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For Comparison’s Sake: Technical Shirts

Which technical shirt dries the fastest?

Go out on a boat and it won’t be long until your shirt feels soggy from the humid air around you. To stay dry, you need a shirt that won’t absorb moisture and lets in plenty of fresh air. It has to shed water to dry quickly, and wick away body moisture to help keep you cool. To find out how rapidly these shirts go from soaked to bone-dry, we tested them with the same moisture meter that professional marine surveyors use.

******Columbia Bonehead**
The Shirt: 100 percent cotton. This may not have been the first technical fishing shirt, but it sure made them popular. It’s a classic, and unusual in these days of man-made fabrics. The cotton makes it slower to dry than the others but feels soft and comfortable, even when new.

Time to Dry
1/2 hour: Still wet
1 hour: Soggy
1 1/2 hours: Damp
2 hours: Almost dry
2 1/2 hours: Dry
$44; columbia.com

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ExOfficio Air Strip
The Shirt: 80 percent nylon, 20 percent polyester. This one’s a lot dressier than the others, with a more tailored appearance and not as many fishy gadgets and pockets. It’s almost impossible to wrinkle and the second fastest to dry.

Time to Dry
1/2 hour: Still wet
1 hour: Soggy
1 1/2 hours: Damp
2 hours: Dry
$85; exofficio.com

Bass Pro World Wide Sportsman Nylon Angler
The Shirt: 100 percent nylon. On Bass Pro’s store brand, the water beads up on the surface and barely gets absorbed. It has that classic tropical-angler look with hard-core features such as a rod loop. Best price of the three, but not as soft or breathable.

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Time to Dry
1/2 hour: Soggy
1 hour: Damp
1 1/2 hours: Dry
$30; basspro.com

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