Any Dry Glove experts?

[Twinsetmad]

I've been thinking about trying some dry gloves....I do get very cold hands but mainly because I use 3mm gloves. I find 5mm gloves a bit restricting. Would I still get good feel in dry gloves?
I've had a look in the archives...but need a thread from an expert..a bit like the pee valves thread...all I would ever need to know..

Thanks very much,
regards, Andrew...

[Little Pete]

Are you properly insulated under the suit for the rest of your body?
I only say this as I know people who've used the electrically heated vests never got cold hands even without gloves because the blood flowing to the hands was warm. If your core is cold it doesn't matter about the gloves as your hands aren't getting the warm blood they need.

If you are fine in your body insulation thenn from what I've heard, dry gloves usually shrink down with depth and give a similar level of feel to 5mm wet gloves.

[Scuby]

Mmmmm, dry gloves - lovely! Not quite as simple as a normal glove, but sooooooo much nicer if you get the right ones.

The benefit of having dry hands is significant - not just in the water, but when you get out too. That said, i've found even leaky dry gloves to be just as warm as a normal wet glove.

You do of course have to do it right to get the full benefits though. First, I would get gloves with separate liners - the ones with the liner stuck inside seem ok, but means you can't change the level of insulation you have, and if it does get wet it takes about 3 months to dry them - not easy! I got a couple of pairs of gloves to go inside mine - some light thin ones for the summer, and thicker for winter.
Second thing is equalising them - dry gloves are useless (in my opinion) if they're not linked to the air space in the suit. They just crush down, lose insulation and simply don't work as you'd expect. Even worse, if any air leaks into the glove at depth you'll find they balloon on ascent - impossible to do anything without taking them off. For this I use a bit of silicon tubing attached to the arms of my undersuit - just pull them through the seal before I put the gloves on. Its good to have the seals though because if I do ever lose a glove or anything silly like that I can rip the tubing out very easily.

Other thing I would say about dry gloves is leaks. I know a few people are concerned about puncturing the glove too easily. which personally I don't think is the issue they make it out to be. I've had one very small hole in one glove in 2 years. OK I could have put a bit of aquasure or something on (many do), but you can get replacement gloves for £3 so its really not a problem. Thats the same as what many pay for an air fill. And yes, I do touch bits of wreck and things, but as long as you aren't slicing your hand along a very sharp edge you are unlikely to cut into the glove.

The other big benefit is getting them on and off - sooooo much easier than struggling with tight wet gloves on the second dive of the day when they're wet and impossible to get on.

Oh, in case you didn't realise, I like my dry gloves :O)

The only disadvantage i've found is actually getting the rings fitted in the first place. I found I needed to shorten the arms of my suit because the rings ended up too far down the arm - not a problem for most people though, my arms were really too long to start with, it just doesn't show up as a problem with latex seals.

David

[Davey Willo]

I use drygloves and love em to death.. like yourself I suffered terribley with cold hands, so much so that I'd lose all dexterity and trying to deal with boltsnaps, spools etc at the end of the dive was a complete mare.

I'd considered them for a while but worried about the loss of dexterity, then after a weekend of diving wrecks in cold water I'd had enough and plumped for them..... Oh.. My.. God!!...

Why did I ever wait, its like a whole body warming experience, not only are my pinkies toasty, I've never been cold since... now whether this is just co-incidence or not I don't know, all I can say is I've never been warmer..

Now from talking to different divers, you either love em or hate em, but I think those that have hated them have either had the wrong size... too big and the finger ends fold over making life difficult, or not got the air balancing trick down pat... by that I mean not enough air migration and they first squeeze down tight at depth, only to become a bloody great balloon on ascent.

The way I worked them was to have an extra set of wrist seals fitted to the drysuit which actually hold the ring system of the gloves, this gives various advantages, you retain the original seals around the wrist meaning should the glove leak your suit isn't going to fill up rapidly, but it also stops a rapid inflation of the glove should you raise an arm..

I simply slide a loop of string under the seal and the glove seems to stay at a really nice and constant balance.

The ring system is awesome and I can slide my gloves on and clip into place in seconds..

But!!! and its my ONLY issue with the gloves is that the ring system have made it much more difficult to reach my valves, its not dangerous, I can stil l shutdown no problem, but slick valve drills are no longer achievable, I have to huff and puff a bit to reach them, losing a bit of slickness but gaining what I've personally gained from using them is a no brainer... the gloves stay..

Hope that helps

Dave

Edit:

LOL just read the post above and its nearly the same info.... must learn to type faster..

[Narked@50]

God, the two Davids can type!

I'll be short and sweet (even though I'm tall and handsom).

Buy a pair and you will never regret it.

Hands you can still feel in drygloves are miles more dexterous than hands you can't feel in anything else, and as they are compressed they are far better than on the surface where they are like thin boxing gloves. (you have to trap air in them to begin with)

James

[colinicky]

Must agree with what's already been said ,I started with a set of Hydrotech . Bought at Stoney after crying like a baby for an hour with tingling frozen hands on a very cold Febuary ,they were brilliant on one hand ! on the other they flooded every time .These were the type with their own seals on so the 1st on was easy but try sorting out the seal on the 2nd with thick clumsy dry gloves was impossible !
Last winter I purchased a set of Si-Tech ring system gloves & they are the dog's danglies ! Must admit the idea of a second set of seals purely for the gloves sounds like a brilliant idea (have a green !)
On a slight aside do you suffer from cold feet as well ? I do & have done all my life (wimp I even have centrally heated ski boots !) I have now been diagnosed with reyhnards which is a condition caused by the capillaries in the extremities closing down & no blood flow gets to these area's & not always when it's cold either .