Drysuits - dry gloves and general musings.

*Clare Gledhill* · December 28th, 2006, 08:18 PM

I moved to DUI zip seals in April last year in preparation for their new neoprene dry gloves which promised to be made available in size small which the current smurf blue ones do not.

I've never used dry gloves and this was a bit of a gamble as I hate even 5mm gloves for the lack of sensation that they give. I've been using 3mm ones. I did a few dives last year though in 3 degree water where I lost all sensation in my hands and it was clear that I could not continue like that through another season.

DUI put back the release date again and again for the gloves - although I was very pleased with the zip seals having ripped a wrist seal the day before I flew to Florida for the ITC and replaced it in 5 minutes. I knew that with normal permanent seals I would have been flapping.

I met Quincy and Faith at the DUI Florida roadshow and saw the neoprene gloves for the first time - and was very pleased to discover that they fitted. I was promised a release date of early December.

Early December arrived and I went to Hydrotech to be told that the gloves have been put back again to January.

They offered to lend me some blue gloves so that I could at least get used to dry gloves and it was an offer I accepted - even though I had previously joked that you would never catch me in blue gloves.

So first time out - Stoney. Kitting up was interesting - putting on my neck seal even more so as I simply could not tell if it was flat or not. This is a skill which will require practice. But they were warm - much warmer in fact and made my return to UK waters after 20 odd dives in Mexico bearable.
My second dive was very cold indeed though - it appeared that I had failed to close the damn zip all the way and got a flood for my troubles.

I was confident that I would not fail a second time so wore them on a mix dive off the south coast yesterday. I had to ask for help with my neck seal again and then jumped in to find that whilst the water was not that cold - 12 degrees - it was coming in my suit again. I had rechecked the zip on the surface so clearly had a new hole in the TLS.

Given that Bob was shaking at 6 metres on deco I guess that I was a lot warmer in the gloves and am pleased with the move. The Zip seal system gloves do not require equalising as they are attached to the suit. This is an interesting point for debate I guess. I saw the gloves that DUI have developed which have barriers in - but figure that they will give all the equalisation issues without much benefit in case of a bad flood.

Oh - and I just found the hole in the suit - so aquasure and I should be warm and dry on Saturday.

Chris B · December 28th, 2006, 08:38 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill)

The Zip seal system gloves do not require equalizing as they are attached to the suit. This is an interesting point for debate I guess. I saw the gloves that DUI have developed which have barriers in - but figure that they will give all the equalization issues without much benefit in case of a bad flood.

I saw the zip seal system a couple of years back and despite initial skepticism, on examination I really liked the concept; who wouldn't want to get rid of the plastic cuff that catches on the light head with conventional dry glove systems? However the one thing I didn't like and couldn't accept was the completely 'open' suit to the glove IE no wrist seal. This means that one hole in my finger and ALL my suit goes down.

With conventional 'blue gloves' with wrist seals in place as normal, the worst case scenarios are:

I have a wet hand and the small piece of material that passes under the wrist seal to equalize the gloves 'wicks' water making my arm wet.
I whip my glove off underwater, pop the material inside the wrist seal and put the holed glove back on. I now have similar insulation to a good neoprene glove.

I think the zip system has a lot of merit, particularly for in-filed repair but I sadly wouldn't entertain it until there is a wrist seal too.

My 2 pence worth

Chris B

amascuba · December 28th, 2006, 08:41 PM

I love my dry gloves. You don't realize how cold you get in the water until you are dry and warm in the water.

Dawn · December 28th, 2006, 09:03 PM

Hi Clare,

I had to giggle at your article...I did my first dive in the Baltic wearing 5mm neoprene gloves, with Richard singing happily in his RB80 at deco while I was trying to work circulation back into my hands...after that, the next day's dive was absolutely in dry gloves (thank you Lotta and Annika!), and I was actually singing during deco because I was SO much happier!

Per, Lotta and I had a running joke the first several times I put on my "blue gloves", being a warm water baby. When I was gearing up, I needed help getting the gloves on, in addition to help checking neck seals, etc....so I would joke that I still needed help getting dressed at my tender age of 29. When I would give them the "Could you please help me?" look, they would ask me "Now how old are you?" and laugh

All in good spirits of course, and being good teammates they always did! Of course over time I learned to dress myself <g>, but I gained even a little more respect for you guys in the cold water diving community!

Best,
Dawn

*Clare Gledhill* · December 28th, 2006, 09:07 PM

Yeah - and when I was staring at the RB80 in EE Richard snuck up to me and said - "They are so much warmer to dive you know"

Dry gloves are cheaper - even DUI ones

GLOC · December 28th, 2006, 09:12 PM

After deciding to do Tech 1 in Nov in Stoney (although not too cold) our team were all glad to have dry gloves (2 x Ro-Locks and 1 x DUI zipseals). The difference in 'whole body warmth' is something that needs to be experienced when using dry gloves. However, a word of warning, the latex seal where it rides over the Ro-Lock ring does make it prone to holing when you are scrabbling around in a 3-man blind diver drill on a shale quarry bed

Two solutions, better bouyancy (working on that one

) or a piece of inner tube over the seal where it is stretched over the ring.

Clare, glad you have finally got your gloves and hands sorted. Now there shouldn't be any screeching with pain when you are in the water for your Fundies classes over the New Year

Regards

Dawn · December 28th, 2006, 09:56 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill)

Yeah - and when I was staring at the RB80 in EE Richard snuck up to me and said - "They are so much warmer to dive you know"

Dry gloves are cheaper - even DUI ones

Hehe, always the nice guy willing to share his knowledge and experience :D

Yep, dry gloves and a decent hood (I'm learning, slowly but surely)...and combined still significantly cheaper!

Hugh · December 29th, 2006, 05:02 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Dawn)

Hi Clare,

Per, Lotta and I had a running joke the first several times I put on my "blue gloves", being a warm water baby. When I was gearing up, I needed help getting the gloves on, in addition to help checking neck seals, etc....
Best,
Dawn

Quick question from a non dry glove user?

I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal?

Regards

Hugh

Dawn · December 29th, 2006, 05:13 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Hugh)

Quick question from a non dry glove user?

I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal?

Regards

Hugh

Hi Hugh,

My apologies for the confusion

. You are right, the gloves themselves go after the suit is on, but you have to put the liners on first. We (my coldwater mentors and I <G>) use thinsulate gloves underneath the blue glove itself...so you have your undergarments on, plus the thinsulate gloves (which are rather thick and wool-like themselves), then you pull the suit on and the drysuit wrist seals go over the liner gloves. So, when you are checking your neck seal, you are doing so with rather thick gloves on already...as seen here (photo by Per Lundstrom)

drysuitpic.JPG

Then we put the "blue gloves" on last.

Hope this clarifies things a bit!

Best,
Dawn

**Alastair** · December 29th, 2006, 11:43 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Hugh)

Quick question from a non dry glove user?

I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal?

Regards

Hugh

With the DUI Zip seal gloves there is no wrist seal and the gloves are on the suit as you are kitting up. I don't think you could fit a zip seal once you were in the suit, they take a bit of effort to fit.

Hence you are in dry gloves from when you put your arms in the suit. JJ got on fine with them when he was using them in the UK so I guess it's just a case of practise

HTH
Al

December 28th, 2006, 08:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	Drysuits - dry gloves and general musings. I moved to DUI zip seals in April last year in preparation for their new neoprene dry gloves which promised to be made available in size small which the current smurf blue ones do not. I've never used dry gloves and this was a bit of a gamble as I hate even 5mm gloves for the lack of sensation that they give. I've been using 3mm ones. I did a few dives last year though in 3 degree water where I lost all sensation in my hands and it was clear that I could not continue like that through another season. DUI put back the release date again and again for the gloves - although I was very pleased with the zip seals having ripped a wrist seal the day before I flew to Florida for the ITC and replaced it in 5 minutes. I knew that with normal permanent seals I would have been flapping. I met Quincy and Faith at the DUI Florida roadshow and saw the neoprene gloves for the first time - and was very pleased to discover that they fitted. I was promised a release date of early December. Early December arrived and I went to Hydrotech to be told that the gloves have been put back again to January. They offered to lend me some blue gloves so that I could at least get used to dry gloves and it was an offer I accepted - even though I had previously joked that you would never catch me in blue gloves. So first time out - Stoney. Kitting up was interesting - putting on my neck seal even more so as I simply could not tell if it was flat or not. This is a skill which will require practice. But they were warm - much warmer in fact and made my return to UK waters after 20 odd dives in Mexico bearable. My second dive was very cold indeed though - it appeared that I had failed to close the damn zip all the way and got a flood for my troubles. I was confident that I would not fail a second time so wore them on a mix dive off the south coast yesterday. I had to ask for help with my neck seal again and then jumped in to find that whilst the water was not that cold - 12 degrees - it was coming in my suit again. I had rechecked the zip on the surface so clearly had a new hole in the TLS. Given that Bob was shaking at 6 metres on deco I guess that I was a lot warmer in the gloves and am pleased with the move. The Zip seal system gloves do not require equalising as they are attached to the suit. This is an interesting point for debate I guess. I saw the gloves that DUI have developed which have barriers in - but figure that they will give all the equalisation issues without much benefit in case of a bad flood. Oh - and I just found the hole in the suit - so aquasure and I should be warm and dry on Saturday. __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk Last edited by Clare Gledhill; December 29th, 2006 at 05:45 PM.

December 28th, 2006, 08:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chris B(Offline) Chris B Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: NW UK Posts: 229	Quote: (Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill) The Zip seal system gloves do not require equalizing as they are attached to the suit. This is an interesting point for debate I guess. I saw the gloves that DUI have developed which have barriers in - but figure that they will give all the equalization issues without much benefit in case of a bad flood. I saw the zip seal system a couple of years back and despite initial skepticism, on examination I really liked the concept; who wouldn't want to get rid of the plastic cuff that catches on the light head with conventional dry glove systems? However the one thing I didn't like and couldn't accept was the completely 'open' suit to the glove IE no wrist seal. This means that one hole in my finger and ALL my suit goes down. With conventional 'blue gloves' with wrist seals in place as normal, the worst case scenarios are: I have a wet hand and the small piece of material that passes under the wrist seal to equalize the gloves 'wicks' water making my arm wet. I whip my glove off underwater, pop the material inside the wrist seal and put the holed glove back on. I now have similar insulation to a good neoprene glove. I think the zip system has a lot of merit, particularly for in-filed repair but I sadly wouldn't entertain it until there is a wrist seal too. My 2 pence worth Chris B __________________ www.merseydivers.com www.boardmanbikes.com

December 28th, 2006, 09:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
Clare Gledhill(Offline) GUE Instructor Site Admin Pacman Champion! Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 1,541	Yeah - and when I was staring at the RB80 in EE Richard snuck up to me and said - "They are so much warmer to dive you know" Dry gloves are cheaper - even DUI ones __________________ Clare . "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions....Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." Interested in DIR dive training? Always happy to chat/answer questions so get in touch via PM or visit www.dirdiver.co.uk

December 28th, 2006, 09:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
GLOC (Online) Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Fleet, Hants Posts: 1,963	After deciding to do Tech 1 in Nov in Stoney (although not too cold) our team were all glad to have dry gloves (2 x Ro-Locks and 1 x DUI zipseals). The difference in 'whole body warmth' is something that needs to be experienced when using dry gloves. However, a word of warning, the latex seal where it rides over the Ro-Lock ring does make it prone to holing when you are scrabbling around in a 3-man blind diver drill on a shale quarry bed Two solutions, better bouyancy (working on that one ) or a piece of inner tube over the seal where it is stretched over the ring. Clare, glad you have finally got your gloves and hands sorted. Now there shouldn't be any screeching with pain when you are in the water for your Fundies classes over the New Year Regards __________________ Gareth Images of Life Photography DIR Team Foxturd Travels Underwater and Further Afar If you don't have the time to do something right, where are you going to find the time to fix it? - Stephen King

December 29th, 2006, 05:13 AM	#9 (permalink)
Dawn(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: North Carolina Posts: 153	Quote: (Originally Posted by Hugh) Quick question from a non dry glove user? I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal? Regards Hugh Hi Hugh, My apologies for the confusion . You are right, the gloves themselves go after the suit is on, but you have to put the liners on first. We (my coldwater mentors and I <G>) use thinsulate gloves underneath the blue glove itself...so you have your undergarments on, plus the thinsulate gloves (which are rather thick and wool-like themselves), then you pull the suit on and the drysuit wrist seals go over the liner gloves. So, when you are checking your neck seal, you are doing so with rather thick gloves on already...as seen here (photo by Per Lundstrom) drysuitpic.JPG Then we put the "blue gloves" on last. Hope this clarifies things a bit! Best, Dawn Last edited by Dawn; December 30th, 2006 at 06:38 PM.

December 28th, 2006, 08:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
amascuba(Offline) New Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: West Texas Posts: 128	I love my dry gloves. You don't realize how cold you get in the water until you are dry and warm in the water.

December 28th, 2006, 09:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
Dawn(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: North Carolina Posts: 153	Hi Clare, I had to giggle at your article...I did my first dive in the Baltic wearing 5mm neoprene gloves, with Richard singing happily in his RB80 at deco while I was trying to work circulation back into my hands...after that, the next day's dive was *absolutely* in dry gloves (thank you Lotta and Annika!), and I was actually singing during deco because I was SO much happier! Per, Lotta and I had a running joke the first several times I put on my "blue gloves", being a warm water baby. When I was gearing up, I needed help getting the gloves on, in addition to help checking neck seals, etc....so I would joke that I still needed help getting dressed at my tender age of 29. When I would give them the "Could you please help me?" look, they would ask me "Now how old are you?" and laugh All in good spirits of course, and being good teammates they always did! Of course over time I learned to dress myself <g>, but I gained even a little more respect for you guys in the cold water diving community! Best, Dawn

December 28th, 2006, 09:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
Dawn(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: North Carolina Posts: 153	Quote: (Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill) Yeah - and when I was staring at the RB80 in EE Richard snuck up to me and said - "They are so much warmer to dive you know" Dry gloves are cheaper - even DUI ones Hehe, always the nice guy willing to share his knowledge and experience :D Yep, dry gloves and a decent hood (I'm learning, slowly but surely)...and combined still significantly cheaper!

December 29th, 2006, 05:02 AM	#8 (permalink)
Hugh(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: South Australia Posts: 65	Quote: (Originally Posted by Dawn) Hi Clare, Per, Lotta and I had a running joke the first several times I put on my "blue gloves", being a warm water baby. When I was gearing up, I needed help getting the gloves on, in addition to help checking neck seals, etc.... Best, Dawn Quick question from a non dry glove user? I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal? Regards Hugh

December 29th, 2006, 11:43 AM	#10 (permalink)
Alastair(Offline) DIRX Supporter Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: UK Posts: 693	Quote: (Originally Posted by Hugh) Quick question from a non dry glove user? I thought you put the gloves on last, so why having problems checking neck seal? Regards Hugh With the DUI Zip seal gloves there is no wrist seal and the gloves are on the suit as you are kitting up. I don't think you could fit a zip seal once you were in the suit, they take a bit of effort to fit. Hence you are in dry gloves from when you put your arms in the suit. JJ got on fine with them when he was using them in the UK so I guess it's just a case of practise HTH Al __________________ Helium is our friend - GI3