It's the o-ring / rubber band thing that fits in the groove on the outside of the glove ring. It's about 3/4 inch wide. The rubber ring contacts the plastic glove ring and the soft smooth neoprene material of the glove. The extra rubber band width that extends off of the o-ring pulls over the edge of the ring covering the soft smooth neoprene. Does this make sense? I'm not sure what it's purpose is other than just to protect the neoprene from wear which would make sense to me I guess.
Diving Concepts Dry Gloves
- Thread starter GP
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It sort of sounds like you might only have one o-ring installed on the glove side. Maybe I've misread your post. I yanked off a vinyl glove and had to figure out how to put it on again.
I don't know if the neoprene version comes with an additional "glove side" o-ring like the vinyl does. If so, the wrist end of the glove sort of folds back inside the glove opening. The narrow o-ring fits inside the "bent inward" part of the glove and seals it to the channel in glove ring. Then the wide band goes over the outside, and the raised portion of the wide band fits into the other "channel" in the glove ring.
If you make a hook shape with your hands and face both thumbs toward you, that's what a cross-section of the attached glove will look like. Your hooked fingers are the "bent back glove". The space between your two hands/knuckles would be the glove ring. Your arms would be the "sides" of the glove. The small o-ring would go in the space between your fingers and palms, anchoring the inside of the glove to the glove ring. Then, on the outside of your hands, the large "band" o-ring will complete the glove anchor. I hope that visual helps.
Oh, it's best done with a friend. I spent an hour messing with the glove and then got someone else involved. My fingers hurt for two days.
I don't know if the neoprene version comes with an additional "glove side" o-ring like the vinyl does. If so, the wrist end of the glove sort of folds back inside the glove opening. The narrow o-ring fits inside the "bent inward" part of the glove and seals it to the channel in glove ring. Then the wide band goes over the outside, and the raised portion of the wide band fits into the other "channel" in the glove ring.
If you make a hook shape with your hands and face both thumbs toward you, that's what a cross-section of the attached glove will look like. Your hooked fingers are the "bent back glove". The space between your two hands/knuckles would be the glove ring. Your arms would be the "sides" of the glove. The small o-ring would go in the space between your fingers and palms, anchoring the inside of the glove to the glove ring. Then, on the outside of your hands, the large "band" o-ring will complete the glove anchor. I hope that visual helps.
Oh, it's best done with a friend. I spent an hour messing with the glove and then got someone else involved. My fingers hurt for two days.
Well, I had a chance to use the gloves in Lake Superior diving wrecks over the weekend. Water temp was 36 degrees. The gloves worked good however after 30 minutes in the water my fingers got cold. I did three dives on Saturday. The longest dive being 40 minutes and my fingers were numb at the end of the dive. I guess I should try an extra pair of liners next time I dive in water that cold. Other than that the gloves were great. No leaks...completely dry and I think I have the glove removal process down good now. I finally got the hang of removing them pretty easily. One question though. What do you all use for glove equalization? I tried a couple things. I tried coffee stir straws. They worked well but were uncomfortable by digging into my skin and they bent up and kinked real easy. I also tried shoe laces and they worked but were not nearly as effective as the straws in getting a good amount of air into the gloves.
The drysuit I have coming in has the DC gloves, and I just planned on using some gauntlet-style fleece glove liners (from an old pair of skiing gloves) *under* the wrist seal to keep it equalized.
Braunbehrens
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How you equalize the glove depends on water temperature. If you dive in a very cold environment, then you will be keeping your bottom times short, because a suit rip would be fatal. In that scenario, taking the glove off is probably not an option, and since exposure times are relatively short it's fine to use an old sock with a hole in it for your thumb and the end cut off. This shouldn't allow too much water to seep in the suit in case of glove failure, and since you won't be taking the glove off anyway, you can go with a system that you can't remove in the water.
If the water temperature is slightly warmer, and taking the glove off is an option, then I would suggest a short strip of surgical tubing. This has worked well for me, is easy to yank out, and equalizes well. Soft tubing is nicer.
Some people don't use anything to equalize the glove. The rely on a wrist seal that just barely seals, and will allow gas to pass through when making a fist (channels along the tendons) or when pushing the ring assembly to one side. I have not had good luck with this method. On one of my tech 1 dives I tried this, and it worked great on the way down. Coming back up, the reverse pressure must have pushed the seal against my wrist, and by the time we got to the surface I thought my glove was going to come shooting off my hand like a rocket.
While we are on the subject of the dry gloves....you can get them with the liner attached or separate. If you get them with the separate liner you can swap the liner when it gets wet and wash it. This is much nicer. If the gloves that came with your system had the liner attached, you can still remove it, even without taking the rings off. Use a razor, and take care not to cut into the glove.
The Sytek glove system is also quite nice, I have used both the D.C and the Sytek. The Sytek has more of a slide on/off feel than the 'pop' of the D.C.
If the water temperature is slightly warmer, and taking the glove off is an option, then I would suggest a short strip of surgical tubing. This has worked well for me, is easy to yank out, and equalizes well. Soft tubing is nicer.
Some people don't use anything to equalize the glove. The rely on a wrist seal that just barely seals, and will allow gas to pass through when making a fist (channels along the tendons) or when pushing the ring assembly to one side. I have not had good luck with this method. On one of my tech 1 dives I tried this, and it worked great on the way down. Coming back up, the reverse pressure must have pushed the seal against my wrist, and by the time we got to the surface I thought my glove was going to come shooting off my hand like a rocket.
While we are on the subject of the dry gloves....you can get them with the liner attached or separate. If you get them with the separate liner you can swap the liner when it gets wet and wash it. This is much nicer. If the gloves that came with your system had the liner attached, you can still remove it, even without taking the rings off. Use a razor, and take care not to cut into the glove.
The Sytek glove system is also quite nice, I have used both the D.C and the Sytek. The Sytek has more of a slide on/off feel than the 'pop' of the D.C.
Man...I just am not having good luck with these gloves. After resolving the first issue and doing several dives with no problems one of the gloves flooded on a dive. I checked the o-rings and everything seemed fine. After turning the glove inside out to dry I noticed cracks in the rubber cement that seals the seams. It appears the leak is coming from the cracks. I brought them back to the shop I purchased them at and they sent them back to DC for warranty repair. Apparently DC has had about 10 cases so far of failed seams on the neoprene gloves.
Soggy
Contributor
I'm happy to report that I've had no trouble with mine except for lobster that keep grabbing the extra piece of neoprene around the wrist! That's ok...I showed them! Mmmmmm....lobster.
I did have a problem with the suit side ring popping off when I first put the rings onto the suit, but now that I have a few dives on it, everything seems to be settling and staying put.
I did have a problem with the suit side ring popping off when I first put the rings onto the suit, but now that I have a few dives on it, everything seems to be settling and staying put.
Yeah, I'm thinking I might buy an extra set of gloves with the glove rings just to have as a spare pair. Maybe I'll get the blue gloves and try those. I actually tried a pair of the blue ones on and thought they were a little more comfortable. The con to the blue ones is that they don't have the removable liners though.
Soggy
Contributor
What kind of wrist seals do you have?
GearHead
Contributor
With or without removable liners depends on where you get 'em GP. I'm sure there are many places that provide linerless blue gloves. The one I know of around here does happen to sell over the net, but their shipping is kind of cost prohibitive:
Seattle Marine
Maybe if you call them, they could help you find someone local to you.
I agree that the linerless version is a great way to go. I find that with a pair of thin Wigwam liners, mine fit "like a glove".
Plus, you can use the liners as seal-breakers if you're sealing your wrists under the rings, so you don't need to mess with surgical tubing, etc.Similar threads
