Ultima Dry Glove System question

[Deep South Divers]

After last week's impressive performance, I decided to load my backup pair of Waterproof Ultima glove rings with another set of SHOWA 3416's, bumping the Ansell 58-735s that I've been testing. I never did get the Ansells to leak, but they don't fit me as well as SHOWA gloves do, and they feel bulky and sloppy somehow, even though the material is thinner than the 3416s. The cut rating on the 59-735s is an impressive 4 (as compared to the 720's 1), but that cut rating is taken at the glove's palm... Which has a second nitrile coating on it. The back of the hand will be less protected than that (2? 3?), whereas the SHOWA 3416 has a cut rating of 5 over the entire glove. Since the knuckle area is a big problem for what we do and requires a lot of protection, I've decided to stick with the SHOWA 3416s.

...But there was another interesting thing that happened to me while on the job for the USCG last week: At one point one of the coasties came down and was checking out our drysuits, and when he saw a 59-735 mounted on one of my rings, he chuckled and said, "Oh wow... Looks like one of our cleaning gloves." Since the 58-735 shares the appearance of many of Ansell's gloves, it didn't surprise me that he would recognize it. To me, that implies a lack of professionalism in appearance of the glove. It should look more like professional dive equipment and less like the gloves he has stocked in his janitorial closet for swabbing the deck.

Anyway... So I've moved on from the 58-735... Even though I found no fault in them in terms of performance. They do have the advantage over the SHOWA 3416 that they're thinner and therefore give better tactile feel... But since the fit for me is a bit off, they don't help me handle nuts and bolt any better than the 3416... And nothing at all like the SHOWA 720s, which are fantastic for tactile feel.

Thus... I have a couple of pairs of Ansell 58-735s to give away. They're both a size 10. One pair has been mounted and removed from rings (and will therefore have some marks on it), while the other has never been mounted and is brand new. They're yours for the price of postage - which is $10 Priority Mail anywhere in the CONUS.

 

[Deep South Divers]

...So when I mounted the SHOWA 3416s on my backup set of Waterproof rings, I decided to give something a try... I shortened the wrists of the gloves. That is... I placed the rings much further into the glove than I ever have before. Based on how drygloves have been fitting me lately, I think it'll be a good thing to have a slightly shorter glove.

One thing I can tell you about mounting: Things go a LOT easier when you lube the heck out of the black o-ring. if you haven't been lubing the black o-ring prior to mounting, I can totally understand why people have so much difficulty mounting gloves to rings.

Anyway - so now that my gloves are shorter, I had A LOT of glove inside the ring. I decided to trim it, which is something I've never done before.

It was quite entertaining... It was mad difficult to push a razor blade though the glove fabric... And took a very sharp set of scissors and a lot of time to cut the extra off of the glove. Yeah man... These things are tough!

Anyway... 3416s mounted short and then trimmed:

 

[swimlikethefish]

After I originally mounted my 720's I did not like the length. So I remounted them and cut the sleeve of them down just like you did.

Downside is it would be almost impossible to remount them if I took them off. But they fit much better trimmed.

 

[a878bob]

Nice post, I do that with all my gloves, making them shorter. Once I have them mounted, and they need to be changed out, I mark out the new ones and trim them back with trauma shears. It's much easier to do it b4 mounting, but sometimes a little more difficult to mount and getting them just right. I try to get the inside short enough that they can't interfere with the orings accidentally when donning.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Double post.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Triple post?

 

[Deep South Divers]

I have no idea why my pics are all upside-down. My phone, my computer, and my server all show them rightside up.

They're at:

www.deepsouthdivers.org/341611.jpg

www.deepsouthdivers.org/341621.jpg

www.deepsouthdivers.org/341631.jpg

www.deepsouthdivers.org/341641.jpg

www.deepsouthdivers.org/341651.jpg

I've uploaded and renamed the pictures three times.

I'm at a loss. Scubaboard software bug?

 

[Deep South Divers]

I give up.

 

[lexvil]

Has anyone tried 3415’s? Since it will weeks at best before I can dive again, a good thing because it may take that long to mount them, I have a pair to try but wondered if anyone else had used them.

 

[Deep South Divers]

That's a no from me.

They look the part, but the EN388 protection numbers are "3031," which tells me that they have next to no cut protection... That is, they scored a "0" in the EN388 cut test.

...Which is the same as a standard butyl rubber glove that a lot of dryglove ring wearers used to use.

Will they work? Yes... But I suspect not for long.

If you have a pair that are sitting around, mount them. Give them a shot and report back as to how they work out for you. I would not recommend diving them "sealless," as the numbers hint that you'll likely suffer a glove flood in relatively short order.

If you don't have a pair sitting around, then I recommend giving them a pass and loading the 720 instead.

Regardless, I'd be very interested in your experience with them. If you dive them and review them, I'll include them in my chart at www.deepsouthdivers.org/gloves.jpg.

I'd especially be interested in a comparison of them to the SHOWA 720.

What gloves have you dived in the past?