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Well, take my bias into account, as I reviewed this wetsuit, but I've also been a paddling member for 19 years. It's really comfortable and flexible, and about as thin a fullsuit as you'll find. I wouldn't hesitate to wear it all day in cooler temperatures, especially if I was going to get wet. You could get this and the thicker one for the cost of a drysuit, and have a lot more flexibility if you wanted to paddleboard or something.

When Folbot closed in 2016, they took an 83-year history with them. I grew up in Folbots, so back in 1999 I bought my own, the big (17.5' with rudder!) Greenland II.

I've had this beast out on streams and rivers many times (like last weekend, on the Battenkill), and it's tough, it can take it, but it's not fun. It's driving a tractor trailer at a sports car event.

Where it's happy is open water. My best memories of it are with my wife in the Gulf of Maine, cruising over three-foot swells. The skin over frame design is not rigid--it's alive, it moves. It's like being part of some big organism. I've never seen any water I thought could swamp it, let alone sink it.

It's not a perfect boat. It's heavy and a little cumbersome. The thwarts are super wide and you sit very low, so you want a long paddle and I often find myself kneeling. It's always popping frame rivets, so much that I keep a riveter in the tool kit in the boat. There's storage for weeks of travel, but you have to get it over the frames. And there were a LOT of improvements in the years after I got mine; the poly washboards became aluminum, the rudder was redesigned, and the seats were improved.

But 19 years on, it barely shows the wear. These were lifetime boats, a commitment to expedition paddling. It's a huge, inconvenient, balky thing, and I love it with all my heart.