Dry gloves - with or without drysuit seal?

[Wheeler925]

I've got my first drysuit and have dove now both with and without dry gloves. Prefer the dry gloves for obvious reasons. I'm wondering if I should keep the SI tech wrist seals on my suit, or remove them when diving dry gloves? Seems like the suit would be easier to get on without them, but wondering about pros/cons and other peoples' experience.

 

[Subcooled]

I assume you mean latex wrist seals.

They are convenient when changing to wet gloves/mittens or diving with bare hands.
They however impact the air flow and may make your fingers colder than needed, when wearing dry gloves in icy waters.

You need to choose between ease and comfort with drygloves,
or versatility for changing needs.

 

[ChrisMBC]

I have very, very loose silicone seals in mine. You have to be aware that having loose/no seals makes a glove leak quite catastrophic. I carry a spare set of Marigolds in my pocket, which I can (and have) put on over my regular dry gloves if you shred a glove mid-dive.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The OP didn't say which dry glove system he is using. If it's a ring system, you still need to have a section of seal around the suit rings. I prefer to cut my seals, leaving enough to cover the grooves of the suit rings.

 

[Subcooled]

Punctured gloves should be quite rare but badly sealed ones are not.

Flooded drysuit gloves become quite cold after some time (now, some people, like me, wear merino wool gloves and wet mittens without feeling cold, but exposure is limited in these cases).

Your drysuit does not flood though, as you will point the hand down, right? An upside down cup does not fill.

 

[Wheeler925]

The OP didn't say which dry glove system he is using. If it's a ring system, you still need to have a section of seal around the suit rings. I prefer to cut my seals, leaving enough to cover the grooves of the suit rings.

I've got the SiTech Quick Glove system. Its a circular ring system with sort of a screw on screw off thing

 

[Whitrzac]

The quickglove ring seals about 95% of the time. I've always left the seals in mine, possibly a little loose.

 

[landphil]

Punctured gloves should be quite rare but badly sealed ones are not.

Unless you spend entire dives sizing urchins. You know your gloves are finished the first time you feel the spines poking into your fingers

 

[macado]

I am not a fan of diving without an intact wrist seal. I know people do it all the time but to me having a catastrophic dry glove flood/rip means you only end up with a wet hand and maybe a slightly damn arm.

I'll choose an intact wrist seal every time. Like others mentioned I do keep my wrist seals a little looser than normal.

I use rubber surgical tubing and/or thumb loops from undergarments to equalize gloves. In the event of a major dry glove tear i've actually pulled my glove off underwater and removed the equalization tube.

This happened few weeks ago in 34f (~1c) water. Granted these gloves aren't very durable compared to the blue smurf showas but I like them. I was able to pull the equalization tube and all I ended up with was a wet and VERY cold hand.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've had a flooded suit in 46°F Canadian water. It was annoying, but I still finished the dive and dried my bunny suit before the next dive. Even after that dive, I prefer diving without seals. I like getting in and out of the suit easily, and the airflow between the suit and gloves is effortless.