Dry Gloves

[Swimjim]

Not wanting to hijack the drysuit opinions thread, I thought I'd just start a new one.  I've been thinking about getting dry gloves and I was wondering what you guys use.  What works, what doesn't?  Thanks

Jim

[Omicron]

Si-Tech makes good gloves.  I've got the permanently attached docking ring system - I have rings glued into my suit, and my gloves dock into them.

My fiance has the same ring system, but her rings are attached to her wrist seals non-permanently.  She can take  the rings off when she goes cave diving or whatever. 

The ring system works well.  They can be kinda finicky sometimes, but they are quick and easy.  Here's a link to DUI's site showing some pictures:



For gloves, there are a couple of different types.  You can get the blue "smurf gloves" really cheap online (can't remember the brand).  I use a black neoprene glove (not wetsuit neoprene, just thin rubber) as it doesn't get stiff when it gets cold.

Drygloves really make a drysuit.  When I got my current suit it didn't come with gloves (out of stock...) so I had a few weeks of diving without them.  It got really miserable after the last thermocline in Wazee.

[scubert]

I use (as does matt t. and several of my other buddies) the si-tech quick cuff system, since you still have your wrist seal in place if a glove breaches (and it WILL happen at some point!).

They also allow you to use any glove you wish, which means you can go to farm n fleet or menards and get chemical gloves for 2.99 and they work great.  You aren't locked into someones proprietary $50 gloves.

[divbum]

I prefer the Viking ring system over the Si-Tech.
Why
I have seen the Si-techs get stepped on and broken a few times.  Never seen this happen to the Viking Rings.

No o-ring to foul or pinch when installing.
Cheap replacement gloves (which Si-tech has also)

[LKunze]

I have the Diving Concepts dry glove ring set up.  They are not permanent and the suit side ring attaches to the wrist seal as Omicron described.  I originally had the Diving Concepts compressed neoprene gloves which were junk.  They leaked all the time.  I sent them into Diving Concepts for warranty repair twice before finally giving up on them after patching them after virtually every dive with Aquaseal.  I switced last year to the blue Atlas PVC smurf gloves with the fuzzy yellow liners.  Those were decent and I had no complaints until I finally holed one this year.  Since they are PVC they are hard to patch.  Aquaseal doesn't bond to them and I tried PVC cement with no luck as well so I tossed them in the trash.  This fall I tried some fairly cheap chemical rubber/neoprene coated gloves from Home Depot...I'm assuming similar to the ones Omicron described he uses.  They are much easier to install onto the glove rings as they are thinner and do have better dexterity.  I wore cheap rag wool liners under them.  They were decent, but honestly I didn't think they were as warm as the blue smurf gloves and they didn't fit quite as well either as the fingers were too long.  After trying the three different types of gloves on my rings I may go back to the smurf gloves again next year.  They aren't that expensive, you can get them online for about 15 bucks a pair.

[dfreeman]

Preaching the true religion here.

I have Si-Tech rings and have liked them alot.  Dry gloves are the only way to go.  I use a chemical rubber glove and have found that tire patches work great when you get a hole.  Last pair had 4-8 patches (depended on the hand) before I let go of $10 for a new pair of gloves.

One problem.  I have large hands and they bearly fit through the Si-Tech rings.  You will know me as the guy swearing as he puts his dry gloves on.  I just about smash my hand every time.  Also, this make it hard to find gloves that will fit with a wool liner.

The DUI zip-seal gloves do not have this problem because you can squeeze the ring so that it will fit over a large hand. 

Doug

[matt t.]

If someone is stepping on my wrists I have a bigger problem than leaking gloves ;D. We've never had trouble with anything breaking on the rings, but I guess I take extra care not to have "mooks" stepping on my drysuit. There is a learning curve to the Si-Tech system with the O-rings as was mentioned. After a few dives you get it straightened out. The Viking rings Greg uses don't have a glove ring, You just pull the glove up over the suit ring and it's held in place by the compression of the glove stretching over the ring. From what I've seen it works well and has less "parts". I'm on the look out for a cheap set of the Viking rings, but for now the Si-Tech works fine . You can sometimes find the glove/suit rings on E-bay under "dry gloves".

[ethanb]

This has been discussed pretty extensively over at thedecostop.com, though you have to be a member (free) to read threads there.  Here's a good place to start:


I've been using Viking rings and dry gloves for 6-7 years now.  Most of the time has been with their standard older setup, but I experimented with the newer bayonet rings last year.  I went back to the standard rings this year, partly due to issues with removing bayonet ring gloves after a dive, but mainly because that's what my dive partners are using.

The standard Viking rings are installed either onto latex wrist seals or permanently installed onto the suit itself.  Either way, you can have wrist seal underneath them, which I think is essential.  I puncture gloves pretty regularly cave-diving and it would be unacceptable to flood my suit every time.

I use industrial/farm chemical gloves that we buy at Fleet Farm (unfortunately not Farm & Fleet) for a buck or two a set.  The industrial gloves have a "longer wrists" than the Viking OEM gloves, makes them significantly easier to don.  I can usually get them on myself in 30 seconds or so, though often I'll ask for a hand because it goes quicker that way, especially if it's really hot or cold while gearing up.  Small punctures can be repaired using Aquaseal - when I used the expensive Viking OEM gloves (which costs upwards of $20 a set) I'd generally patch them 10 times or more before discarding them.

I've tried a variety of liners.  The shiny white gloves liners that come with the Viking gloves are fairly worthless, in my opinion.  The two liners I've been happiest with are thin wool liners from an Army suprlus store and thick fleece gloves from REI.  I mainly use the REI fleece gloves - they're slightly cumbersome on the surface, but as soon as I get underwater they compress and I have very good feel with them.  It's definitely better than the feel I'd have with a 5mm neoprene wet glove (even if my hands weren't numb).  If I'm cold at the end of the dive, I'll blow them up a bit more for extra warmth (by holding my hands over my head and wiggling my wrists) - it's great during deco.  When I need better tactile feel again, I "burp" the excess air out by squeezing with my other hand.

Ethan

[LKunze]

Shoot, I never even thought of checking out Fleet Farm.  There's one pretty close to where I live.  I will have to go and check out their selection on gloves.

[schultz]

My wife and I both use the solution... easy to install, and like Ethan said, you can go to your hardware store for replacement gloves in a pinch...

I also just use my standard winter weather REI fleece gloves for liners...