Ultima Dry Glove System question

[Deep South Divers]

I'm jealous!

I regularly dive all across the Southeast, basically covering four States on a daily basis. Waters range from mid-30's in January to over 90 in August, and can be salt, fresh, or anything between. I dive man-made pools, quarries, and lakes almost as often as I dive rivers and open ocean, and depths range from just under the surface to a few hundred feet - with much of the work needed in 20 feet or so of fast-moving water. Every job is different - and it all depends.

As such, I've had to adapt, which means having just about every kind of suit made.

I LIKE my wetsuits - don't get me wrong. They're the right exposure protection for certain environments about half the year... And are slick and "slippery" in fast currents. But if I had it my way, I'd dive dry year-round... Which is a very unique opinion amongst my peers and competitors here. Most of them can't stand drysuits; they see them as expensive, problematic, leaky, fragile, and in-the-way of their paychecks.

...But not me. I've combed the whole drysuit thing over so many times and customized and perfected my suits so much that I'm in love... And one of the best modifications I've ever done was to ditch the wrist seals and opt for the Waterproof Ultimas and combine them with the SHOWA 720s. I'm dry and warm and dexterous and capable.

Totally the bomb.

The divers around me have watched with great interest. Many of them gave up on diving dry long ago, but they still eyeball my gear every time I dive with them. They're always full of questions, and sometimes I talk and sometimes I don't have the time - or don't want to share the competitive advantage.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Whether you are cleaning pilings, welding, photographing or looking at pretty fish, it is really nice not to have the water temperature inhibit your goals.

 

[Zef]

Finally had my gloves down below 30 meters...no problems with squeeze and ability to move my fingers...I was using the XL 720 gloves with the yellow liner gloves that came with the size large 495s SHOWA sent me to sample...the only issue I had with dexterity was due to the thicker but comfy yellow liner gloves.

In the past I did not find much use for the thin tubes that came in the box...I found them unnecessary. Well today I found that I need them...at some point when ascending I had one arm upwards, most likely when venting my wing...some air made it past my wrist seal into my glove. The issue is the air cannot squeeze back through the wrist seal into the suit unless the seal is disrupted by a thumb loop, wrist band, or the tubes under the seal.

While on the surface it was pretty funny how much my gloves had inflated but it made it difficult to remove them and I exercised a bit more caution climbing up to the dock to avoid the chance of puncturing the gloves.

I know Seajay will say "cut the seals", but I am just not ready to do that yet...so spaghetti tubes it will be for me.

Oh yeah....the yellow liner gloves are long enough to extend past my wrists....I shove the cuff of the gloves into the suit ring and then fit the drygloves over them and pop the rings together. This has worked well to keep my wrists warm and since the glove ring fits over the suit ring the liner glove cuff crammed inside the suit ring does not interfere with closing the system up watertight.

-Z

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Once you get over the shock and fear of diving without seals you will wish you had done it when you first dived dry. The important issue is finding a dry glove system that doesn't leak. I've used so many that eventually failed that I felt relegated to diving with arms filling with water throughout the dive. It wasn't until I tried the 720s that I found a glove long and stretchy enough to stay on. Going without seals makes diving in a drysuit so much easier. No more talc or lube. No worrying about a wrist seal tearing. No more having to lift your arm to equalize the glove. No more struggling to get in and out of tight seals. No more tubes, liners or thumb loops to allow air through.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Same here. I LOVE diving "sealless."

...And before doing this modification, I too had pretty much decided that all of my drysuit diving was going to mean cold, wet arms. Not a drop since the mod.

If you're going to dive with a glove liner (which I call an "underglove," because these gloves are ALREADY lined), I recommend the new Fourth Element Xerotherm underglove. Here's a video:


You might want to try diving the 720s WITHOUT an underglove first, though... Nitrile 720 gloves are already very warm, especially with their acrylic lining that's built-in. They're naturally warmer than PVC, and WAY warmer than latex.

Great review though... Thank you for it!!

 

[taimen]

I'd like to add that here in my area (Finland) with only cold water it is common to dive drygloves without using wrist seals.
Some people use locking systems and trimmed seals, but more common is to have drygloves permanently glued to the drysuit or installed "semipermanently" with a ring system.
BTS/Nordic rings are a common and reliable choice for attaching semipermanent drygloves. SiTech QCS ovals work well too if you just install a glove in place of the wrist seal. Myself I use Santi smartrings with gloves directly installed instead of silicone seals.
In cold conditions diving without seals is much more comfortable, and in practice this is also very reliable. Dryglove punctures are not that common afterall and many of them can be controlled underwater even when diving without wrist seals.
You have to don/doff your gear wearing drygloves, which is somewhat clumsy. But overall many people around here find seal-less permanent drygloves to be a good trade. This includes people who do serious deep multihour decompression stuff with rebreathers in 1-4 C water.

 

[Deep South Divers]

That's so cool... And here I thought MaxBottomTime and I were doing something unusual! Good to know that the method is tried and true.

I'm always very interested in different techniques and equipment. I'm familiar with SANTI's SmartRings, but haven't played with the Nordics yet. I'll look into them today.

Are they clip-on, clip-off style... Or do they install semipermenantly like ZipGloves? Do you have to don the drysuit with them attached?

 

[Deep South Divers]

When you install a glove in place of a wrist seal on your SmartRings, do you have to use a thin latex glove or can you use a thicker, more durable glove like the SHOWA 720s or 660s?

 

[taimen]

When you install a glove in place of a wrist seal on your SmartRings, do you have to use a thin latex glove or can you use a thicker, more durable glove like the SHOWA 720s or 660s?

I have used thicker latex gloves with rough texture which are sold as Santi gloves (and with many other names) and they work just fine. I think it should be possible to use Showas, with the same caveats due to thicker material and lining you have been talking for 42 pages now
Thickness shouldn't be a problem. Textile lining might be. I always use undergloves anyway, so for best dextrity I don't want any textile lining in my dryglove.
Recently I have been experimenting with relatively thin nitrile gloves like Tegera 186 which are surprisingly durable for their thickness and very flexible. But I don't dive for work.

Are they clip-on, clip-off style... Or do they install semipermenantly like ZipGloves? Do you have to don the drysuit with them attached?

I haven't used the Nordic Blue rings myself. But it is more like a pullover glove with a fastening ring. Most people I know seem to keep them attached and don their drysuit with gloves attached even if it should be possible to attach them later.
I think your Ultima setup looks very good if you want to attach your gloves only after donning your drysuit.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Great info!

The SANTI rings look pretty neat... I especially like the fact that they're soft and remain flexible - I assume that they're still solid, as is all the SANTI stuff I've seen. They look great.

They do appear to require a sealing surface on the inside of the glove... Which makes installation much easier, but also negates the possibility of using the SHOWA 720 gloves.

The gloves that SANTI makes look very rugged though... Although made of latex instead of nitrile. I am checking out the nitrile ones you're using.

Very interesting solutions...