Dry glove systems

[Soggy]

One more question:

How much weight do you think I'll need going from 100# to 300# undies? I currently use 26 lbs (I'm a couple lbs heavy...just too lazy to get the right combination of lead to make 24) with a single HP72. If I get the drygloves and some thicker undies, I'll dive almost year round, as long as I can get someone to go with. Heck, I'd go right now even though it is snowing out...if my hands weren't going to freeze off.

 

[Uncle Pug]

PA/NJdiver once bubbled...
As for underwear, I use Weezle underwear when the water starts to get cold, but I may also get a set where UP suggested. You can't go wrong with this price.

Stacey I have a set of Weezle extremes that I use for summer but now that we are in the colder half of the year I am using my 300g UG from TJs. If you like warm you will like TJs 300g.

Aaron I can't tell you how much weight you will need but at this point I would say start with the 26#.
When you get your 300g do this:
Before gearing up but with your suit on and zipped, surgical tubes inserted under the wrist seals and dry gloves in place... walk out into the water with your dump valve all the way open and pulling your neck seal open with your hand. Go out far enough to get as much air out of the suit as possible (but not so far that you get water down the neck .) This is the level of snugness you want to maintain in your suit during the dive. Don't add anymore air to the suit than is necessary to eliminate excessive squeeze and get back to this level of snugness as you descend. If you do this you will stay warm and be able to take up to 10#s off of your belt.

 

[Soggy]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

Don't add anymore air to the suit than is necessary to eliminate excessive squeeze and get back to this level of snugness as you descend. If you do this you will stay warm and be able to take up to 10#s off of your belt.

There are a few reasons why I wear as much weight as I do.

1) With only 100# undies (plus they are old...i.e. more like 50-75# now), "excessive" squeeze is pretty early on. New 300# undies should help solve that problem.

2) I have a leak in my zipper which is made worse by not having much air in the suit. The suit is going to the repair shop on Friday, though...so in 2-3 weeks everything will be grand.

3) Much of my diving recently has been real shallow and near rocky shores. Being a couple lbs heavy makes me a lot more comfortable when I'm only 8-10 feet deep and the surf is pushing me around.

4) I'm a new diver. I'll decline posting how much weight I started with


Do the surgical tubing for equalizing and wrist seals come with the dry glove system or are you able to use the existing wrist seals?

 

[Uncle Pug]

AaronBBrown once bubbled...
Do the surgical tubing for equalizing and wrist seals come with the dry glove system or are you able to use the existing wrist seals?

But the stuff is cheap... buy a couple of feet and whack it into suitable lengths with scissors.

I have 4~5" chunks of surgical tubing all over the place... I have four sitting right here that I just took out of my pocket and I always keep a set inside the gloves after I take them off...

Now some folks can get by without it because when they make a fist the tendons form a channel that lets air pass... these are the folks that always seem to have trouble with leaking wrist seals and then when they get drygloves they have built in equalizers

If you don't use the tubes the air from the suit will force its way into the glove past the seal on the way down and upon ascent it will not be able to get back into the suit and you will end up with mickeymouse hands... unless of course you have "tendon tunnels".

Another way of dealing with this is to place the rings in the suit in such a way that only a hole for the wrist is left in the center... there is no way for it to seal down on your wrist and prevent air from passing in either direction. I do not recommend this as you will get a flooded suit if a glove is holed.

As long as you leave some sealing surface inside the ring and use the tubes if you get a holed glove you can pop it off, pull the tube and then replace the glove which is now a wet glove. Be sure the tubes are long enough that you would be able to grab the end with a gloved hand to pull it.

 

[Soggy]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...

Now some folks can get by without it because when they make a fist the tendons form a channel that lets air pass... these are the folks that always seem to have trouble with leaking wrist seals and then when they get drygloves they have built in equalizers

That would be me...I've never had suitable wrist seals. My new ones work well, but still leak if I'm moving my hands a lot. I'd feel much better about having a direct channel w/ the surgical tubing. Where can I get the stuff?

 

[King Kong Matt]

AaronBBrown once bubbled...
Where can I get the stuff?

MASS Diving has surgical tubing. Pretty close to Burlington. You can get the directions off the site http://www.massdiving.com

 

[DivePartner1]

Retnug,

Thanks for the upgrade info on the OSS gloves.

 

[Scubaroo]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
Underwear... TJ's makes a 300g fleece set to your measurements for $155. Tell them you want the Uncle Pug special with the button hole for your p-valve. http://home.att.net/~gchev91/

Wow - I placed an order at about 9pm last night with Janice for a custom set of this underwear... she emailed me today at 4:45pm to let me know it had been SHIPPED! Less than 24 hours turnaround.

Just hope my girlfriend measured me correctly ut:

 

[Soggy]

I was thinking...always a dangerous endeavor...

My exhaust valve is on my left forearm...not the typical upper left shoulder. Do you think that a dryglove system will work without my glove popping off or air getting caught in the glove? I suppose I could not put the surgical tubing in the left glove...Since I don't dive too deep, the squeeze may not be so bad.

 

[MechDiver]

AaronBBrown once bubbled...
I was thinking...always a dangerous endeavor...

My exhaust valve is on my left forearm...not the typical upper left shoulder. Do you think that a dryglove system will work without my glove popping off or air getting caught in the glove? I suppose I could not put the surgical tubing in the left glove...Since I don't dive too deep, the squeeze may not be so bad.

I have the OS system and don't use equalizer tubes for my gloves. If I don't keep my left hand low while ascending, the left hand does tend to balloon, and thats using a shoulder dump. I would think with a forearm dump, you may have a problem without a tube.
As for the squeeze, I've been well past rec limits without using any tubes, and the squeeze is not that significant.

Phil