Glove weight: LA, SD, & Channel Islands

[mathauck0814]

If your hands are cold, your core gets cold.

To my experience - it's the other way around.

 

[Rainer]

To my experience - it's the other way around.

I think many people subjectively feel the way you do, but I truly believe the causal direction is how I've stated it.

Divers are funny. They'll drop big dollars on a drysuit (DUI, Santi, etc), but then skimp and buy cheap / too-light undergarments, dive wet gloves (why you would want wet hands but a dry body is beyond me), and a too-thin hood. You lose A LOT of heat through your hands and head. If you want to keep that core warm, dry gloves and a thick (think 12mm Otter Bay) hood go a long way. Add a decent 400g Thinsulate undergarment and you're much less likely to end your dives due to feeling cold.

Even with all the above, I often get cold on longer dives in SoCal, especially scooter dives (where you work less) or on decompression (again, not really working). I got to the point where I was seriously looking at adding a heated vest.

 

[mathauck0814]

I think many people subjectively feel the way you do, but I truly believe the causal direction is how I've stated it.

Divers are funny. They'll drop big dollars on a drysuit (DUI, Santi, etc), but then skimp and buy cheap / too-light undergarments, dive wet gloves (why you would want wet hands but a dry body is beyond me), and a too-thin hood. You lose A LOT of heat through your hands and head. If you want to keep that core warm, dry gloves and a thick (think 12mm Otter Bay) hood go a long way. Add a decent 400g Thinsulate undergarment and you're much less likely to end your dives due to feeling cold.

Even with all the above, I often get cold on longer dives in SoCal, especially scooter dives (where you work less) or on decompression (again, not really working). I got to the point where I was seriously looking at adding a heated vest.

Personal preference being what it is and all, I just never get all that cold. I've got a very expensive drysuit and undergarment (by most standards) I just prefer to have dexterity and don't suffer from the cold. We did the Hopewell at SCI last weekend (350 feet, 47'F at depth, at least a few minutes of idle time in the water) and never had an issue... so why solve a problem that doesn't exist?

I find that keeping my core warm generates enough heat that the rest is ancillary.

Don't get me wrong, you need what you need. Just understand that a decision (at least on my part) to dive with little or no exposure protection on my hands has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with the lack of a problem to solve and a desire for greater dexterity.

 

[Rainer]

Personal preference being what it is and all, I just never get all that cold. I've got a very expensive drysuit and undergarment (by most standards) I just prefer to have dexterity and don't suffer from the cold. We did the Hopewell at SCI last weekend (350 feet, at least a few minutes in the water) and never had an issue... so why solve a problem that doesn't exist?

I find that keeping my core warm generates enough heat that the rest is ancillary.

I have no doubt that works for you, I just know it doesn't in my case or for many of those I dive with. We were able to solve a lot of our "cold issues" (where our bodies, not our extremities felt coldest) by adding dry gloves and thicker hoods (without having to add even more insulation over our cores). For me, it's never about generating enough heat, it's about doing what you can to limit heat loss. A thicker undergarment doesn't make me warmer, it just keeps me from getting cold sooner. Dry gloves and thick hoods do the same. Leaking heat via less insulated hands and head *is* going to affect one's core temperature (obviously more so for some as you point out).

Ultimately, a lot of this is probably dependent on body-type, cold tolerance, diving-style, OC vs CCR, etc, and I don't doubt others will find things work differently for them.

 

[fjpatrum]

I think many people subjectively feel the way you do, but I truly believe the causal direction is how I've stated it.

Divers are funny. They'll drop big dollars on a drysuit (DUI, Santi, etc), but then skimp and buy cheap / too-light undergarments, dive wet gloves (why you would want wet hands but a dry body is beyond me), and a too-thin hood. You lose A LOT of heat through your hands and head. If you want to keep that core warm, dry gloves and a thick (think 12mm Otter Bay) hood go a long way. Add a decent 400g Thinsulate undergarment and you're much less likely to end your dives due to feeling cold.

Even with all the above, I often get cold on longer dives in SoCal, especially scooter dives (where you work less) or on decompression (again, not really working). I got to the point where I was seriously looking at adding a heated vest.

Conversely, if my core is warm I couldn't care less about my hands and I need much less protection on my head. I still wear a 7mm hood when diving dry but I can go down to 1.5 mm gloves with leather palms and be fine in temps down in the low 50s, as long as my core is dry.

It works that way when ice climbing, hiking, kayaking, or pretty much any other sport where my core needs to stay warm but my hands are okay being "cold" but not the other way around. Feet, yes, but hands don't make much difference for me, personally.

So far, though, my dry dives are time limited by gas consumption, not temperature. Not so when diving wet.