DRY GLOVES

[Duncan]

Just Bought some of the spanky new dry goves from bluepoint (new & hopefully improved outer glove & in black!!!) havent fitted em yet & before i do just wanted other peoples opinions/experiences with dry gloves

[Mr T.]

I used some of the old blue ones on the Canal shout when me and 2Tanx were resuce divers at the re-opening of the Staleybridge Narrow Gauge Canal a coupla years back. Your hands will sweat a lot and smell a good deal after you've worn the gloves a few times, but hey, we don't wear them to smell nice, we wear them to keep warm and dry - which they achieve admirably.

Let us know how you get on with them in terms of feel and ability to do tasks in them. They may feature on my 'to buy' list if you give them a favourable billing! Good luck.

And when are you and Pete gonna get your arse out on another Troop dive?? It's been too long since Hodge mate. Are you up for Anglesey in March??

(Edited by Bren Tierney at 10:52 pm on Feb. 1, 2003)

[peter k]

I've got Theauteknik(something like that)drygloves that fit onto your cuff seals. They're magic.:thumb: A revelation in warm hands. I still find my fingertips get cold though, but not unbearably as they did. The only mistake I made in fitting them was to do away with a seal round my wrists. There is a way to attach the system that you still have a cuff seal, Though it was a bit technical for me. This way if the gloves flood then my whole suit doesn't flood as well. I reckon a rubber tube down my seal will equalise the pressure, but in time of a glove flood won't dramatically flood the suit. I'll sit down and sort this out soon though. Like I said Dry gloves-magic. Replacements are only £11 as well.

Peter

[milkybarkid]

I use the standard blue ones from Hydrotech (they do free trials at Capenwray sometimes). I find them a lot warmer - your hands warm up a lot faster after the dive too. I don't get any less movement than a 5mm neoprene glove. However, if they leak your hands freeze pretty quickly.

Only down side is I find the second glove is almost impossible to get on after you've got the first one - its a pain in the arse to sort the seal so it doesn't leak.

Matt

[peter k]

Thats why I got the ones with the connectors. It's cheaper to replace the gloves as well when you wear a hole through them.

Peter

[Davey Willo]

Keep the info coming lads, I'm really interested in dry gloves, my main concern is how do they compare to 5mm Neoprene gloves in touchy feely type stuff, trying to find my left D-ring and reclip stuff is a nightmare with fat gloves on.... also I've heard stories of them expanding like crazy because of the inability to equalise the pressure inside of them, has this been an issue for anyone using them?

I very nearly bought some with the twist grips at the diveshow as the guy was knocking them out at about £35 for the whole shabang near the end of the day.... with these type you didn't have to alter the suit at all, just pushed a ring down the inside of the arm which held in place a ring on the outside to which you clipped the dryglove... seemed really cool especially as it didn't effect the integrity of the suit should the glove puncture..

As much info as possible would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

Dave.

[Jay]

You'll like the ones Duncan has Dave, he showed them to us in the shop yesterday - very warm, much more dexterity and not bright blue!

[John Gulliver]

Here's a less enthusiastic view, just to balance things a bit. I have a pair of Nordic Blue drygloves. I've stopped using them and gone back to my Mares 6 mm 3-finger neoprene mitts. I find they are just as warm in the water and a lot more convenient. Once I put my drygloves on, I was more or less handicapped, had to ask for help with just about everything. Click-on drygloves do solve that problem, though, because you can get ready and put your gloves on last. The only real disadvantage with my 3-finger mitts is that my hands get extremely cold when I take them off after the dive. I have to have a towel ready and dry my hands and put warm gloves on as soon as I take my neorpene gloves off. Another disadvantage of drygloves, in my experience, is that, because they were usually lower than most of my body,  they squeezed and then were really cold. I found I had to keep sticking my hands up to let some air in my gloves. All in all, I think drygloves are a pain in the proverbial! Practically all my friends wear drygloves, though, so maybe it's just me! In case anybody doesn't already know, I live in Sweden, where the temp in the air has been around 7-8 degrees below zero Celsius the last few times I've dived and the temperature on the surface in the sea zero, with 4 degrees at the warmest (30 m).

[Dominic]

I agree with John - not a fan of drygloves, mine live in the bottom of my kit bag. And that's only because I don't like throwing dive gear away.
I'd be willing to give them another try if I ever got a ring system, as that might cut down on the freezing-cold-or-drenched-hands I always used to get.. but still prefer wetgloves, since they're less bulky. Have never yet had cold hands in my 5mm wets, and they've been down to about 6 degrees

[Dr Stevil]

There's a review of drygloves in this months Dive mag in case anyone wanted a bit more info.

John, that's something I've heard of before, did you try linking your gloves to your drysuit internal pressure with a piece of tubing going under the wrist seal?

Speaking of this months Dive mag, I thought the young chap in the RobinHood Watersports advert looked vaguely familiar, if I'm not very much mistaken that's you isn't it Duncan ?

Chee-az
Steve