Who skips wrist seals?

[Stoo]

I took delivery of a Santi suit last fall. It was equipped with the new style of Viking bayonet mount cuff rings. (I ordered Viking rings, expecting to get what I now know are called "Classic RINGS"...)

Anyway, the rings are very low-profile, to the point where I have real trouble taking the suit off. Combined with the silicone seals, it's a pain in the booty.

I'm just wondering if anyone is diving with a bayonet ring system and skipping the wrist seals altogether. Obviously a "catastrophic failure" of a glove could be a problem, but no different than an other of the 14,000 potential catastrophic failures that go along with this sport. I haven't torn a glove while diving in 38 years of diving dry...

I suspect this would help with keeping my hands warm too...

I'd love to hear of your experiences...

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I have a DUI and a Diving Concepts suit with dry gloves sans wrist seals. I had a glove tear once several years ago and got wet, but continued the dive. Other than that I've never has a problem foregoing seals.

 

[Stoo]

Thanks MaxB...

 

[Jack Hammer]

I know people who use no wrist seal, but is uncommon here. The conditions you dive in really make quite a bit of difference. We frequently see temps in the upper 30*s F to lower 40*s F, plus we have sharp mussels on most the sites. A glove puncture can be easy to do here if you are not very aware of where your hands are. In warm water I wouldn't worry about it, in colder water flooding can make for a very bad day.

 

[Stoo]

I know people who use no wrist seal, but is uncommon here. The conditions you dive in really make quite a bit of difference. We frequently see temps in the upper 30*s F to lower 40*s F, plus we have sharp mussels on most the sites. A glove puncture can be easy to do here if you are not very aware of where your hands are. In warm water I wouldn't worry about it, in colder water flooding can make for a very bad day.

We have the same stuff over here Jack, and the reasons you state, are exactly why I'm reluctant. I've been using latex gloves, but just found some of those blue Smurf jobs that are reinforced with a fabric backing. I would think that it would be pretty hard to really tear these. If it's just a minor leak, that would be manageable. I currently slide a piece of aquarium tubing under my seals anyway to let air move back and forth, so if I get a tear, I'm getting a wet arm now anyway...

 

[Wookie]

Be aware that I wear a drysuit if it's colder than 75, and at 70 I just don't get in the water. Can you cut your wrist seal so that it provides a torturous path for water rather than a dry seal like I would use? That way if you toast a glove, you may weep, but you won't suffer a catastrophic flood like going without a wrist seal altogether.

 

[Redshift]

It's somewhat common here in Finland for people to have integrated gloves and no wrist seals.

 

[FinnMom]

I've always wondered but never gotten around to asking: how often do those integrated gloves fail? Are they basically as tough as the entire suit or what's the story?

 

[the_dragon_no1]

It's somewhat common here in Finland for people to have integrated gloves and no wrist seals.

lol. Yeah i was just thinking about the one person a have dived with, with that setup.... She was from Finland

Anyways i guess i almost does this since i dive with thick Undergloves under the wrist seals, wouldn't be a total catastrophicall leak i guess, but yeah i would be cold! The seals are just so wide cut that they dont reduce blod flow, but as tight that if i where to have a catastrophicall failure with a glove, i could remove the glove and pull the seal up on my arm to might it watertight.

 

[FinnMom]

Most fails are relatively small, pinholes leaks. And I can't remember a leak that didn't. make itself immediately known, then you have time to switch to a wetglove, add 50g of duct tape or use a different dry glove if you have an extra.

I do like having seals so I can use the drysuit in warmer water, or the pool, or enjoy thin wetgloves when the weather is warm (if I happen to dive that 1 or 2 days when it was warm /-)