I remember a little while back Dan had put up a very good article regarding wetsuits and the different materials involved in making them.
Are all wetsuit makers using the same Jersey in their designs? Is one signifigantly better than the other??
“Are all wetsuit makers using the same Jersey in their designs?”
no. jersey comes in several textures and naps, and differs in its stretch characteristics. “superstretch” or “ultrastrech” jersey is more expensive.
the important things to remember in terms of jersey stretch:
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the stretchability of a jersey should never exceed that of the rubber. the jersey should act as a barrier keeping the rubber from ripping.
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smoothskin only stretches so far, and it stretches less than any of the superstrech/ultrastretch jerseys. so unless you’re going to put jersey on BOTH sides of the rubber, adding the expense of a more stretchable jersey is wasting money (the smoothskin on one side keeps the ultrastretch jersey on the other side from being stretched to anything close to its capacity). yes, you can make a rubber very stretchy by placing superstretch jersey on both sides, but then you sacrifice the benefits of smoothskin (waterproof, hydrodynamic) so you must be careful not to put much nylon-2 in your suit.