using 3mm CR limestone neoprene, which will keep your hands warm and dry.
They easily slip on and off using Velcro fastenings around the paddling pole and easy-on wrist cuffs with pull tabs.
These gloves are a great choice and very popular for whitewater kayaking and recreational or touring kayaking.
These full-fingered kayaking gloves are made with fleece-lined neoprene fabric, making them perfect to be used as winter kayaking gloves.
The neoprene gloves are durable and designed to ensure your hands stay warm and dry when out on the water. The fleece lining is particularly cosy and useful to protect your hands from any cold weather.
They are designed with curved fingers to fit naturally over your hand shape and they also have a strap around the wrists so you are able to customise the fit as well as keep the water out.
Speaking of keeping the water out, these gloves also feature a seamless palm which debunks any concerns of any eventual leakage.
These gloves are available in a ridiculous range of sizes from 6-6.5" (XS) to 10.25-11" (XXL). Therefore it should be a breeze finding a set that fits you right.
These glacial gloves' grip quality is second to none making them a front runner for the best winter kayak gloves on the market!
Looking for the best gloves for kayaking in freezing temperatures? Want to keep your hands warm while still able to grip a pole and go out on the water? Well, then have we got the paddle mitts for you!
The yak open palm mitt is made using 3mm wind resisting mesh and rigid neoprene, making the gloves durable, thick and warm.
The best thing about these kayaking mitts is they have a cut out open palm so they can keep your hands from the cold while you're able to properly grip the paddle and allow your palms to have proper contact with the pole.
Top Pick
If all this time you were thinking, "yeah, but which ones are the best kayaking gloves of all time?" and expecting a definite answer, we have one. However, it isn't easy to pick an overall best set of gloves when there are many different kinds for different uses. The best kayaking gloves for you might depend on the type of kayaking you do, the temperature you tend to kayak in, whether you prefer padding or no padding, or whether you need fingerless gloves or full finger.
Even if our chosen top pick for the best kayak gloves doesn't meet your requirements, we hope you'll find an excellent pair in our buying guide list!
Anyway, without further ado, our top pick is the Glacial Glove Perfect Curve!
These gloves are super warm, comfortable, and durable, and they're ready and waiting to protect your hands from feeling numb and cold in the winter.
These gloves are definitely worth a purchase for cold winter or fall weather use and their ergonomic design has them literally fitting like gloves.
Happy Paddling!