PUL Fabric Tails

[ivoryleopard]

I made my second tail out of PUL fabric. I've noticed that most of the fabric tails I've seen online are some form of spandex but I haven't seen other PUL tails.

[LindseyLu]

Hmmm...what exactly is PUL?

[Princess Kae-Leah]

I was thinking the same thing Lindsey, lemme me Google it. Hmm, looks like it's some sort of waterproof laminated fabric.

[LindseyLu]

Gotta <3 Google!!!

It looks kinda cool, the only downside is that it's not biodegradable :( That would be the only reason I wouldn't use it... Ivoryleopard can you tell us what the differences/benefits are with a PUL tail? Since it's waterproof do your legs get sweaty and chaffed (sp?)?

[ivoryleopard]

I can't really compare it to the spandex tails. My first tail was made with pleather with very little stretch. It looked great for what it was but it tore a lot because it lacked stretch.

pros:
The PUL I used has four way stretch and is very easy to get on out of water (my vinyl tail was a lot easier to get into in water).
So far it has not chaffed and is not sweaty.
Due to stretchiness, no need for zipper! (my vinyl tail needed a zipper)
Waterproof.
Jo Ann's has it for a decent price. It was cheaper than the swim/dancewear fabric. I found it in the utility fabric section. It was $8 a yard (USD).
I've seen in a lot of colors online!

Cons:
When wet it tends to cling to my legs and monofin (not bad underwater but looks bad while wet and out of water). I'm wondering if swimsuit lining will fix this?
Not very chlorine friendly. I noticed the laminated side gets laminated bubbles while I swim in pools. So far, it's not bad.
Takes a long time to air dry and gets waterlogged.
It gets "boo-boos" from the monofin ridges which is making the laminated parts crack and peel. I don't know how to fix this. I'm thinking of painting scales and fluke stripes to cover this up.