Which dry glove system is 'best'

[ChrisMBC]

Not as much experience as some others on this thread, but I had the Si-Tech system on my old suit, and I installed Kubis a few weeks ago on my Fusion suit. The Kubi system is really, really fantastic, it took me less than 15 minutes to install everything the first time around, and it takes me about two minutes to switch out a pair of gloves now.

As someone who's never truly satisfied, I love the ease of swapping gloves on the Kubi system. I went down to my local industrial supply store and bought a ton different brands, sizes and thicknesses of gloves (as well as different materials) and I'm having a great time swapping around the different $3 gloves to experiment with which is the best for dexterity, warmth etc.

On the Kubi front, I think the pros are:
- Ease of installation
- The fact that it's a user-installable system but my wrist seals are still in place in case I puncture a glove
- Ease of finding replacement O-rings locally
- How easy it is to fit and remove the glove from the cuff (after polishing with just a hint of silicone lube, as per the instructions)
- Ability to try a dozen different (very cheap) industrial gloves to find the perfect fit
- Small ring (I have small, small hands and wrists so I appreciate the smaller size rings compared to other brands)

Downsides:
- Cost
- Constantly having to explain and show them off to other jealous divers on the boat

 

[divezonescuba]

Funny, I highly recommend this "yugo" glove system, it's simple and works great. The major issue with this system is that the o-rings that come with it are not the best match for the system. Just replace the o-rings with a standard -153 o-ring and most any problems with this system will go away. This trick has been known to this board for at least ten years. I've been using the Quick Glove system on two suits for twelve years now and I have no desire to change systems. divezonescuba: I'm not sure what you are doing wrong to have a glove pop off or leak on every dive but something is not right with how you are using the system. I have heard of some people having problems because they used silicone on the o-rings to make them easier to attach, the instructions that come with the system clearly state that this will cause problems. I have hundreds of dives with this system and I can count on one hand the number of wet dives I've had with them and all have been due to user error.

I think you are confusing what I said. I said that the Glovelock QCP was like a Yugo. I wouldn't even consider the Quick Glove in the Yugo class. Maybe a moped. Your post seems to be using the Glovelock QCP and the Quick Glove interchangedly. It is not the glove and glove ring, but rather the glove assembly and the cuff assembly where it separates.

The Quickglove is fundamentally flawed in design. It is like trying to push an oring sealed piston into a closed cylinder. If your wrist seals are tight, there is nowhere for the air to go when you press on the glove. Thats why they designed the Glovelock QCP system, so it would lock on.

The Ultima, Kubi, etc system is not like an oring sealed piston and cylinder. It has a much larger oring that pops in a groove. This results in a much more reliable assembly.

I think that the reason why some people have not had a problem and why the separation ring exists is the same reason why a lot of people come out of the water shrinkwrapped in their drysuits. If you have a vacuum in your drysuit and it extends to your wrist seal, the glove is also going to be vacuumed togeather. The mechanism that allows the vacuum to occur inside the glove is the same reason why the glove does not pop off in the first place. The displaced air goes down the wrist seal instead of acting like a compressed piston air space. Some people wear straws or leave their thumb loops in the wrist seal to promote the transfer of air between inside the gloves and the suit.

Similarly any excess air in the drysuit that is not purged has to go somewhere. In that case out your wrist seals into the poorly secured glove and off it comes.

On the other hand, gloves mechanically attached through a larger oring and groove or rotating locking lug can withstand that pressure and remain on.

Feel free to disagree with my analysis.

 

[_Ralph]

...
- How easy it is to fit and remove the glove from the cuff (after polishing with just a hint of silicone lube, as per the instructions)
...

Barely a hint of lube... else, yes, they will pop off if you even look at them!

Usually I’d just take the lid off the lube, place the ring and lube container beside each other, and that would almost be too much lube!

_R

 

[vioch]

If your wrist seals are tight, there is nowhere for the air to go when you press on the glove.

This is non existing problem as the system comes with equalization tubes

 

[Rich1280]

If you want to try drygloves that fit onto latex seals, so user fitted, then the KWTT from SeaSkin were a good place to start. Not too expensive and I had no problems, though others swear at them, not by them. I now have fitted Kubi rings in my new drysuit, and they are dry. Only had leaks where I punctured my glove, or assembled it super quick on a boat deck and when I got out I could see the hair across the o-ring that had caused the leak.

I think we need to differentiate those with rings fitted to the suits, so the SiTech ring in suit and associated glove bits, or Kubi ring in suit, and the rings that go into a latex seal (Kubi rings, KWTT, Northern Diver). Fitted rings will generally be easier in the long run and stress the seal less, and have the advantage of giving user changeable seals when you don't want to use the dry gloves. I like my fitted Kubis, my wife has SiTech Quick Glove fitted to hers and likes them but the seal O-ring is much smaller and she has more frequent leaks than I.

Getting manufacturer fitted is probably a good move, but most of the recommended systems will work most of the time for most people once you learn the idiosyncrasies of it.

Rich

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Does anyone have a better recommendation / suggestion for equalization tubes? Right now I'm not using anything because my seals are torn, but when I did those little tubes just seemed to be more of a pain than they were worth.

I haven't tried just leaving the thumb loop on, that was my next attempt...need new seals 1st though. It's kind of nice not having them...hands are way warmer.

 

[ericfine50]

Does anyone have a better recommendation / suggestion for equalization tubes? Right now I'm not using anything because my seals are torn, but when I did those little tubes just seemed to be more of a pain than they were worth.

I haven't tried just leaving the thumb loop on, that was my next attempt...need new seals 1st though. It's kind of nice not having them...hands are way warmer.

Thumb loops, small pieces of shock cord with knots on the ends work well.

 

[lexvil]

Does anyone have a better recommendation / suggestion for equalization tubes? Right now I'm not using anything because my seals are torn, but when I did those little tubes just seemed to be more of a pain than they were worth.

I haven't tried just leaving the thumb loop on, that was my next attempt...need new seals 1st though. It's kind of nice not having them...hands are way warmer.

Generally I just leave the thumb loops under the seal, sometimes if I see them in time I’ll use the tubes or little bits of bungee I’ve trimmed off but I usually forget they are there and they go off on a different journey when taking the suit off. The little tubes are the best.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

I think you are confusing what I said. I said that the Glovelock QCP was like a Yugo. I wouldn't even consider the Quick Glove in the Yugo class. Maybe a moped. Your post seems to be using the Glovelock QCP and the Quick Glove interchangedly. It is not the glove and glove ring, but rather the glove assembly and the cuff assembly where it separates.

The Quickglove is fundamentally flawed in design. It is like trying to push an oring sealed piston into a closed cylinder. If your wrist seals are tight, there is nowhere for the air to go when you press on the glove. Thats why they designed the Glovelock QCP system, so it would lock on.

The Ultima, Kubi, etc system is not like an oring sealed piston and cylinder. It has a much larger oring that pops in a groove. This results in a much more reliable assembly.

I think that the reason why some people have not had a problem and why the separation ring exists is the same reason why a lot of people come out of the water shrinkwrapped in their drysuits. If you have a vacuum in your drysuit and it extends to your wrist seal, the glove is also going to be vacuumed togeather. The mechanism that allows the vacuum to occur inside the glove is the same reason why the glove does not pop off in the first place. The displaced air goes down the wrist seal instead of acting like a compressed piston air space. Some people wear straws or leave their thumb loops in the wrist seal to promote the transfer of air between inside the gloves and the suit.

Similarly any excess air in the drysuit that is not purged has to go somewhere. In that case out your wrist seals into the poorly secured glove and off it comes.

On the other hand, gloves mechanically attached through a larger oring and groove or rotating locking lug can withstand that pressure and remain on.

Feel free to disagree with my analysis.

Just what I thought, user error. No wonder you you are have ing problems with the gloves popping off. You need to equalize the gloves by using the supplied silicone tubes, thumb loop or something else under the seal. I am familiar with and the differences between both the Glove Lock and Quick Gloves systems. When you don’t equalize the gloves your hands will be colder because of the squeeze. Like I have said the “Quick Glove” system works excellent and I have not had Any issues with it after the o-ring swap. I’m actually so confident in the system that about a year ago I cut the seals out of my suit and use the system with air free to move between the suit and gloves. If the system is that bad why have I not had an issue in hundreds of dives “one dive site we frequent has an eight foot giant stride entry and not even that has popped off my gloves”? If you are equalizing the gloves your neck seal will burp before there is enough pressure to pop the gloves off.

This is non existing problem as the system comes with equalization tubes

View attachment 626694

BINGO!

 

[Marie13]

Does anyone have a better recommendation / suggestion for equalization tubes? Right now I'm not using anything because my seals are torn, but when I did those little tubes just seemed to be more of a pain than they were worth.

I haven't tried just leaving the thumb loop on, that was my next attempt...need new seals 1st though. It's kind of nice not having them...hands are way warmer.

Piece of thick bungee cord.