Dry Glove Help

[limeyx]

From personal experience, I can tell you that you will get very wet. Now, when I am lazy I have (and do) use that technique, but on any dive that matters I use bungies.

Definitely. I had a leaky left glove (but retardedly decided to keep diving)
I was soaked head to toe down my whole left side. Not so much on the right side though.

 

[vbcoachchris]

Sounds good, but have you actually tried it underwater?

I have tried it several times to make sure it works and have never had a problem (yet). My wrist seals are short, but they seal well enough that I have been able to dive wet gloves with the rings

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Thanks everyone. I wasn't sure if the equalization was necessary either. I went down to about 60 in them and the squeeze was actaully nice. I have small hands and finding gloves that fit well is always a challenge. The squeeze helps.

Hunter

One comment on this ... if you're diving deep, and forget to use some method of equalization, the squeeze going down won't be the problem. The pressure differential on either side of the wrist seal will force some air into the glove ... your wrist seal effectively works like a one-way valve.

The problem will be on the way up ... as the gas inside your glove expands. The wrist seals will not allow the expanding gas to escape back into the suit, which will cause a condition known as "Mickey Mouse hands".

I forgot to use the tubes once on a 150-foot dive, and by the time I got up to my 20-foot stop, my gloves were "fizzing" around the rings. Not a good sign when you've got a deco obligation ... especially in cold water. Besides that, it's rather difficult to deal with bolt snaps and such.

I've since been very careful about using the tubes for equalization.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hawkwood]

The problem will be on the way up ... as the gas inside your glove expands. The wrist seals will not allow the expanding gas to escape back into the suit, which will cause a condition known as "Mickey Mouse hands".
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

This happened to my son on the weekend. We use bungies under our latex seals. We put a loop on one end to slip over a finger when we put the suit on. Once our hand is through, the loop comes off the finger and it is there to pull the bungie out if need be. Somehow things got messed up and he either didn't get the bungie in, or it slipped out. When he got back up his left and was just as Bob described. Very hard on the manual dexterity!

 

[CompuDude]

That's true -- I rarely even bother unless I'm going deeper than 60 or 70 feet, and the other day we went to 96 and I never noticed the glove squeeze. I think it was one of Uncle Pug's posts that first suggested that tubes might not be absolutely necessary.

Hmm. It's interesting to read this and Bob's post. I recently started using dry gloves (DC rings on plain DUI latex seals), and I used the bungee method the first few times I wore the gloves (probably no more than 10 dives so far).

I never had any problems while using the bungee, although they seemed a bit scratchy on the underside of my wrist, but I managed to forget them a few dives later on another trip. I had some serious shrink-wrapping going on, but no actual problems.

This past weekend I was on some wrecks down to 126 fsw... again, no bungee or any other method of equalization. And again, no problem... including on ascent. I shot a bag from 30' for a deco hang, and I don't recall having any problems with mickey mouse hands.

Could be my wrist seals don't work very effectively under the rings... I know my arms sure had a good amount of seepage the one time I wore my drysuit in a pool without the gloves on (wet or dry), and the seal is definitely pretty "short" inside due to the rings, but it wasn't a full flood, either.

So I dunno... I would hesitate to make any broad statement due to my experience, but I can say that unless and until something happens to make me change my mind, I'm not planning to use any sort of tube or strings under my dry gloves in the future.

 

[allenw1972]

I went down to Walmart and purchased some of the flexible tubing commonly used in aquariums. It's soft, and costs about $2 for 25 feet of the stuff ... basically enough to last several divers for a lifetime.

I cut it into 2-3" pieces, and keep several in my save-a-dive kit (because I tend to lose them or give them to other divers).

I tried the thumb-loops on my undergarment ... but had the same concerns JeffG expressed.

I tried putting on the glove liners first ... but on second dives you're gonna end up getting them wet handling your gear (since everything's wet) ... and the objective on dry gloves is to keep your hands dry, so that doesn't work so well.

The flexible tube solution works well for me, and costs practically nothing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I also place my glove liners on before my suit, but I put my golves on right after suting up then and leave them on to keep them from getting wet. The surface glove dexterity work is good for practice.

 

[boomx5]

The problem will be on the way up ... as the gas inside your glove expands. The wrist seals will not allow the expanding gas to escape back into the suit, which will cause a condition known as "Mickey Mouse hands".

I forgot to use the tubes once on a 150-foot dive, and by the time I got up to my 20-foot stop, my gloves were "fizzing" around the rings. Not a good sign when you've got a deco obligation ... especially in cold water. Besides that, it's rather difficult to deal with bolt snaps and such.

I've since been very careful about using the tubes for equalization.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Normally, I use a bit of bungie to equalize my gloves. However, I did forget it one time on a 175' dive and had the "Mickey Mouse Hands" issue. Also, the squeeze get's pretty bad past 150' if you are not using something to equalize the pressure. That's why I always use something on every dive I do past 100'.

 

[Rick Inman]

I use a 3 inch piece of surgical tubing on dives below 60' (nothing above that). It's so soft you don't feel it at all, but easily allows lots of argon to move through (important to me in really cold water) and you can pop one out with one quick pull if you need to. The local store sells it for 35 cents a foot, so I bought a lifetime supply for three dollars.