In Reply to: Re: Re: And... posted by Tao on October 18, 2009 at 21:15:56:

I try not to leak in my suit, but sometimes I just don't have a choice. I guess that's part of the reason I went back wet from dry.
At least with skin in suits it rinses out easily. Just drink lots of coffee and it'll run clear ;)

M&B can get much more than just Yamamoto. BTW, there are a few different grades of Yamamoto. There is a very soft grade that's used for freediving suits and ultra stretch scuba suits, then there's a denser grade that is made for serious scuba suits. I had a Picasso made out of 9 mil commercial grade Yama and except for the ill fit (off the rack) it was a nice suit.

The first suit I had DOn make for me was a 1/2" Rubatex commercial urchin diving suit. It took me probably 25 dives in it before I had it broke in enough to where I could function freely. Now it's just second nature. I actually wanted a 3/8" but he was permanently out of that material in Rubatex G-231 so I went with the 1/2" instead. The pattern for that suit is from the early 60's and still one of the best wetsuit cuts available as far as I'm concerned.
I also have a 7mm super stiff and dense wetsuit made out of some specialized material from South Korea. This is the material that supposedly replaces Rubatex but I don't care as much for it. I swear it's stiffer than my 1/2" and it's half the thickness! That one took a while to break in too.
Nice thing about that suit is that I can dive with no BC and it resists compression really well so I can go deeper and still maintain decent buoyancy.

Don recently told me that he can still get Rubatex G-231 nitrogen blown material but in skin both sides (old school shiny exterior). It's expensive but it can be had. Those suits are glued together only and one needs to be carefull with them as far as abrasion.
I think this will be my next suit to add to my M&B collection.