Minor Hand Squeeze in Dry Suit/Gloves

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vinsanity

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Portland, Oregon
# of dives
100 - 199
I JUST started dry suit diving with a total of 2 dives in my dry suit class and two dives yesterday. I have a set of dry gloves and I insert little hoses across the silicon wrist seals so air can pass between my suit and my gloves.

However, when I'm in proper trim with my hands slightly in front of me, but below my body, that makes them the lowest part of my body and the minor squeeze on them eventually bothers me. If I reach up high with my hands for a moment, it relieves the pressure and feels more comfortable , but I find myself having to do that once every several minutes.

Is this normal, suck it up and be lucky my hands aren't wet & cold? Is it a sign that I'm not inflating my suit enough? My gloves to tight? Something else?
 
Maybe try something else under your seals. Like the thumb loop of your undies. I prefer a piece of bungee cord.
 
Adding better equalizer tube will likely make it worse, air will flow out of the gloves faster. Try better insulator gloves that can resist the squeeze better, maybe add a few pounds and use the suit for buoyancy so it has more air in it.
 
Maybe try something else under your seals. Like the thumb loop of your undies. I prefer a piece of bungee cord.
I was actually using thick bungee.

Adding better equalizer tube will likely make it worse, air will flow out of the gloves faster. Try better insulator gloves that can resist the squeeze better, maybe add a few pounds and use the suit for buoyancy so it has more air in it.
Oh, interesting. Are good dive glove liners designes to resist the pressure? I'm a thinsulate undergarment, but for gloves I'm just wearing an off the shelf light glove. If real dive liner glove would fix this, I will invest.
 
I was actually using thick bungee.
.

Your original post said little hoses, which made me think you were using the little tubes that come with some of the glove systems.
 
I was actually using thick bungee.


Oh, interesting. Are good dive glove liners designes to resist the pressure? I'm a thinsulate undergarment, but for gloves I'm just wearing an off the shelf light glove. If real dive liner glove would fix this, I will invest.
You just have to try them, I use some really thick red fleece ones I get from Seaskin, you’ll probably get more relief by having a little more air in the suit I think, just so you get a little less squeeze, although it’s very possible that you have to much weight which makes for to big of a bubble in the suit causing excessive squeeze at the lower end, do you get cold on the front of your body?

its hard to diagnose without more info on the whole system.
 
Are good dive glove liners designes to resist the pressure?
Don't know about that, but I use Dakine ski glove liners with no equalization tubes. No issues down to 100 ft (deepest tested), and the squeeze improves dexterity. Temps aren't terribly cold though at 60F/16C.
 
Maybe try something else under your seals. Like the thumb loop of your undies. I prefer a piece of bungee cord.
At the beginning I also used thin silicon tubing to equelise the pressure. Since a while I just use the thumb loop which works fine for me.
 
I use the thumb loop aswell. Works fine.

I use my wing for buoyancy, so I dive with a little squeeze most of the time. Of course if it gets uncomfortable I add air, but I like having no air in my drysuit, because of the better trim and no air bubble to manage.
 
I use the thumb loop aswell. Works fine.

I use my wing for buoyancy, so I dive with a little squeeze most of the time. Of course if it gets uncomfortable I add air, but I like having no air in my drysuit, because of the better trim and no air bubble to manage.

My experience with that…

Slashed the glove on a wreck and needed to re-seal my wrist seal. But, like a complete pillock, I’d tied string to my thumb loop. Prized the glove off with a bolt snap then spent way too long trying to stuff the string back into my sleeve, lifting the wrist seal and letting in yet more water in the process. Eventually manage it and had a very soggy arm.

Just imagine how you’d get a thumb loop off your thumb and back behind the wrist seal without cutting it…

I now dive with a 10cm/4" piece of 2mm string which I stuff into the seal when I don the suit. Then it’s a simple case of pulling the glove off, pulling out the string then put the glove back on to complete the dive.

You don’t need fancy tubes, bungee, etc., just an off-cut of string. The air will sort itself out — as will the water when you cut the glove.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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