DC dry gloves - with inner seal or without?

[flareless]

How big of a deal is it to have the requirement to equalize your gloves? From what I understand, when using the dry gloves with latex seals, the seals act as a one-way valve allowing air to exit into the gloves but not back into the suit. From those with experience, does this occur frequently enough to have a large enough quantity of air in the gloves during ascent to cause glove overexpansion? What other problems might occur without having a removable item keeping the seal open?

I experience bad pain in my hands for days if I haven't equalized my gloves on deeper dives. I've found that by raising my hands a bit when planed out horizontally I can get air to move into the gloves. It's cool as you can actually see them ballooning up and away from your fingers.

It took a while to find a solution that worked but this shock cord setup does the trick and as long as I have my undergarment I have my seal-breaking setup.

Incidentally the guy that showed me this setup mentioned he also takes a light pair of wet gloves along on dives which he can use should he have a dry glove leak. Not a bad idea if you ask me.

 

[Divenomad]

What diameter of shockcord?

Nomad

 

[ae3753]

What diameter of shockcord?

Nomad

Any that's comfortable. I've seen 1/8" and 3/16" used most often.

You only need a little to break the seal.

 

[Hepcat62]

Sorry - I've been offline for a couple of days. Thanks for all the feedback guys! It seems like people are pretty overwhelmingly in favor of the inner seal. I happen to have some 1/8" and 3/16" bungee lying around from when I strung up my DSS compass mount, so all that's left is to turn my drysuit sleeves inside out and get to work.

 

[flareless]

What diameter of shockcord?

Nomad

Not so thin it cuts you and not so thick it hurts. The diameters Don mentions are fine. The air can make it through even the smallest crack in the seal and that's all you need.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I use the thumb loops of my undergarments to equalize the gloves. I kept having problems with tubes making their way into the suit of gloves.
I have an older suit that I tried an experiment on. I got tired of replacing wrist seals every 50-60 dives, so I attached the rings directly to the rubber lining where the wrist seals were glued before. I shoved the O-ring as tight as possible, then taped around the ring as tight as possible. I made a couple of dives this way and not a drop of water came in. It is much easier to get in and out of the suit, plus get air into the gloves without wrist seals. When the seals on my primary suit need replacing I will likely do the same to it.

 

[Hepcat62]

Well, I ended up trading my dry gloves for a pair of jet fins. As it turns out, my drysuit sleeves are just slightly too narrow at the wrist to use the snap-on kit. If I decide to go ahead with drygloves on this suit, I'll be sending it in to Diving Concepts to get the built-in ring system (with redundant inner seal), but for now I'm fine - my hands don't get that cold anyway.

 

[ae3753]

Well, I ended up trading my dry gloves for a pair of jet fins. As it turns out, my drysuit sleeves are just slightly too narrow at the wrist to use the snap-on kit. If I decide to go ahead with drygloves on this suit, I'll be sending it in to Diving Concepts to get the built-in ring system (with redundant inner seal), but for now I'm fine - my hands don't get that cold anyway.

If your hands don't get cold, then it was better to trade for Jet Fins.

As for narrow sleeves, the Viking bayonet system or the OS Systems ring set may fit. They are smaller than the DC rings.

If you're curious, ping me. I should have spare rings to test fit. I don't have a complete system to try unfortunately.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Well, I ended up trading my dry gloves for a pair of jet fins. As it turns out, my drysuit sleeves are just slightly too narrow at the wrist to use the snap-on kit. If I decide to go ahead with drygloves on this suit, I'll be sending it in to Diving Concepts to get the built-in ring system (with redundant inner seal), but for now I'm fine - my hands don't get that cold anyway.

All this typing away about DC gloves and you leave us in the dust by getting rid of them...

I should charge you for my cheap advice...

J/k

Brian I am happy you got the Jets, I see you moving closer to the darkside of the force...

 

[Hepcat62]

Brian I am happy you got the Jets, I see you moving closer to the darkside of the force...

Heh, the dark side does appeal to me. Shooting lightning bolts from your fingers will always be cooler than a sense of self-satisfaction and living in swamps.

One of my goals for 2010 is to invest in a BP/W setup. I'm not sure when in 2010 it's going to happen, but it's on the list... That gives me a while to research Halcyon vs. DSS vs. DiveRite, etc.