Dry Gloves - Inner Seal or not?

[jc2]

I got a pair of those Diving Concepts dry gloves. 90% of the time I'm going to be just Rec diving in the 60-110 foot range. I'm contemplating whether to install the glove rings with the latex inner wrist seal or not. I like the insurance if I get a puncture in the glove the suit won't flood (I will be doing some crabbing). But it seems if the glove does puncture I can just end the dive. It seems like having the extra security of the inner seal is more important if your dive profile has a mandatory deco stop and you have to dive in a flooded suit for a while before you can exit the water. Does this make sense?

There's also the hand squeeze issue but I'm rarely going past 100 feet and can put a small rubber tube (like that for a fish tank air pump) under the seal. If I puncture the gloves at 100 feed the suit wouldn't flood through that small tube or would it? (In that case I could just remove the glove, toss the tube and put the glove back on.

Need help deciding.
It would be really nice to not have the wrist squeeze from the latex seal and I have size medium gloves which really hug my hands so not having in latex wrist seel would be really comfy but the idea of a glove puncturing or the glove popping of or the ring seal failing and the suit flooding worries me.

 

[dannobee]

Keep the inner seals. There are other ways to equalize if need be, but it's pretty tough to keep the water out if the glove tears without having the inner seal.

 

[Diver0001]

if the water is cold enough that you need a drysuit then you must retain the inner seal.

There are easy ways to deal with the equalization problem.

R..

 

[wcl]

Hi,

We kept the inner latex seals ... allows the freedom to use semidry gloves in somewhat warmer water than April in Lake Michigan (brr).

If you do use some equalizing mechanism, though, a flooded glove will seep water up your arm. This happened to my wife/buddy using a small latex tube. Didn't end the dive dramatically and immediately, but we did cut it short and headed up soon. Tossing the tube as you note is what you would do if it got bad.

You do want some equalization mechanism if you keep the seals ... aside from removing the squeeze, it allows warmer air from your drysuit to get to your hands (a quick raising of the hand gives a nice dose of warm air through a small tube).

Hope that helps,
Walter

 

[LG Diver]

OK- I'm stuck at home with a sick kid so I have waaaay too much time on my hands to think about crazy stuff, so here's my latest question. What if, as an equalization tool, you used some rolled up rice paper or something else that easily dissolves in water. That way, as long as everything's dry you've got an air passage under the seal. If water gets in the paper dissolves and stops the leak. Yes, this is crazy, but would it work?

 

[Diver0001]

nope

 

[CIBDiving]

Since All you're doing id non overhead stuff - if you do get a leak in a glove ( A rather rare thing as long as you use alittle common sense) Then you go up. The amount of time you'll have a little water coming in is a few minutes. Weigh that against the PIA a inner seal is and it just isn't worth the trouble to use the inner seal.

The consideration is different if you plan to do deco dives. Spending 2+ hours with a leaky glove is a real pain, but it's not like it's going to flood your suit, It's just going make your arm a little more wet than if you had a leaky glove and a wrist seal. Lets face it- if you take the glove off to remove the equalization device Then you will likely be as wet or wetter than if you just left it alone.

Just enjoy the gloves and forget the inner seal idea for now.

 

[Diver0001]

The consideration is different if you plan to do deco dives. Spending 2+ hours with a leaky glove is a real pain, but it's not like it's going to flood your suit, It's just going make your arm a little more wet than if you had a leaky glove and a wrist seal.

I've had this happen. The dive was only an hour but about 15 min in I cut my glove open on a piece of metal when I was laying line. At the end of the dive I was wet to the elbow and my arm hurt like crazy. The water was also 2C. If the inner seal hadn't been there, I could have become seriously hypothermic.

R..

 

[CIBDiving]

I've had this happen. The dive was only an hour but about 15 min in I cut my glove open on a piece of metal when I was laying line. At the end of the dive I was wet to the elbow and my arm hurt like crazy. The water was also 2C. If the inner seal hadn't been there, I could have become seriously hypothermic.

R..

Laying Line is not a rec dive it's a working dive plus you were likely careless.
What did my post say - oh yes 'if you do get a leak you just surface',
YOU caused the 'hypothermia'. Why 'wet up to the elbows'? I though you had the inner seals?

And from what I've seen of your posts, EVERYTHING has happened to you.

 

[Diver0001]

Why 'wet up to the elbows'? I though you had the inner seals?

I wear the liners through the inner seals so they'll equalize. The glove flooded and it got as far as the elbow. Without the inner seal the flooding would have been much worse.

And from what I've seen of your posts, EVERYTHING has happened to you.

You may disagree with me but that's what the boards are for. Leave the personal jabs out of it and argue the point instead of playing the man. That was uncalled for.

The point is that you simply cannot count on a glove not flooding and given the options I only see disadvantages in removing the inner seals. YYMV

R..