Text of an email from Feral Wetsuits, the tiny San Francisco outfit who made a good impression with a display at the Florida Surf Film Festival a few years back. As a result, I have and like a couple of their suits.

"FERAL wetsuits don't absorb water and get heavy like our competitors' suits do. We figured this out by weighing our 4mm3 versus a not-to-be-named, big famous competitor's new fuzzy-lined 4/3 while dry and then after dunking them in a tub of water for 10 minutes. Both were 3.1 pounds dry. The FERAL was 4.2 pounds when soaked, but Brand X weighed 6.2 pounds-it doubled in weight! That means it absorbed about 3 times as much water. That gets worse with age for Brand X too, but not with FERAL, because Yamamoto neoprene keeps its cellular integrity far longer, while Brand X's neoprene (embarrassingly poor integrity) starts practically inviting water in for a party after just a few months of constant use. Water logged neoprene doesn't insulate well, either, so Brand X gets heavier AND colder over time. The FERAL though will be performing like new a year into ownership.

Integrity. It's baked into every FERAL wetsuit."

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FERAL, along with Matuse and little Hotline (Santa Cruz), goes with quality neoprene and no fuzz. Buell (also Santa Cruz) is also fuzzless but at their price points, I assume they use less expensive neoprene.

Most others are fuzzy. The fuzziest thing I have is a Rip Curl, carpeting all the way down the arms. Anyone want to try a 4/3 XLS (I think fit would be more like a Buell LS)? Free. It's been clearance sale season for wetsuits. Along with the two FERALs, I have an amazing 5/4 Hotline (should have gone to California this week), a couple of Matuses (their fit is tighter than FERAL and quite a bit tighter than Hotline), and 3 Buells, which fit a lot like Hotline. If you have a Volte wetsuit, take good care of it. The company seems gone and the suits were great, very lightweight.

Edited: 04/27/2023 at 09:53 AM by ww

My QS full has to weigh 8 pounds when saturated.

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I was right.

How much do you think finster's suit weighed?

A solid sixteen pounds. Three of that were water.

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I was right.