Cheap and Nasty Dry Gloves

[The Horn]

This may have been an idea posted here berfore but anyway:

A fellow that dove Urchines used to go though many gloves and his hands were rather wrinkly after 4 hours under. His solution was dry gloves made by cutting a two to two and a half inch ring off the end of 3" ABS drain pipe. Sand the edges to clean up sharp edges. You slide the ring down inside to the end of your dry suit cuff. Wear wool or thinsulate or whatever gloves you want covered with large or extra large dishwashing gloves. The cuff of the dishwashing glove stretches over the now re-inforced cuff of the drysuit. A couple tight wraps with electrical tap to hold the dish glove on and you are good to go.

The good part of the system is the low cost and the durability. Diving Urchines you may get two or three dives before a puncture, however, in the rec world they will last considerably longer.

Any improvements or suggestiions???

 

[willydiver]

You could use a heavy duty rubber band or piece of an innertube instead of electrical tape to seal the gloves. Little easier to doff/don, maybe. Neat idea with the ABS tube.

WD

 

[jonnythan]

Geez, if you're buying a drysuit, you might as well spend the $150 or whatever for a set of rings. The replacement gloves are only a couple of bucks and you can use dishwashing gloves with the rings if you want.

 

[willydiver]

You could just buy the ring system on a new suit you're ordering, but I think the purpose of this DIY was to rehab or adapt an older suit.

WD

 

[jonnythan]

The rings are easy to install to any suit, and you can use virtually any waterproof glove with them.. the typical blue gloves are around $5 a pair.

I understand the super-cheap DIY thing, but I think a lot of people are under the impression that "real" drygloves are very expensive. $150 gets you the rings and one pair of gloves... and then you can use dishwashing gloves or buy the "real" gloves for cheap.

 

[Bob3]

We use vacuum cleaner belts instead of the rubber bands, works great & ya get 2 for a buck.

 

[Rick Inman]

Sheesh. This is the DIY forum where most people post because they enjoy DIY, not because it's cheaper or safer or even better. Last couple of threads have people posting, "Just buy it." Of course, you can just buy almost everything, but I believe the DIY forum is for those who don't want to.
Maybe we could just post a sticky that say, "Just buy it," and be done with it.

I think a DIY ring system is a great idea. I've even seen posts where people make their own dry gloves by dipping liners into the gallons of liquid rubber. Nice.

 

[willydiver]

Sheesh. This is the DIY forum where most people post because they enjoy DIY, not because it's cheaper or safer or even better. Last couple of threads have people posting, "Just buy it." Of course, you can just buy almost everything, but I believe the DIY forum is for those who don't want to.

Amen to that. I'd probably be better off in the long run, on the money side of things, if I would just buy a piece of equipment rather than fabricating my own. But I get twice as much satisfaction out of "doing" it myself even if the cost is a wash or a little more.

I appreciate Jonnythan's comments on the cost/hassle of building it yourself issue. Those are valid arguements in making the decision to undertake any project, whether it's gloves or a DPV scooter. The price comparisons are important.

Let's not forget, as mentioned above, that this is a DIY forum. And one of its main functions is the tossing around of neat ideas and designs whether they're economically feasible or not.

WD

 

[pipedope]

One more advantage to doing at least some DIY is the experience and mindset. This comes in handy when you have a gear failure out in the field and there is no shop to buy a replacement close by.

If you can make or repair what you need then you save the dive and the day.

 

[Camerone]

I've even seen posts where people make their own dry gloves by dipping liners into the gallons of liquid rubber. Nice.

I sort of did that myslef, but as a repair job. I had a pair of normal neoprene wet gloves that were getting on in life. I normally dive drygloves, although I found myself needing wet ones while my drysuit was in the shop for a zipper replacement and I was diving rentals.

So, rather than patching the myriad of holes with Aquaseal, a quick dunk into Plasti-dip, courtesy of my local Lowe's, fixed up the leaky fingertips and gave me a nice surface. I should've used a little fine sand or grit, though, for traction.

The one problem with this method is that Plasti-dip doesn't stretch too well. I wanted a second coat, but even just one's enough to make the fingers a bit stiff for my liking.