After presenting in the Winter Wetsuits Dossier the Beuchat Espadon Presige, Pathos Thira Camu, Picasso Thermal Skin, Seac Kama, Sporasub J55 and Mares Squadra, this is the time for the Salvimar Nebula. To close the Dossier the Cressi Tracina.
In brief
Among the wetsuits present in the Winter Wetsuits Dossier the Salvimar Nebula is certainly the most innovative, surely for the material used, invented and named by Salvimar Tear Resistant Dry Skin (TRD-Skin). Impactful and somehow “different” from any other is the camouflage, while finishings are excellent.
Salvimar has sent for the test a 7.5 mm jacket and 5.5 mm trousers, focusing on a solution for maximum protection of the body and slightly less for the legs, so to achieve a reduction in weights needed.
Materials and protections
The new and revolutionary material, the TRD-Skin, represents the key element of the Salvimar Nebula. Made of Yamamoto 39 neoprene internally open cell and externally lined with extraelastic Ultrastretch Nylon, the TRD-Skin 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 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 a rough surfaces to reduce friction.
The external polyurethane is finally covered with a camouflage paint of two different base colors in the two different versions: light blu and green, both very impactful, even though maybe the light blue solution for some camouflage “admirers”, could be seen as less effective, in some kind of spearfihing techniques, compared to the green.
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 no additional internal neoprene layer as Salvimar has thought the thickness of the 7.5 mm jacket to be sufficient for prottection, and so decided to avoid stiffening the area and increasing floatability of the jacket. On 5.5 and 3.5 mm jackets the sternal protection has an additional internal neoprene layer.
Finishings and cuts
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 confortable than other solutions that are simply glued, or also sewed, but in a much lighter way.
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.
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 neoprene. External seams applied to the TRD-Skin are addittionally 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 beaver tail and the area of the front buttons.
Trousers 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 is the real innovation, or it would be correct to say revolution, of the Nebula wetsuit. After years of somehow quite a bit of a static situation, finally something really new and “brave”. 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, but the TRD-Skin seems in reality the most effective material, as it eliminated some problems present on the materials indicated. Compared to the above solutions, in fact, key is the fact that lining is external, with great advantage for the resistance of the wetsuit against abrasion and possibility of going down in the neoprene with the seams only a very limited thickness.
Also the camouflage design is quite different from any other on the market, even though, in theory, the green solution (Nebula Green) should be more effective compared to the blue one (Nebula Skin) in most spearfishing techniques, excluding fishing in the blue.
To read and print the technical data sheet of the Salvimar Nebula click HERE.
Plus and minus
Plus
- Rivolutionary TRD-Skin (tear resistance and fast drying)
- Excellent finishings
- Elastic bands to hang trousers
Minus
- The 3.5 mm set is not salable separately (trousers or jacket)
- Thick passing seam on chin
Price on the web
Below the price on the web. Very good is the possibility to buy jacket and trousers separately, choosing different sizes and thicknesses if needed, or maybe only buying jacket or trousers. A pity this is not possible with the 3.5 mm set.
For best price on the web (best price guarantee) click (and wait a few moments):
HERE, for the 7.5 mm Salvimar Nebula jacket
HERE, for the 5.5 mm Salvimar Nebula trousers.