Help, I'm all thumbs!

[Heffey]

My first cold water dive is tomorrow. In fact it will be the first time I have ever dove with a hood and 3 finger gloves.
I just finished trying on all of my gear and I am now more than a just little apprehensive.
Good lord, how can a person deal with mask seal and hood interaction issues while wearing these gloves?

 

[dlndavid]

It may help to have a good fog free mask and put the gloves on last. I have only done two cold water dives with my 7 mil set up and it's a bit more to deal with, but once you get in the water relax and it will be okay.

 

[lackingcreativity]

The only time I have worn gloves was when the water was in the 50's, and even then with reluctance. I hate my gloves and have not been able to figure out how to make them confortable. Anyone have a suggestion for comfortable cold water gloves?

 

[Heffey]

It may help to have a good fog free mask and put the gloves on last. I have only done two cold water dives with my 7 mil set up and it's a bit more to deal with, but once you get in the water relax and it will be okay.

I will be doing some mask removal exercises underwater. Under normal circumstances I never need to fiddle with my mask.

The only time I have worn gloves was when the water was in the 50's, and even then with reluctance. I hate my gloves and have not been able to figure out how to make them confortable. Anyone have a suggestion for comfortable cold water gloves?

The surface temp in the area I will be diving is around 65 degrees but I don’t know what the thermo clines are going to be like. Maybe I will be able to do with out the gloves on this trip. I feel however, that if I am going to wear gloves need to be able to deal with my equipment in a reasonably competent manner.

 

[UnixSage]

I have to admit that I opted to ditch my gloves for my checkout dives because of all the fiddeling with mask/BC/weight belts. It worked well for me, temp was about 50-55F. Just clearing your mask should be ok since all I do is hold the top and blow. For me the toughest part was the limited mobility that my BC provided when on the surface because I was a little heavy. Made putting on fins a real bear. Please understand that I am a green horn and have limited expirence but it all has been in cold fresh quary water. It is also worth mentioning that it was much worse in the dive shop trying on my suit than it was at the site. I really thought I was gonna have issues but it went well. Me being too concerned. Beating the heat was the toughest part.

Good Luck

 

[MikeC]

I understand that the three finger gloves are supposed to be warmed, but I never tried them. I always used the five finger "regular" gloves. Dexterity isn't that bad with them on.

 

[spectrum]

I will be doing some mask removal exercises underwater. Under normal circumstances I never need to fiddle with my mask.


The surface temp in the area I will be diving is around 65 degrees but I don’t know what the thermo clines are going to be like. Maybe I will be able to do with out the gloves on this trip. I feel however, that if I am going to wear gloves need to be able to deal with my equipment in a reasonably competent manner.

That's just about the same water temps I had last weekend for those drills, this weekend we get to show we can dive, not just do drills.

Odds are you will be doing those drills in fairly shallow water, less that 20 feet and may not be below the thermocline. Right now we have 20 meter offshore water at 44F. At this point regular 5mm 5 finger gloves should be adequate protection and will make the drills a lot easier.

As for the mask drill I'm assuming your hood has a face seal. getting the mask back under there is the trick.
I get the mask on my face and try sliding it upwardto sneak it under the hood seal. Be gentle or you will roll the mask skirt and it will leak. Take your time, I even pause for a breath or 2 before I begin the project. Then I grab my hood in the forehead area and pull it away so it can come back over the mask skirt. Doing this with a close fitting hood and gloves is a bit trickier. If you can't get a grip then try doing it in the temple area, once you get some extra water under the hood it will "float" a bit and it will be easier. Try to tun your index finger down under the hood to the mask strap to make sure the hood seal is over the mask skirt, almost like a tire iron action.

Once you think you have the hood squared away do the usual mask clear, if need be fuss with it to correct it. At that pioint you will see a drip point and know where the mask skirt may be folded.

I have to ask... Didn't you have to spend some of your classes doing skills in hoods and gloves?

Take your time and just do it. The water's fine.

Pete

 

[ChrisA]

My first cold water dive is tomorrow. In fact it will be the first time I have ever dove with a hood and 3 finger gloves.
I just finished trying on all of my gear and I am now more than a just little apprehensive.
Good lord, how can a person deal with mask seal and hood interaction issues while wearing these gloves?

Wat's the water temp? Out here in California it is "low 50s" at depth. I ware a hood every dive but use 5 finger gloves. If the primary purpose of the dive is photogrphy I'll use my tropical gloves with 1mm thick fake leather in the fingers. Your hands will not get really cold in 50F water ifthe reast of you is warm. If your water is in the 30s or 40s my experiance will not apply but then you'd be in a dry suit. for temps in 50s 5mm 5-finger gloves will do just fine

How to work the hood/mask thing. You can push the hod back wwith the palm of your hand

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

I will be doing some mask removal exercises underwater. Under normal circumstances I never need to fiddle with my mask.


The surface temp in the area I will be diving is around 65 degrees but I don’t know what the thermo clines are going to be like. Maybe I will be able to do with out the gloves on this trip. I feel however, that if I am going to wear gloves need to be able to deal with my equipment in a reasonably competent manner.

Hi there Heffy

Easy - just stow you gloves in a pocket while you do your exercises and only don them once you finish mask removal. 65 F (18 C) isn't that cold - especially for the 5 - 10 minutes that you will be practising for.

In your case I would just wear some 1-3 mm 5 finger gloves: I wouldn’t consider anything thicker until the water get below 10 C (50F).

Best of luck with the exercises.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Heffey]

Thanks to all who responded.
Dives went great but the gloves sucked.
I had to do the skills with hood and gloves but I ditched the glove for the remaining dives.
The water temp was not bad at all.
Thanks again,
Jeffrey