Drysuit or NOT

[tight rope walker]

Hi Carrie, I personally use the DUI five fingered dry gloves. I previously used the viking five fingered dry gloves, with liners, and the rings. Though I like this setup, the gloves no matter what combination of liners I used, would not keep my hands warm, as a matter of fact the only part of my body that gets cold is my hands. Now I take the neoprene cuff of the glove,talc it up and push it in and slide it over my wrist seal. The liners are already installed. This is a very warm combo.

It's kind of hard to operate some of your gear when your hands are numb.

 

[BodenseeDiver]

There is a drysuit training course. I took the class when I bought my drysuit. The SSI book was cheesy and outdated, but my instructor showed me how to get get air out of my feet and worked with me to get my trim sorted out.

I refer on it I CMAS am and no other religion with 4 letter (PXXI) where one must do a course for it if one wants to dive drily, of course have or are better said experienced people with me, the dry diving dry suit out gone, but for it there is not a course nunmal in the VDST - CMAS
I have dry diving gloves, under it I carry 2 mms of neoprene gloves and they keep in me

 

[Belmont]

Bodensse Diver, what side of the lake are you from, Lake Constanz or Bodensee side?
Is this where Graf Von Zeppelin built his famous dirigibles?

 

[dave4868]

This was my first time using them. They are the Si- Tech quick docking ring gloves (can be removed). Lfet glove leaked like crazy & right one had a very slow leak.

No, I haven't figured it out yet. I may look at them in the morning. For the dive we did today (about 20 min) it wasn't bad at all. At depth there at the quarry (42 degrees) 20 min is about my limit for my hands before they start getting numb & cramping up.

I love those SI TECH drygloves and have used them for years with almost no problems in hundreds of dives. Only on very rare occasions have I managed to foul up the o-ring seal.

Unfortunately, I doubt you'll find any evidence after your leaks, unless you actually find loose fibers around the o-ring. On the positive side, the problems are easily avoided.

One of the rare problems is that, during docking, the excess liner might get pinched between the docking ring and the glove ring, thereby lifting the docking ring slightly away from the o-ring. When you un-dock later, you won't see any problem, of course.

Another rare issue is that the o-ring wasn't lubricated with enough spit and a dry section got bound and twisted up during docking, causing high and low spots on the o-ring, again allowing a leak.

The stock yellow polypropylene liners have excess material, so I used a serger sewing machine to trim the sides and ends of the wrist sections. I still left enough to double the last two inches over my wrist for extra warmth. To keep it from getting dragged into trouble, I tuck it under itself and keep it clear while I dock the glove ring.

As for a sticky o-ring, if the glove ring seems more difficult to press in on one side of the docking ring, I'll back it out with the doffing ring and re-seat it. Sometimes I'll even pull the glove ring completely out of the docking ring before re-seating. That usually gets the o-ring better covered with spit lube and/or gets any twists out.

Mainly, I just slobber real good on the o-ring and it works fine 99% of the time! The process just looks a little gross, that's all....

Dave C

 

[BodenseeDiver]

Bodensse Diver, what side of the lake are you from, Lake Constanz or Bodensee side?
Is this where Graf Von Zeppelin built his famous dirigibles?

it is same see, Friedrichshafen there built Graf Zeppelin airships and there we have ours club TSC Friedrichshafen
but we dive in Überlingen approx. 30 kms from Friedrichshafen remotely

 

[coldwaterdufus]

Back to the original post, Kyaquaman, you are exactly where I was April '09. I had 10 dives, all cold water and was keen to go. The drysuit I had rented was a Bare Nexgen. The LDS told me they were OK suits and durable. That's why the LDS had them in their rental system. Now, these are nowhere near the top of the line in drysuits, it's a basic drysuit, but I bought one in May '09. I now have over 50 dives and the suit is great. Mine's comfortable, warm. I had tried on others and they didn't feel very good, all off the rack, so to speak. Whatever you buy, make sure it fits. There is a dry suit course you should take . Highly recommended. I've never tried a wetsuit, so can't comment. At least in "09, Bare had a spring sale for the Nexgen with any choice Bare underwear you wanted included. I was less than $1000 CDN for dry suit with underwear included. I got the top of the line underwear and have been toasty ever since. At the start, I dove with wet gloves and my hands were cold after 35-40 minutes in 43 F water. I now have dry gloves for the Nexgen, love them...

 

[tropicalson]

Thank you all- Excellent posts in response and a great deal of information that I was looking for.