DUI dry suit question

[Hoosier]

Ouch~~~ Boogie asked a Zip Dry Glove...... I mis-read it........:06:

Ken and Jonnythan are right... Zip Dry Glove doesn't have a inner seal. I mean DC glove set up with the ring. I prefer that one.


DC dry glove with the inner seal is like a zip glove as you see in these pictures, 1, 2, and 3. You just need a simple "snap." Even COVCI glove option is compatable with DUI zip seal as you may already know.

 

[Boogie711]

My first DS (50/50) came without the zips, but they put them on cheap cheap because it was in that grace time period several years ago. Loved them.

My new 450 came with them. Still love them. Hundreds of dives, never a leak that was the fault of the zip seal.

I like the gloves. A lot. I change them out all the time - seals to gloves, etc. The kind of diving I do (weenie recreational) I'm not worried about a puncture and flood.

a) I don't handle stuff that will puncture them.

b) If something happens, I do a slow, controlled (albeit chilly) ascent. No biggie.

Love them. I've ripped a neck seal on a live aboard before... I wouldn't order a suit without them.


Boog: I don't know what Hoosier is talking about. Zip gloves are simply a blue, hand shaped bag on the end of the sleeve. No inner seal, no redundancy. DUI makes ring gloves, but those are not Zip gloves. Unless there has been a major design change in the last month, that's the deal.

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Ken

Ken, I like you, but honestly - aren't you just justifying a horrible idea here? Have you ever tried to climb a boat ladder or attempted a surf exit with a flooded drysuit? In cold water, to boot?

I can't IMAGINE that zip gloves would be DIR. Especially when there are alternatives out there (say, the ring system) for dry gloves that don't preclude an inner wrist seal.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I need a few things done to my DUI dry suit (replace neck & wrist seals, add p-valve) and am interested in how the zip seals are:

Would you still get zip seals if you were to do it again?
How easy is it to put on the gloves (dry) ?
Are the dry gloves suitable for camera and other UW work?
If you retro-fitted, did you send it to DUI or other?

Thanks for your input!

I have zip seals on my CLX450 ... and they've proven to be handy the one time I ripped a neck seal during a class and needed to be in the water again after surface interval. The down side is that zip seals are ridiculously expensive.

I have the dry gloves, but don't use them (make me an offer, they've never been used and I prefer wet gloves to the zip-style dry gloves).

I will be ordering (yet another) new DUI suit in a few weeks. This time around it will be a TLS350, and without zip seals. I'll keep my CLX450 for teaching and use my TLS350 for recreational diving. The new suit will have regular latex seals and dry glove rings.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Mo2vation]

Ken, I like you, but honestly - aren't you just justifying a horrible idea here? Have you ever tried to climb a boat ladder or attempted a surf exit with a flooded drysuit? In cold water, to boot?

I can't IMAGINE that zip gloves would be DIR. Especially when there are alternatives out there (say, the ring system) for dry gloves that don't preclude an inner wrist seal.

Cold is cold. And dry is dry. And I like being warm, and I like being dry. I started wearing them when my wrists got too small for my seals and was leaking into my sleeves every dive. I got another pair of wrist seals, cut them proper and now dive those 80% of the time.

I hate big ring gloves. In the 20 or 25 dives a year when I'm diving in water that is below 53 degrees, I'll snap on the gloves. Low 50's is my strike point. I know my hands. I dive the waterheater. An hour in 50 turns my hands into blocks of wood. Not safe. Not comfy. Not a fun dive.

The other 100+ dives a year, I'll dive the zip seals.

I have probably 50 - 75+ dives on them over the last 3 years. Never an issue. Done surf entries (sand, not rock hopping), done boat dives, climbed out on pitching ladders, donned and doffed the rig, scratched my ear, etc. No problems. For the guppy diving I do, they're great. When I visit Monterey, or Seattle, or even when SoCal gets in the low-low 50s (or high 40's...BURRR) they are always in the bag. I snap them on, and I'm fine.

They're actually a great idea in the right setting. Only a mental patient would wear these on anything requiring a deco obligation, or a rocky entry, or lobster hunting in the surf, etc. My wet gloves are fingerless onthe index and thumb... so I don't normally bounce around and touch sharp stuff anyway. For me, and my diving, they're great.

(I like you,too... :10: )

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Ken


Bob: What size are the gloves? PM sent