Gloves for my dry suit

[bmk67]

Hi all! I just got a Diving Concepts dry suit. I am looking for gloves to use with it. I am new to diving dry and all the help you can give me would be great. I have done a search but haven’t come up with much because I have no idea what some of the guys are talking about, again I am completely new to diving dry. So if you could suggestions on what is good or what is not in your experience and why if its not to much. Thanks in advance for all your input.

 

[chrisculina]

I use 2 or 5 mm 5-finger neoprene gloves during summer (10-20 celcius). Colder than 10 C, I usually wear 5-7 mm 3-finger neoprene gloves. I also use various dry gloves, e.g. the Viking Bayonet system, SI TECH or Nordic Blue (the Nordic Blue type is also very easy to DIY). Dry gloves may be a bit more troublesome to put on, but nothing beats dry hands after a dive when surface temps are freezing.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba]

Some dryglove Videos can be found here:
Dry Suit Gloves - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Hope that helps a little. Drygloves are GREAT! Not too bulky, simple to get on and off vs. wet gloves(pita), and alot warmer and more comfortable than wet gloves

If you are doing some harsh diving/ digging, get the pullover glove system. The replacement gloves are cheap and pretty durable. The only failure point is the glove.....and you can have a couple pairs topside in your kit

 

[LGH]

The Viking Bayonet system is absolutely brilliant. You can fit any type of glove you want to it - I use the regular blue fisherman's gloves but also have thicker five finger latex gloves but I find they limit my tactile sense because they're a tad too big. I find donning and doffing these are much easier than doing the same with wetgloves (which I absolutely hate).

I have never once had a leak, and I have two cats that have a tendency to nest in my drysuit when it's drying so it's always full of hair and dirt (camera drowned because of cat hair...).

 

[muddiver]

Go to this web site. Bob has the best price hands down.
Viking Bayonet Dry Glove Ring Kits

Just order the bayonet ring kit with the blue smurf gloves.

And follow the instructions on this post http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/exposure-suits/192634-how-install-dry-gloves-5-minutes-picture-heavy.html

 

[Camerone]

Actually, Diving Concepts makes a very excellent ring system themselves that many of us prefer (and, IMNSHO, is better designed than the Viking Bayonet system...) The Diving Concepts dry glove rings are a little costly for the rings, but replacement gloves are $3/set. Changing them, once you know how, is a five minute job. The rings just snap right on over your wrist seals, leaving you with a wrist dam in place in case of flooding, or you can remove the wrist seals and cement the rings to your suit instead.

They glove side just "snaps" on (press-fit with an o-ring seal) and pops off easily when you want to remove them. I've never had them flood in 5+ years, other than from a punctured glove, or my own stupidity in capturing the thumb loop from my undies in the joint.

Alternatively, if you like more dexterity than smurf gloves, Deep Sea Dry Comfort neoprene gloves are about $35 a pair online, and they have inner gaskets which can also be mounted onto most ring systems. I actually prefer the neoprene dry gloves from Deep Sea, as they're warmer and I find I have more dexterity with them. A set lasts about a year for me. Not nearly as cheap as the smurf gloves, but more rugged...

 

[ligersandtions]

I'm also a big fan of the Viking Bayonet ring system. They're super easy to put onto your suit (and the gloves)....I'm not handy in the least bit, and I could install these in a few minutes. If you do go with this dry glove system, remember to keep the o-ring lubed up....and I find that if I only turn the ring about half way when putting my gloves on, it makes taking them off much easier (and they seal with no issues). Just a couple tricks I've learned since I started diving them.

FWIW, if it's cold enough to necessitate a drysuit, it's probably cold enough that you'll want dry gloves (imo). Thicker gloves or mitts reduce dexterity quite a bit, which certainly isn't preferable. Thin wet gloves give you blocks of ice, rather than hands and fingers, by the end of the dive...

 

[RoyN]

The new SI-tech gloves are almost similar to Viking's glove in terms of putting on easy and taking off and etc.

 

[SwimJim]

The new SI-tech gloves are almost similar to Viking's glove in terms of putting on easy and taking off and etc.

I can't speak for the "new" SI-tech system, but with the older ones if you had big hands you could expect to scrape meat off your knuckles trying to get them on. I use the older style Viking system where you simply pull the glove over the ring and find it to work just great.