Ok weird one. Smurf gloves

[PerroneFord]

Ok,

I live in the warmth and sunshine of Florida, but with a pending drysuit purchase, and dreams of diving cold, deep, dark wrecks, the blue smurf gloves are getting my attention.

I've only had opportunity to see two sets of drygloves. So I have a question:

I have HUGE hands. Is there a dryglove/ring system that would work for me, or am I doomed to having cold hands with 7mm neoprene gloves? This isn't something I'll need to fight right away, but I know it's on the horizon for next year.

Thanks

 

[dsteding]

Perrone,

Sounds like that the Viking system is the one to use-there was a discussion about this on TDS a while back:

http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18084&highlight=big+hands

 

[PerroneFord]

Thanks, I'll look into those.

 

[amascuba]

Perrone,

My rings on my suit are 5'' in diameter. I have medium sized gloves, but they also come in large and x-large I believe. Also, I was shopping in a Sutherlands (home depot type store) the other day and ran across what looked like my drygloves. You might try looking for the gloves at a home improvement store and see what you come up with. You might be able to get some sizing ideas anyways.

 

[dsteding]

Another thing re gloves themselves:

Don't bother buying the gloves that are sold with the rings, instead get them from someplace like Seattle Marine, www.seamar.com. They are much cheaper ($4-$14 versus $50) and there are a few more options.

Check out the Atlas gloves on their website, there are two options, the 660/620 chemical resistant gloves and the 495 insulated (they come with a thick liner) gloves. Most people use the 495s with a thick liner, if you have really big hands those in an XL with a thinner liner (pair of wool army surplus gloves) may work well. I wear a L in the 495s, but an XL in the 660/620, so the unlined gloves are sized a bit different.

 

[PerroneFord]

I do have really big hands. The gloves themselves don't seem to worry me so much. It's the rings. I've not seen a ring I could get my hands through. I did try the SiTech ones, and that was like a bad joke.

 

[Reinoud]

Ok,

I live in the warmth and sunshine of Florida, but with a pending drysuit purchase, and dreams of diving cold, deep, dark wrecks, the blue smurf gloves are getting my attention.

I've only had opportunity to see two sets of drygloves.

I prefer normal (thick) gloves or even those where your three smallest fingers are toghether.

 

[MarkUK]

I find drygloves a pain in the arse as well, especially in the shallows when they blow up so you look like you've twatted your hand with a hammer!

I prefer either normal semi-dry gloves in 5mm or 7mm, or the mitts, where you thumb and index finger are free, and the other three fingers are kept together. Interestingly, on an ice-diving expedition to Russia, out of the 14 divers, only two were using drygloves, the rest were using the others I outlined above. And I can't imagine anywhere is going to get much colder than diving in the White Sea under 4ft of ice!

Mark

 

[PerroneFord]

Good stuff guys. Keep it coming...

 

[TSandM]

I have the Viking rings on both suits. I like them a lot. They're easy to install (once you figure out the correct procedure) and very easy to use. You can get in and out of your gloves by yourself, and it's a very positive lock on.

The one problem I had was that the rings being so large appear to have stressed the latex seal on my new suit and the latex, after only a half dozen dives, is cracking badly along the ring. If the diameter of your wrist seal where it joins the suit is large, that may not be an issue for you.