Ultima Dry Glove System question

[Deep South Divers]

Now... Having said that, I suspect that you will NOT find leaks at your wrist seals, even though I see some issues with your wrist seal installation. Here's why:

Wrist seals are notoriously leaky, especially with people who have prominent wrist tendons. Here's what my wrists look like, and why wrist seals are totally worthless to me:


That is... No matter what sort of wrist seal I had, they leaked.

If your wrists look like mine, then it makes total sense why the drysuit guys passed your suit as "leak-free," yet your arms are soaked on every dive. That's how mine were too... And the reason WHY I decided to dive drygloves.

Every dive I've dived since has been bone dry... And it's wonderful.

...Which is why I dive my suits with absolutely no wrist seals in them at all. Literally, wrist seals are worthless to me... And I suspect that you may have the same issue; the symptoms are exactly the same.

 

[Deep South Divers]

One last post that might help you out:

In studying the way that your wrist seals are mounted, I noticed a LOT of debris on the seal... Which are very dry. Clean them and the rings with Dawn and water, and then wipe down the suitside PU ring with a wet washcloth. Install the seal on the Virgo ring, then lubricate the seal where it faces the suitside PU ring with some silicone lube or Christolube. This will help the seal situate better without pinching or bunching.

Here's a video of how I do mine. See the lubrication part at 7:45 or so.


By the way, I suggest watching the entire video... Remember, I did this modification to my suit after many wet dives with wrist seals intact. Now I rely solely on drygloves... And haven't had a wet dive since.

 

[Deep South Divers]

USONUVABEECH....the way you easily sliped that glove on that ring.

But wait, didn't you once write that you swapped o-rings from the Ultimas with the o-rings from your Diving Concepts system because they were stretchier/easier to install on the Ultima rings?

-Z

Yeah, what Zef said... All of it!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The rings I mounted the new gloves on were my backup set with the Waterproof O-rings. The gloves seem stretchier.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Showa 37 review;
We have a trip planned to the Galapagos in January. I keep reading about divers having to hold onto rocks on the bottom to keep from being swept away by the currents. First of all, I hate diving in current. Second, the water temperatures at the Galapagos are similar to Southern California, where I dive in a drysuit all year. I've been extremely happy with my 720 gloves since I began wearing them last year. The abrasion resistance is great. I don't have a scratch on them after 100+ dives. I'm not careful underwater. I touch rocks, rusty wrecks and sharp shells that used to cut through my PVC gloves.

I read about the new 379s and they sounded like the 720s with an extra coating on the palms and fingertips. Sounds perfect for the Galapagos. I mounted them yesterday and they were much easier than the 720s. I have the XXL versions, so the wider opening and stretchy material helped. I was concerned about leaking when they mounted so easily, but I didn't get a single drop of water in them today. The water temperature was 57°, so it wasn't cold enough to tell much of a difference but my hands felt a little too warm with undergloves on. They felt warmer than my 720s.

I don't know why, but when I saw the coating on the gloves I had Tool Dip in my thoughts. They are actually more like Teflon. I was perfectly fine underwater, but when I reached for the grab rails on my dive ladder my hands slid on the stainless rails. I had to grip a little tighter to climb the ladder. Not a big deal. I can get used to that, but the 720s are a completely different feel. I'll continue diving with them until after my trip. If the slippery coating doesn't bother me, I'll wear them at God's Pocket in April to see how warm they really are. I had no trouble manipulating the small buttons on my camera housing. I could probably pick up a dime if I found one on the reef.

Overall, I was pleased with the warmth, dryness, fit, ease of mounting, and stretchiness. The only negative was the slick coating, but the extra abrasion may end up being a plus on the bottom. Even the green color didn't bother me. It almost matches our water right now.

 

[lexvil]

Showa 37 review;
We have a trip planned to the Galapagos in January. I keep reading about divers having to hold onto rocks on the bottom to keep from being swept away by the currents. First of all, I hate diving in current. Second, the water temperatures at the Galapagos are similar to Southern California, where I dive in a drysuit all year. I've been extremely happy with my 720 gloves since I began wearing them last year. The abrasion resistance is great. I don't have a scratch on them after 100+ dives. I'm not careful underwater. I touch rocks, rusty wrecks and sharp shells that used to cut through my PVC gloves.

I read about the new 379s and they sounded like the 720s with an extra coating on the palms and fingertips. Sounds perfect for the Galapagos. I mounted them yesterday and they were much easier than the 720s. I have the XXL versions, so the wider opening and stretchy material helped. I was concerned about leaking when they mounted so easily, but I didn't get a single drop of water in them today. The water temperature was 57°, so it wasn't cold enough to tell much of a difference but my hands felt a little too warm with undergloves on. They felt warmer than my 720s.

I don't know why, but when I saw the coating on the gloves I had Tool Dip in my thoughts. They are actually more like Teflon. I was perfectly fine underwater, but when I reached for the grab rails on my dive ladder my hands slid on the stainless rails. I had to grip a little tighter to climb the ladder. Not a big deal. I can get used to that, but the 720s are a completely different feel. I'll continue diving with them until after my trip. If the slippery coating doesn't bother me, I'll wear them at God's Pocket in April to see how warm they really are. I had no trouble manipulating the small buttons on my camera housing. I could probably pick up a dime if I found one on the reef.

Overall, I was pleased with the warmth, dryness, fit, ease of mounting, and stretchiness. The only negative was the slick coating, but the extra abrasion may end up being a plus on the bottom. Even the green color didn't bother me. It almost matches our water right now.

View attachment 541907

What I want are 720’s in black so I can get xxl, I have black gloves but they seem to only available in xl, they work with very thin liners, barely.

 

[Zef]

What I want are 720’s in black so I can get xxl, I have black gloves but they seem to only available in xl, they work with very thin liners, barely.

If you don't mind blue I have a spare set of xxl 720s you can have.

-Z

 

[lexvil]

If you don't mind blue I have a spare set of xxl 720s you can have.

-Z

Thanks for the offer, I have some but just don’t like the blue, even have some orange and rust color which I use sometimes also have heavy weight rubber but those are crazy expensive.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Showa 37 review;
We have a trip planned to the Galapagos in January. I keep reading about divers having to hold onto rocks on the bottom to keep from being swept away by the currents. First of all, I hate diving in current. Second, the water temperatures at the Galapagos are similar to Southern California, where I dive in a drysuit all year. I've been extremely happy with my 720 gloves since I began wearing them last year. The abrasion resistance is great. I don't have a scratch on them after 100+ dives. I'm not careful underwater. I touch rocks, rusty wrecks and sharp shells that used to cut through my PVC gloves.

I read about the new 379s and they sounded like the 720s with an extra coating on the palms and fingertips. Sounds perfect for the Galapagos. I mounted them yesterday and they were much easier than the 720s. I have the XXL versions, so the wider opening and stretchy material helped. I was concerned about leaking when they mounted so easily, but I didn't get a single drop of water in them today. The water temperature was 57°, so it wasn't cold enough to tell much of a difference but my hands felt a little too warm with undergloves on. They felt warmer than my 720s.

I don't know why, but when I saw the coating on the gloves I had Tool Dip in my thoughts. They are actually more like Teflon. I was perfectly fine underwater, but when I reached for the grab rails on my dive ladder my hands slid on the stainless rails. I had to grip a little tighter to climb the ladder. Not a big deal. I can get used to that, but the 720s are a completely different feel. I'll continue diving with them until after my trip. If the slippery coating doesn't bother me, I'll wear them at God's Pocket in April to see how warm they really are. I had no trouble manipulating the small buttons on my camera housing. I could probably pick up a dime if I found one on the reef.

Overall, I was pleased with the warmth, dryness, fit, ease of mounting, and stretchiness. The only negative was the slick coating, but the extra abrasion may end up being a plus on the bottom. Even the green color didn't bother me. It almost matches our water right now.

View attachment 541907

Fantastic review, Max! Thank you so much!

Clearly I'm gonna have to get a set and try them out. For work, it's tough to tell if the additional puncture resistance is worth the odd color and the slippery grip. Gonna have to see for myself.

Well done my friend!

 

[MidwestDiver1994]

Wow, great write-up. I agree the typical test is the opposite pressure and is not a great way to find some of the trickier leaks. I will give your method a shot.

I did get some response from SI-Tech:
"more than happy to swap that out for you and they did make a couple small changes to the tolerances of that system." (Virgo)

This answer gave me the most confidence since it would explain why both wrists have the same issue. Working with SI-Tech to get the updated virgo.

Also, I saw in the 4th element product video they were were silicone lube on the seals before putting them in the PUs. This makes a lot of sense to me but I didn't see anything in the SI-Tech videos or manual about it so I hadn't been doing that.