how do you keep your hands warm in a dry suit?

[buff]

I plan on ice diving this winter. My hand and feet get cold at relatively warm temps even when the rest of me is hot. How do divers keep their hands warm in ice diving? I know that BARE has a lock ring system, that if the gloves rip, you still have a latex wrist seal to prevent cold water from entering the suit. The other manufactureres just seem confident that the gloves won't rip, since they provide no seal between the glove and the suit to prevent water from entering if the glove rips. Oceanic and a few others have the latter system but only BARE(that I know of) has a latex wrist seal WITH a lock ring system.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Lost Yooper]

Howdy again, Buff. I've never needed dry gloves. I wear 1/4" Kevlar five finger gloves and love them. I can put a thin pair of wool gloves underneith if it's really cold and long, but I haven't had to yet. I've seen and heard of too many dry suit gloves rip, both on the boat and on wrecks. The other problem is if you need take your gloves off underwater, dry suit gloves are a pain to replace, and if you don't have the inner seal, you can't do it without flooding the suit.

Anyway, Viking also has the inner seal and the ring gloves. If I had to do it, I would not rely on the gloves for the seal. I would also look around and see if anyone is making dry suit gloves with a Kevlar shell. Basically, dry suit gloves work the same as a dry suit -- just add the amount of insulation you need to keep warm.

Mike

 

[Bob3]

I was never a fan of attached dry glove systems, mostly for the reasons that da Yooper explained. On top of that, rings get in the way for me.
By all means use a system that allows you to keep a wrist seal on the suit even with the gloves if you decide to go that route.
My flavor of hand wear are the 3-finger "dry" mitts with the donut seal. They'll often get a tablespoon of water in, but I've had 'em on for 4 hours in 28º water & my hands stayed toasty. I find that I get better dexterity with the mitts than the gloves because they have less material going into tension & compression on the sides of the fingers.
Kevlar is WELL worth the extra bucks. Saves money in the long run too.

 

[Divesherpa]

Hold your hands over your pee valve.

Just Kidding



I use 5 mil seasoft gauntlet gloves with kevlar fingers. they kick butt.