Heat Loss through Wetsuits

Peeing in wetsuits is something you learn over time is more comfortable than holding in or stripping on a cold wet day! Showers were built to resolve the aftermath!

Light weather - definitely strip and pee off the side!

Double lined suits are ok on the surface or sub surface, surfers, divers
etc

How long would you like to wear a wet T shirt in a cold wind?

That's what double lined is doing to you via your existing suit, they have
to be a mil or two thicker just to make up for the chill factor of the water
held in the lining.

Spartan did finally close a year or two back, this is a new team that
bought the business of the original owner, John Tilbrooke.

They've always targeted the windsurf market and unlike Gul who were
also a surf then windsurf brand, they failed to cross into other markets
and dinghy sailors have always been notoriously stingy in their
purchasing habits until recently.

Buy a Spartan Wetsuit, and smoothskin, I'll explain why and once
more y'all will leave the forum so much better informed than when you
arrived.

At this point I have no connection with nor do I profit by the sale of said
wetsuits.

First we should establish for surface windbased sports single lined
wetsuits should be used because of the wind induced chill factor that
double lining brings. O.K. accepted that double lining reduces wear, but if
you get a better quality single lined suit, they shouldn't snag or wear as
dramatically as some do these days.

So of late in the quest for cheaper suits (I used to sell wetsuits for as
much as£180 in 1979 at the LBS) their recent production methods of
single lined neoprene has reduced its effectiveness.

Neoprene as you are probably aware is a rubber based product turned to
foam by introducing a nitrogen mix I believe and left to set in big blocks,
which they nowadays cut into individual sheets.

At the top and the bottom of the block a skin forms and this skin
provides the very best smoothskin, once upon a time they produced
narrow sheets, but as I said now they slice the neoprene and for the most
part the middle section which is pretty much air and there's more of it so
cheaper, is then lined either side with nylon or polypro (which is warmer).

What some clever dickies had been doing of late is to spray the sheets
with a rubber spray paint to give the appearance of smoothskin (the high
gloss type) and they can achieve lots of other effects this way. But UV has
a habit of degrading this stuff, and it can snag very easily with your nails
even in store trying the suits on, hence the reluctance of retailers to
stock them and the high level of wear through snagging.

So, the bottom line I know for a fact Spartan only use the very cream of
the crop smoothskin, it's a British company and my latest suit is the most
comfortable warmest suit I've ever owned, give one a try next time you
buy a winter suit and see what I mean.

Then thank me for pointing it out.

(just don't ask me what it's called I totally forget it's the one with the new
leg drain valves)

Edited by G.R.F.

Love the Gill Speedskin too - anything without arms - you can layer up underneath, but no arms greatly helps flexibility - i wear base layer thermals under a speedskin when its cold, and the O'Neill over-the-top warm winter Rash Vest...

Winner.

The 3mm is more comfortable in that it enables me to bend and crouch more easily, as well as being easier to get in and out of and, most importantly it has a longer front zip enabling me to pee at lunchtimes without getting naked!

So a water shedding 3mm would be tops. I take your point, Winging It, about unlined neoprene - that's my abiding recollection of my first wetsuit (complete with yellow tape!) - got torn to bits. But surely we can reduce water uptake by the nylon?