killing a bulge by wearing 2 speedos

[afewgoodmen]

I have 2 new guys on my Masters Water Polo team that are well endowed. However they wear 2 speedos (one on top the other) during practice. It completely kills the bulge. Sad, if you ask me.

So I ended up asking one of them as to why they wear two speedos. The answer was twofold. One is that since it's a contact sport, if a player pulls on the fabric, it's hard for them to grab on. Second, he claimed that the outer speedo helps protect the inner speedo from breaking down too fast due to chlorine degradation. He says it has to do with the flow of chlorine on the outer speedo that will break it down faster over the inner speedo.

Learn something new everyday

[Torchwatch]

Re reason 2: if you were only wearing one speedo the other speedo would remain dry in your bag and so not suffer chlorine degradation.
Since chlorine is a gas dissolved in water it will travel through the outer speedo (except for that part which attacks the outer speedo) and then attack the inner speedo. The outer speedo will not significantly protect the inner speedo from chlorine.
If speedo fabric were close knit enough to act as a semi permeable membrane it might be possible to allow water to pass through while excluding chlorine, but your speedos would fill and expand with chlorine free water so you would gradually appear to be wearing a colostomy bag.

Re reason 1: The original reason for wearing 2 speedos was to achieve drag while swimming. At one time, pre nylon speedos swimmers wore narrow jockstraps under their trunks: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JOCKSTRAP-...em2 c6e4f4bb8
for support, swim jockstraps are rare these days as nylon and lycra speedos did not require them, but in a contact sport like water polo where your speedos may be ripped down suddenly, an extra pair underneath may help.

[Byron]

Why double suit? is your question already asked and answered in this forum
(added protection in water polo rough-play and to create deliberate drag in training for lap swimmers).
The nonsense about inter-layer chlorine degradation is spelled out as the bleedin' obvious by Torchwatch.

[afewgoodmen]

I was under the same impression. However one of the players with the noticeable bulge is a physicist doctorate student who has done work in fluid mechanics. He explained that the flow of chemicals in such situation creates the effect of the outer speedo being exposed to the "current" flow of chlorine. This in hydrdynamics exposes the outer speedo to more chlorine comparably to the inner speedo. The inner speedo is able to hold up better and last longer.
I know this might sound a bit counterintuitive. But it does seem to make some sense.

[Byron]

I will leave Torchwatch to deal with this one as he has already spoken of the chlorine permeability of various fabrics.
He seemed to have a common-sense answer, ie leave the delicate and/or valuable suit in your bag.

[Torchwatch]

If the reaction between elastane and chlorine is rapid/instant then having the elastane in moving chlorinated water would accelerate the process and your speedos would disintegrate each time you wore them.
Alternatively if the reaction is slow then having your speedos in "trapped" water, or left screwed up damp in a bag would gradually lead to their deterioration.
I suggest that exposing your speedos to any chlorinated water and then leaving them damp is the experience of most swimmers, and that they replace their training suits a few times a year rather than each month.