Ultima Dry Glove System question

[MidwestDiver1994]

One last post that might help you out:

In studying the way that your wrist seals are mounted, I noticed a LOT of debris on the seal... Which are very dry. Clean them and the rings with Dawn and water, and then wipe down the suitside PU ring with a wet washcloth. Install the seal on the Virgo ring, then lubricate the seal where it faces the suitside PU ring with some silicone lube or Christolube. This will help the seal situate better without pinching or bunching.

Here's a video of how I do mine. See the lubrication part at 7:45 or so.


By the way, I suggest watching the entire video... Remember, I did this modification to my suit after many wet dives with wrist seals intact. Now I rely solely on drygloves... And haven't had a wet dive since.

Great video! I think you are right. I have prominent tendons. To mitigate the tendons I don't trim the silicone seals at all to get a tight seal at the wrist (small wrists). I have silicone lubricant for o-rings but hadn't seen any of the SI material talk about lubricating the wrist seals. Makes a bit of sense to lube it. I will clean them up and try again. I will also repeat the test with gloves to see if the tendons issue is at fault. This is probably a few different issues stacked up but your recommendations help to narrow and potentially eliminate the problem. Thanks again!

 

[Zef]

Wow, great write-up. I agree the typical test is the opposite pressure and is not a great way to find some of the trickier leaks. I will give your method a shot.

I did get some response from SI-Tech:
"more than happy to swap that out for you and they did make a couple small changes to the tolerances of that system." (Virgo)

This answer gave me the most confidence since it would explain why both wrists have the same issue. Working with SI-Tech to get the updated virgo.

Also, I saw in the 4th element product video they were were silicone lube on the seals before putting them in the PUs. This makes a lot of sense to me but I didn't see anything in the SI-Tech videos or manual about it so I hadn't been doing that.

If you could find out what tolerance change was made I would really like to know as we have a set of virgos sitting on the work bench in the garage, I dont know yet if the Ellipse system will permanently replace them yet. I have uninstalled thr Ultima system from my suit and put set of Ellipse in. A new ser of showa 720 gloves are awaiting pickup at the post office on base so I plan to mount the gloves tonight and use the system this Saturday. I suspect that if they work with my suit they shouldn't be any issues with my wife's suit when she comes back from the states. In the interim it would be nuce to know of any running change si-tech made and to which piece along with what exactly they changed.

-Z

 

[MidwestDiver1994]

If you could find out what tolerance change was made I would really like to know as we have a set of virgos sitting on the work bench in the garage, I dont know yet if the Ellipse system will permanently replace them yet. I have uninstalled thr Ultima system from my suit and put set of Ellipse in. A new ser of showa 720 gloves are awaiting pickup at the post office on base so I plan to mount the gloves tonight and use the system this Saturday. I suspect that if they work with my suit they shouldn't be any issues with my wife's suit when she comes back from the states. In the interim it would be nuce to know of any running change si-tech made and to which piece along with what exactly they changed.

-Z

I just provided the SI Tech my shipping info. I will ask the rep about the specific changes and post here.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I made two more dives on the 379s today. I went without undergloves for the first dive. My hands were still warm in the 60° water. I wore my 4th Element gloves during the second dive and didn't feel any difference in temperature. I can't wait to try them out at God's Pocket in March. I wore two sets of undergloves with my 720s earlier this year and still had cold hands.

 

[Deep South Divers]

...So you're saying that they're warmer too?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Yes. I wore the 720s without undergloves and felt colder. Maybe Showa will make some 379s in other colors soon.

 

[NWA7265]

Sorry for the noob question but I just bought an Apeks KVR1drysuit (basically an Aqualung Fusion but with a kevlar skin). I opted for the SITECH Dry lock dry glove system (the round twist to lock system). I saw in a post earlier about having to possibly get an unlined glove to get the gloves to seal with one of the other SITECH systems. I was excited to try the Showa 720s or 379s but they are both lined gloves. The suit is still on order so I cannot test it out. Is there a problem with lined gloves sealing in the dry glove system that I purchased?

 

[Zef]

Sorry for the noob question but I just bought an Apeks KVR1drysuit (basically an Aqualung Fusion but with a kevlar skin). I opted for the SITECH Dry lock dry glove system (the round twist to lock system). I saw in a post earlier about having to possibly get an unlined glove to get the gloves to seal with one of the other SITECH systems. I was excited to try the Showa 720s or 379s but they are both lined gloves. The suit is still on order so I cannot test it out. Is there a problem with lined gloves sealing in the dry glove system that I purchased?

Nope, you will not have any problems. My wife's first drysuit came with the Si-Tech Glove Lock system and we were able to mount a pair of Showa 720s on them quite easily. We played with the different spanner rings that came in the kit that are used to secure the gloves on the glove side rings and we settled on the blue spanner rings as the best fit for use with the 720s.

But it is interesting that you chose the si-tech glove lock system for your suit. The KVR1 comes standard with the Si-tech QCS/SLT oval cuff system. The Si-Tech Glove Lock dryglove system is not compatible with the oval cuff system as the diameter of the round cuff side seal retention ring of the Glove Lock system is to large to fit the cuff side (PU) ring of the oval system. Unless the factory or shop is going change out the oval cuff system for the Si-Tech Quick Cuff (round) system you may want to contact your shop to ensure you do not purchase an incompatible dryglove system.

If your suit indeed has the oval system then I highly recommend the Waterproof Ultima DGS as the best system compatible with the ovals. I have experience with the Ultima DGS, the Si-Tech Virgo, and the 4th Element Ellipse dryglove systems and my wife has experience with the Virgo, Ellipse, and the Glove Lock systems....and the Ultima DGS works better all around based on our experience. It is a durable, robust, and reliable system that is well designed and works great.

-Z

 

[NWA7265]

Thank you for the info, that's great to hear that the gloves will still work. I was really thinking about using the Ultima System but the suit I tried on had the larger circle system on it and I liked how it was not so small like the oval ones were. Aqua lung/Apeks offers the standard oval rings and also the bigger round rings so I got the larger round rings. Doing so I cant use the Ultima system because the rings on the suit are to big. So I got the Dry lock system instead. The guy I dive with at my dive shop has the exact same drysuit setup I ordered and he said he has never had an issue with the Dry Lock setup and that it works great, so I went with that setup. I'm kinda scared now and feel like I should have just stayed with the oval rings and then went with the Ultima setup. my drysuit is still not done yet so I'm still waiting.

 

[Zef]

Thank you for the info, that's great to hear that the gloves will still work. I was really thinking about using the Ultima System but the suit I tried on had the larger circle system on it and I liked how it was not so small like the oval ones were. Aqua lung/Apeks offers the standard oval rings and also the bigger round rings so I got the larger round rings. Doing so I cant use the Ultima system because the rings on the suit are to big. So I got the Dry lock system instead. The guy I dive with at my dive shop has the exact same drysuit setup I ordered and he said he has never had an issue with the Dry Lock setup and that it works great, so I went with that setup. I'm kinda scared now and feel like I should have just stayed with the oval rings and then went with the Ultima setup. my drysuit is still not done yet so I'm still waiting.

Cool, I know that there are some customizations that can be had when ordering a suit from the factor through a shop, like a relief zipper in front, p-valve, I just was not aware about the larger wrist ring system. But that is great that you are able to get what you want.

BTW, I have never heard of the system you are getting referred to as the "Dry Lock system" before. The product that Si-Tech makes/markets is the "Glove Lock system". I am only recommending that you refer to the correct product to avoid confusion and assist in getting you a response to your questions moving forward. But yes, the Glove Lock dry glove system is a very good and reliable system...I have a set sitting on my work bench in the garage...they are not being used because the suit they go with is slightly too big for my wife. In fact, Si-Tech has used components of the Glove Lock system to make their Virgo dry glove system which was designed for the QCS/SLT oval wrist cuff system, and they recently released the Oberon dry glove system which is a Glove Lock based system designed specifically for their Slaggo flex ring wrist cuff system.

Just so you are aware, Aqualung owns Apeks and they recently moved all production of the Fusion suits to Canada due to problems with construction of the suits at their other facility. They have no stock in inventory and are currently producing suits to fufill orders for shops, warranty replacement, and custom requests. I am in the warranty replacement category and the wait, I am told, is at least 2-3 months. Everyone is waiting in line.

I am sure you will like/enjoy your suit when it finally arrives and you start diving it.

-Z