Behind The Seams Of Our New Scuba Steamers: #40 Yamamoto Neoprene

By Felicity Purvis

We cannot stop talking about the amazing benefits of the material of our wetsuits! You may remember our  previous blog post about the versatility and durability of Yamamoto neoprene. We spoke about the light-weight, anti-microbial and quick-drying benefits of Yamamoto, which make it the perfect choice for swimming, surfing, and wakeboarding. In celebration of our brand new line of scuba steamers, we want to zero in and focus on why this material is uniquely suited to adventures under the water, not just on top of it.

The science

Neoprene is essentially made up of thousands of mini air pockets which trap and heat a small layer of water between your skin and the material of the wetsuit. It’s actually this small amount of water that keeps you warm, not the neoprene itself, but the quality of the neoprene is still massively important. A thicker wetsuit will be more effective at insulating and holding water inside the suit, but repeated compression at depth can actually impact the thickness of a wetsuit. This is where #40 Yamamoto neoprene comes in. 

Petroleum-based neoprene is essentially a high-tech piece of foam with more open cells than closed cells. This means that it is made of more tiny air pockets that are all linked together, rather than pockets that can independently maintain their structure. The repeated compression of the open cells in petroleum-based neoprenes limits a wetsuit’s ability to “bounce back” to its original thickness and shape, which can drastically reduce its insulation over time.

#40 Yamamoto limestone neoprene is resistant to compression, which is why we love it for our scuba steamers! Yamamoto neoprene has a much higher ratio of independent, closed cells, meaning that the suit will pretty much always return to its original shape and thickness no matter how much you stretch or compress it. The buoyancy is also more consistent over the course of a dive, making it more comfortable and predictable to dive in.

The added bonus

Another unexpected benefit of #40 Yamamoto neoprene is that you can actually trim the limb length of our wetsuits - short girls rise up! Basically, when you cut Yamamoto neoprene, a whole new layer of closed cells are exposed. This means that, even if you cut off the entire arm of your wetsuit, the functionality of the material itself stays the same, as if the suit was completely intact! Great news for our long-nail girlies too, because this also means that the functionality of your wetsuit won’t really be impacted if you poke a little hole with your gorgeous talons (you’re way more likely to break your nail than break your wetsuit!).

We might be biased, but we really do think we have found the perfect wetsuit material for any water sport. You heard in our last post about adventures above the water, but now you know that #40 Yamamoto neoprene is high quality, durable, and adaptable for everything underwater too. If you want to learn even more  about Yamamoto’s process, check out their website  here!