A new Winter Wetsuits dossier, after the successful one of 2017, starts with the extraordinary Salvimar Nebula Black, the new version of the amazing wetsuit by the Italian company that had, already in 2017, revolutionized the wetsuit market with a new never seen before neoprene.

In brief

Among the wetsuits present in the Winter Wetsuits Dossier the Salvimar Nebula is definitely not traditional, surely for the material used, invented and named by Salvimar Tear Resistant Dry Skin (TRD-Skin)This version of the Nebula has no camouflage painting, but the black and Salvimar acid green images indeed generate an impactful result.

Salvimar has sent for the test a 5.5 mm jacket and trousers, as for the moment these are the maximum thicknesses available, but indeed we know that TRD-Skin neoprene has greater insulation characteristics compared to traditional neoprene, and also dries out quickly like smooth solutions, still having a great resistance against rocks. So, definitely a good solution for cold water when one wants to avoid too many weights and does not need to spearfish for too many hours altogether. 

Materials and protections

The revolutionary material, the TRD-Skin, represents the key element of the Salvimar Nebula. Made of Jako neoprene, internally open cell and externally lined with superelastic Lycra, the TRD-Skin of the Salvimar Nebula Black has been upgraded thanks to a layer of polyurethane impregnated with the lining, making the latter water-resistant such as a smooth external solution, but much more resistant, such as a traditional lined solution. In such a way, somehow, two strong points of two different kinds of neoprenes, smooth and lined, come together: impermeability and tear resistance. These are often the characteristics that lead to the choice of the spearo. It is also true that, even though TRD-Skin is made with an extremely high-quality elastic lining, it does not reach the softness of smooth neoprenes, but is instead aligns on this characteristic with the lined ones. Some theories also say that a smooth surface compared to the lined one manages to penetrate water with less friction, but at AP we are not very fond of this hypothesis, as if one considers laws of fluid-dynamics linked to the boundary layer and what happens in Nature with the rough shark skin, or what has been done in military applications with American submarines, and in water motorsports, with offshores, we see that these are all with rough surfaces to reduce friction.

Salvimar Nebula Black front rear

External protections on knees, elbows and stern, but also on the area of the jacket that covers the bottom, are made with a rhomboid shapes pattern made of a specific rubber called PuffGum. The structure with separated elements of such cover avoids the excessive stiffening of such areas. Such covers are not particularly large, but sufficient.

The sternal protection has an additional 3.5 mm thick internal neoprene layer.

Finishings and cuts

Salvimar Nebula Black wrist finishing

The closing edges of wrists, ankles, face seal and waist profile of the trousers are all made with thin folded smooth neoprene for max sealing and are measured 0.8 cm wide. Differently from other solutions on the market, such folded borders are glued and seamed with a zig-zag passing solution, which is though also very soft.

More important and thick is the seam on the chin, which is internal and could be just slightly less comfortable than other solutions that are simply glued, or also sewed, but in a much lighter way.

Salvimar Nebula Black chin detail

Still, in the cap area, it is instead very useful to improve comfort the differentiated thickness of the face contour band, equal to 5.5 mm on the 7.5 mm jacket.

Salvimar Nebula Black under-arm cut

The wetsuit is preformed on arms, legs and the underarm areas, with very strong seams on all the wetsuit, while the back is made of a single piece of neoprene. External seams applied to the TRD-Skin are additionally sealed thanks to the polyurethane layer of such revolutionary material.

Aesthetically nice is the fact that the jacket offers a complete camouflage color down to all the lower part, while the internally lined neoprene in such area is limited to the beavertail and the area of the front buttons.

Salvimar Nebula Black high weist

The trouser’s waist is high, but not much compared to the other wetsuits of the Dossier, and equal to 40 cm from inseams to waist edge at the front, and 43 cm at the back.

A good help comes from the two elastic bands to hang the trousers to dry.

Innovative solutions

As anticipated, the TRD-Skin makes the Salvimar Nebula Black a very good choice for cold weather, putting together great resitance, fast drying effect and somehow additional thermal insulation. If in the past we had seen previous solutions with internal lining between two layers of neoprene, utilized in slightly different ways by Polo Sub and Top Sub, and also Omer has its Sandwich solution, we will see in the following articles of the Best Winter Wetsuits dossier that other companies have brought to market similar solutions to the TRD-Skin, that we will test in the following weeks to see which is the best neoprene for Winter use…but not only.

To read and print the technical data sheet of the Salvimar Nebula Black click HERE.

Plus and minus

Plus

  • Revolutionary TRD-Skin (tear-resistance, fast drying and extra insulation)
  • Elastic bands to hang trousers

Minus

  • Cost higher than traditional neoprene
  • The thick passing seam on the chin