Downside to permanent wrist rings on dry suit?

[stuartv]

My new dry suit has ordinary bottleneck latex wrist seals. I'm contemplating dry gloves and field-replaceable wrist seals. I would hate to take a weekend to drive 8 hours, go for my first dive, rip a seal, and be done for the day or weekend.

I see systems like the Si Tech (or Kubi) one that will let me press-fit rings on the sleeve and then use dry gloves. So, no permanent mod to the suit. And I suppose I could still dive and be dry with a torn wrist seal if I had a dry glove over it like that.

But, it just seems like having permanent rings installed, so I can change to a new wrist seal in minutes makes a lot of sense.

Is there any downside to having permanent rings put on my suit? Is there some type of diving situation I could end up in where I really wish I didn't have big, hard rings permanently attached to my suit?

I have also seen many references to Zip seals. Those are flexible, not hard like Si Tech or Kubi rings? Is it possible to use Zip seals on a Bare dry suit? Or are Zip seals only for DUI suits?

TIA for any info!

 

[TSandM]

Zip seals are a DUI thing. They have a patent on them.

The only downside to having rings glued to the suit is that, if you travel somewhere where you don't need your dry gloves, you have rings glued to your suit . They're bulky and clumsy and in my opinion, reliably annoying. I enjoy being able to use my suit without them when the right situation occurs. However, my travel suits all have SiTech rings, simply because being in the Philippines and blowing a wrist seal would be more than a nuisance, since I probably couldn't get it fixed during the trip.

 

[nimoh]

I had a DUI G2 neck seal attached to my suit last summer and was informed by a dealer that it could only be installed at the factory due to DUI wanting it only installed on DUI drysuits. I didn't investigate any further and just sent my suit to DUI. So, I am not sure if this is really the case, and also not sure if this applies to other seals such as wrist seals.

I use zip seals for my wrists and like them, they are very close to glue on seals as far as flexibility. I have never used hard rings, so can't really comment much on them other than they look awkward, especially when trying to stretch bungee mount gauges over them. On the flip side, it would be nice to be able to remove gloves between dives without removing the top half of the suit (really not possible to remove or install zip gloves while wearing the suit).

I also think that underwater there is no difference between the two (unless there is a leak).

 

[stuartv]

Okay. Thanks.

And is it correct that there is no system that will allow me to do easy field replacement of wrist seals without having permanent rings glued in/on?

I'm thinking if there was, y'all would have mentioned it or I would have already read about it somewhere.

---------- Post added April 16th, 2015 at 02:26 PM ----------

Oh, and am I also correct in thinking that I could have permanent rings installed, but then, later, if I wanted to, remove them and go back to a regular wrist seal, in the event the rings were too annoying?

 

[grf88]

The SiTech Quick Gloves rings can be attached to the existing wrist seals and as long as you don't tear the seal below where the rings attach you can replace a seal in the field. Not sure if the GloveLock can be done the same way as I have not looked. Not as easy to replace the seal as with the glued on rings but can be done in the field as long as there is enough of the original seal remaining.

 

[stuartv]

The SiTech Quick Gloves rings can be attached to the existing wrist seals and as long as you don't tear the seal below where the rings attach you can replace a seal in the field. Not sure if the GloveLock can be done the same way as I have not looked. Not as easy to replace the seal as with the glued on rings but can be done in the field as long as there is enough of the original seal remaining.

I am looking at the Si Tech Quick Glove manual. For the ability to put in a new wrist seal in the field, it appears to be saying that you have to use the Quick Cuff, and it says that the Quick Cuff Wrist Ring has to be glued into the suit.

Other than that, I don't see a way to use the Quick Gloves setup to allow changing of wrist seals in the field (without gluing something to the suit). How do you do it? And what do you use for the new seal? A regular latex wrist seal that you would otherwise normally glue in place?

Put the new seal in place over the torn seal and assemble the spanner ring and docking ring as normal, so it has two layers of latex sandwiched between them, instead of just one?

 

[RJP]

I have zip seals on my travel drysuit only so I can easily replace a blown seal while on vacation or a liveaboard. (Ever try to find a place that does drysuit service in Fiji?)

At home in NJ I do not have zip seals, nor do I have any sort of permanent rings. I find them to be a hindrance when going after lobsters and such. I can get my whole arm pretty deep into a hidey-hole with regular seals. Having a hard ring with a circumference of 12" or so around my wrist makes that a lot harder to do. I do have the ring system that lets me insert a ring and use "roll-over" dry gloves (SI tech maybe) which I really only use when it's absolutely too f***ing cold to even be diving.

I dive pretty hard in lots of wrecks with regular seals... and I have never torn one. Do they tear? Sure. Working on a boat I see it on occasion... but not that often. Keep 'em maintained, take care with them, replace them when they look like they might go soon. My wet gloves are long enough to cover most of the seal anyway. Perhaps if I were an 8hr drive away from diving I'd be less cavalier about it. Either way, once you start really diving locally you'll find there's quite an extensive list of things that will cause you to be done for the day/weekend/trip. A torn wrist seal is simply one of them.

If your goal is to be able to swap wet for dry gloves, one of the systems with an inserted ring makes sense. If your goal is field replacement of a torn seal... some sort of permanent ring system would be the way to go.

 

[stuartv]

I dive pretty hard in lots of wrecks with regular seals... and I have never torn one. Do they tear? Sure. Working on a boat I see it on occasion... but not that often. Keep 'em maintained, take care with them, replace them when they look like they might go soon. Perhaps if I were an 8hr drive away from diving I'd be less cavalier about it. Either way, once you start really diving you'll find there's quite an extensive list of things that will cause you to be done for the day/weekend/trip. A torn wrist seal is simply one of them.

If your goal is to be able to swap wet for dry gloves, one of the systems with an inserted ring makes sense. If your goal is field replacement of a torn seal... some sort of permanent ring system would be the way to go.

A friend of mine in England has invited me to come over in October and go with him to dive Scapa Flow. I am contemplating that and trying to plan ahead. I'd hate to go all the way over and not be able to dive because of a torn wrist seal. But, if grf88 is right and I can use the Quick Glove system without gluing anything in, and sandwich in a replacement seal, that sounds like the way to go.

Of course, as you say, maybe I am just being too paranoid about tearing one of my seals. Especially that early in their lifespan (i.e. only 6 months from new).

---------- Post added April 16th, 2015 at 03:17 PM ----------

The SiTech Quick Gloves rings can be attached to the existing wrist seals and as long as you don't tear the seal below where the rings attach you can replace a seal in the field. Not sure if the GloveLock can be done the same way as I have not looked. Not as easy to replace the seal as with the glued on rings but can be done in the field as long as there is enough of the original seal remaining.

Does this also mean I could use the Viking Classic rings (now, Si Tech Rubber Pullover rings) to field replace a seal (if there's enough left of the original)?

 

[grf88]

A regular latex wrist seal that you would otherwise normally glue in place?

Put the new seal in place over the torn seal and assemble the spanner ring and docking ring as normal, so it has two layers of latex sandwiched between them, instead of just one?

I have only done it with a latex seal but you may be able to use a silicone one. Yes, you need to sandwich two layers, the kit come with different size inserts for different thicknesses so you need to carry the next size down in your spares kit. One caveat is that I had the old Quick Glove system that was not compatible with the glued on rings so you may want to check with SiTech if it can still be done with the newer rings. If the newer rings can be installed directly on the existing seal then I see no reason why it can't be done.

Just looked at the SiTech website. They have two type one of which is clamped directly to the existing seal so it will still work.
Quick Glove - Dry Gloves Solutions - Products - SI-TECH

 

[stuartv]

I have only done it with a latex seal but you may be able to use a silicone one. Yes, you need to sandwich two layers, the kit come with different size inserts for different thicknesses so you need to carry the next size down in your spares kit. One caveat is that I had the old Quick Glove system that was not compatible with the glued on rings so you may want to check with SiTech if it can still be done with the newer rings. If the newer rings can be installed directly on the existing seal then I see no reason why it can't be done.

Right, right! Of course! I forgot that the docking side also has multiple spanner rings to allow getting just the right fit. I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

So I would just carry the smaller spanner rings and a spare latex seal with me. Have the rings clamped onto the suit when I'm going to use dry gloves. Take the rings off when I use wet gloves. And no rings glued to my suit.

It sounds like the perfect setup.

Thanks, grf!