Who skips wrist seals?

[Stoo]

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.

See this is why you are a Captain... you're smart! ;-)

Just after I started this thread, I ended up tearing a chunk out of a seal. It's still in the suit, but very loose. If I tore a glove, that seal would certainly slow down water passage... so this might be the best compromise.

---------- Post added July 28th, 2015 at 10:19 AM ----------

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 /-)

All true as well... With these cuffs, I can stick seals in if required. As a photographer, I rarely touch anything in the water, and I don't recall ever tearing a glove. The blue Smurf gloves are pretty tough regardless...

 

[TSandM]

Over the years, I have had multiple glove leaks. Some were from pinholes that seem to develop in the Atlas gloves over time, and others were through the o-ring on the ring system. The worst I ever get is a wet hand, and I can live with that. The one day that I didn't take the time to make sure my wrist seals were smooth and without wrinkles, I had a glove leak and ended up having difficulty climbing the boat ladder for the amount of water in my legs. If you are willing to abort a dive the minute you figure out you're getting wet, then I guess it's not an issue, but in this case, it was a dive for a science project, and I was determined to complete the work, which we did. I was very, very wet. Thank goodness for good undergarments.

I will never use ANY system that jettisons the inner seal, at least not in water where hypothermia is a real possibility.

 

[Shinythings]

I have been using the clamp style cuff ring for the last 3 years and over 200+ dives with only one leak (from pinching the glove between a tank on my surface interval). I will most likely be ditching the wrist seal altogether with my new integrated cuffs, but will definitely use a wrist seal for any deep/deco dives.

 

[kwinter]

I'm a little confused by the original question and the answers being given. Your problem doesn't seem to be with the wrist seal, it's with the inner diameter of the ring system. Whether you put a seal in or not doesn't change that by more than a mm or so. You still need the ring in order to have the dry glove. I assume your outer ring is permanently attached to your suit (the only way it really works with replaceable seals) so you're really asking about leaving out the inner ring. All I can say is to try it. I doubt you will find the diameter that much bigger.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

 

[thez_yo]

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

fftopic: I've never heard of that before. What brand suits skip the wrist seals? I'm asking because the thought of tight seams around my wrists is keeping me from seriously thinking about starting to dive dry.

 

[FinnMom]

In the case of suits that require separate drygloves but are worn w/o wrist seals, I think the user has typically removed the original seals because they ripped, or were too tight, etc.

 

[Redshift]

fftopic: I've never heard of that before. What brand suits skip the wrist seals? I'm asking because the thought of tight seams around my wrists is keeping me from seriously thinking about starting to dive dry.

The DUI suits with zipgloves don't have seals.

Then, over here there is a traditional brand, but not sure you'd like one of these Sukelluspuku Loitokari

But others have just taken any suit and glued gloves directly to it, without seals.

One other option I have seen is, on the suits with ring systems that allow for the quick replacement of wrist seals, instead of fixing a seal to the rings, fixing directly one of the gloves with rubber end.

 

[FinnMom]

I hadn't realized that some suits with separate drygloves have never had wrist seals. I just never considered that someone would be willing to never have the option of using wetgloves, or no gloves.
Learn something new every day!

 

[Shinythings]

I hadn't realized that some suits with separate drygloves have never had wrist seals. I just never considered that someone would be willing to never have the option of using wetgloves, or no gloves.
Learn something new every day!

I am familiar with the SiTech system, but there are many others.

Basically you can order a SiTech cuff that is "glued" (not really) to the suit. If you want a wrist seal you take a smaller ring (top of pic) and pinch the seal between that smaller ring and the part that is integral to the suit. Your dry gloves then insert into the inside of the smaller ring to make a seal. You are able to skip the wrist seal step and just put the glove directly onto the ring.



After looking at the pic i found, it is actually something totally different but the idea is the same.

This is better... just imagine the glove ring slipping inside of the drysuit ring as well...

 

[peacock62]

How well is the air in the glove managed?
I would think they would be over inflated at some point making them difficult to manipulate, or maybe pop off.


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