Advise for Dealing With Extremely Cold Hands

[Bill_PNW_Diver]

So my girlfriend will be doing her OW certification dives next weekend in the chilly Puget Sound (46 degrees). She has big problems with keeping her hands warm in the slightest cold weather (Raynaud's syndrom) and I was wondering if anyone had any advise or tips to keep her digits warm.

She will be diving with a dry suit so her feet should be a non issue. The suit is a rental so she won't have access to dry gloves. She has a good pair of 5mm gloves but I'm worried that they may not be enough.

I noticed a few people wearing rubber/laytex gloves under their dive gloves. would this actually help?


Thanks!

 

[terrillja]

My advice is to pick up some SiTech gloves. They are a modular ring system which can be installed in any dry suit, so she can put them in the rental suit and then remove them later. If you want to fin all the parts, they can be bought for ~$75. If you just want to get everything at once from one place, the kit is ~$150 depending on the store.

Here is the system I am talking about:
Buy Bare Dry Glove System 088945 with reviews at scuba.com

 

[Rainer]

Yup, add rings for dry gloves. Otherwise, you'll have cold hands. It's really that simple.

 

[v--Locke--v]

you can do some searching in this area to see what others say... but 46 degrees is a tough one. Some people do fine with wet/ semi- dry gloves at this temp. But others are not. Do tricks like using latex gloves work? Probably a small amount, but does having your hands in 49 degree water feel any less cold? Dry gloves are probably best at temps under about 52 degrees for the general population.

 

[Josh818]

I agree with everybody on here, get dry gloves.. I dive with viking pullovers.. I really like them because of the fact I don't have to worry about anything getting stuck in the seal.. you can get a set through viking for about a hundred dollars.. provided that the dealer is a viking dealer..
if not Amron is another option..
if you can't get any of these options in time, there are such things as water proof heat packets... I know a couple of guys that ice dive wet with them and they help... but all the same dry gloves are your best bet..

 

[scubasaurus]

One of my dive buddies has great experiences with the Waterproof 7mm Crux Glove... i think that is one of the few options if you would chose for the 'wet' gloves (it has 3mm internal seal so your hands are still dry)
Hope it adds to the information gathering

 

[300bar]

Drygloves on a rentalsuit is something I don't see happening
But indeed the Waterproof glove seem to be pretty good.
The cheap solution my wife cam op with,was hotpacks in het gloves and boots.
http://www.thegadgetcompany.nl/store/images/hotpack_handen.jpg
And she has some REALY cold hand and feet

Hope it helps in finding a solution,

 

[Josh818]

Here is a good link for those warmer that 300bar was talking about.. it gives you prices and stuff it would be a good alternative...
Good Luck!

 

[Josh818]

HotSnapZ: HotSnapZ Combo Packs Save You Big $$$

I figure that might help.... DUH!!

 

[dave4868]

She might get by with 7mm 3-finger mitts, if they have a good wrist seal and she fills them with warm water prior to the dive, but they won't be as good as drygloves, IMO.

There's also a chance that the mitt wrist seals will reduce her hand circulation and the resulting coldness may initiate the arterial narrowing of the Raynaud's phenomenon. Stress can also bring it on, so she faces quite a challenge.

If the rental suit has latex seals, she can use the SI TECH dryglove system, which is super, but it requires some care to not mess up the o-ring seal.

Even with drygloves, she'll want to avoid constriction, so avoid tight liners.

She should also avoid a drysuit with overly tight wrist seals for the same reason. Her choices might be limited with rentals though....

Good luck to her!

Dave C