First dives with Dry Gloves today - woo hoo

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Mo2vation

Relocated to South Florida....
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Until I get my darn Zip Seal Dry Gloves sub-forum (neck in neck with the Hog sub-forum, I'm sure) I'll post this here.

I dive in SoCal. That means waters in the mid-to-high 60's in the summer to the low 50's in the winter. Hardly dry glove weather, I'll admit. Until last year I dove with 3mm (now 5mm) wet gloves with the index and thumbs lopped off so I can clip and unclip my long hose reg, can light and SPG, as well as use my wetnotes, etc.

Last September I dove with Uncle Pug and some other SB guys in WA - specifically Puget Sound. I roll up there in my DUI 50/50 and 3mm cut gloves thinking I'm all prepared.

Dive #1 - 51 at the top, 47 at the bottom.

Excuse me? Who left the freezer open?

I've never been in water this temperature. After the initial lip-cracking, face-numbing brain freeze, my hands start to get it bad. By the end of the dive my hands (in my mighty So Cal 3mm cuts) are like blocks of wood. I couldn't even re-clip my light and reg. I sort of clawed my way up the ladder.

Fortunately, one of the guys on the trip was a little green, so I borrowed his 5mm full fingers as he sat out and was mucho bettero the rest of the week.

Fast forward a year - I get Zip Seals put on my DUI this Spring, and last week order the Zip Seal Dry Gloves - and today were the first dives in my new Dry Gloves (AKA Smurf Hands.) No way am I diving in Pug-et Sound in a couple of weeks with my So Cal weenie gloves.

It took me all of about 4 - 5 minutes to install them, on site, sitting on the wall of the Cat Dive Park this afternoon. A little soapy water, and zip, zip, zip... ready to roll.

As I am still want to do, my first dive with them I went in without my DS inflator hose hooked up (I'm such a block head with that thing...) So I drop to about 15 or 20 feet, get a nice suit squeeze AND the hand squeeze (kinda funky) and notice there is no hose. (A month of Warm Water diving has made me soft...)

I attach the hose and over fill, throwing my hands in the air in a "thank you, Jesus" sort of way to try to relieve the hand squeeze...so now I got mickey mouse hands. I vent some gas before I go all Macy's Day and get things back under control. But my first dive with these things sucked. I hated it. I never realized how much I relied on the tactile sensation of water rushing over my bare fingertips to help me determine and interpret speed, direction, an oncoming thermocline, finding stuff in my pockets, etc.

So after that lame dive, I went to lunch, chilled out, and Dive #2 with the gloves was night and day different. It was perfect. I was able to turn on my light, clip and unclip my reg, light head and SPG, push the buttons on my Vytec, reach into the pocket and effortlessly pull out my wetnotes, write a note to my sweetie and dive partner, Jaye (wifie) and just had a kickin' dive.

I'm not gonna say I got them completely dialed in after two dives, but I will say that they are not overly complex. With a little bit of squeeze the dexterity increases. Donning, I put the liners on my hands first, then slide into the attached gloves - makes for a perfect fit every time (well, all both times!)

I didn't feel the UPWD (Uncle Pug Warmth Divident. It goes like this: When he went to dry gloves, his FEET got warmer.... uh, ok) but then again, it was water that was 68 to 55' and then 64 below 55' today. Maybe I'll get that (highly suspect) Ug Boot thing going on up there when I dive these Smurfy things in cold-cold water. :wink:

I'll dive them a few more times before I wing it to the PNW (The Pug Northwest) in a few weeks, but I'm confident I'll be much more comfortable up there this year.

eBay rocks. Got a great price, came the next day (for $5.50 total freight) and its likely I'll put away my wrist seals from November to May this winter.

I give the DUI Zip Seal Dry Gloves two enthusiastic fat blue thumbs up.

K
 
Mo2vation, like you, I am trapped in the land of the terminally self-absorbed (SoCal) and prefer to dive warm, and that means dry. The DUI zip seal gloves sound like an improvement on your former gloves. I am wondering, though, if your new setup still uses a latex seal on the wrist, in addition to the dry glove zip seals?

I am using a Viking Pro 1000 with attached glove rings (visualize Apollo astronaut suit cuffs) which work well and are easy to pull the matching dry gloves onto (the first glove, anyway!) Viking has a new dry glove system which can use existing installed cuff rings and is even easier to attach gloves to, but still a mite bulky at the wrist.

With the above Viking setup, if you puncture a glove, which is easy to do, the leak will be confined to your hand, thanks to the wrist seal mounted on the drysuit. Does your suit have this feature? There must be some type of wrist seal, is it a double zip seal?

As far as glove squeeze at depth, I have not found this to be a problem unless it is really cold, in which case you use polarfleece glove liners or even dry 3-finger mittens/liners.

The limited dexterity with dry gloves takes getting used to, especially with U/W photo gear, but it sure beats that "wooden hand" syndrome.

Stay dry, "scubaligament"
 
So buddy, do we get to perform "blue glove of death drills" in a few weeks or what? I love my dry gloves...they certainly beat the reef gloves I was using.
 
Hey Mo ...

What's wrong with Puget Sound in 3 mm wet gloves? That's what I use. Some of my friends don't even use gloves.

I think that warm SoCal water has you guys spoiled ... :wink:

So when ya coming up?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
NWGratefulDiver,

Our SoCal surface temps are running in the upper 60s, but cool off quickly as you descend, dropping down to the upper 40s-low 50s. Dry gloves are warmer, and I also use them to provide an extra seal beyond the wrist seals on my Viking dry suit. If you have sinewy wrists/forearms, latex seals won't be able to fully seal, and will leak. If I am diving dry, I want to stay that way, and that means dry hands, and a dry hood with full face mask over the latex hood (KM Supermask 48, minus the mouth pod, when using a Draeger Dolphin SCR).

Regarding diving in your area, I am looking forward to that trip sometime soon. I am in the process of tweaking my U/W digital photo gear, which I would definitely love to use in the Pacific NW. I have gotten some nice shots (film) and unique photo ops using my Draeger SCR in warmer oceans, it will be a challenge in cold water.

I haven't flown to a dive destination since pre-9/11/2001. In the past, I have been able to pack my Draeger SCR down to carry-on size, but had to totally disassemble it in front of the security personnel, who were relieved when I showed them a military I.D. Today, I wouldn't even consider packing CO2 scrubber packets in my luggage like I used to, I'm sure it would cause a security meltdown at the airport.

So, flying to your 'hood to do some diving will take some serious planning. Stay tuned . . .

Scubaligament
 
Mo2vation:
I didn't feel the UPWD (Uncle Pug Warmth Divident. It goes like this: When he went to dry gloves, his FEET got warmer.... uh, ok)
I got this benefit.

What UP's not telling is that it's actually because the dry gloves keep the water from leaking in at the wrist tendons, which means that there's no water in your boots, so your feet are warmer :D
 
Zip Gloves are great! Now try a pair of thin polartec liners instead of the wool! Ridiculous! :)

Funny thing about Zip Seals, they throw off your donning procedure a bit, I have to put my neck seal on first instead of last so I can use my bare hands to get the neck just right. You have to get used to doing some stuff without bare hands like you may be used to but no biggie.


Does anyone know why they can't make those gloves black? :)
 
NWGratefulDiver:
Hey Mo ...

What's wrong with Puget Sound in 3 mm wet gloves? That's what I use. Some of my friends don't even use gloves.

I think that warm SoCal water has you guys spoiled ... :wink:

So when ya coming up?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)


I went diving with a Guy who wears leather work Gloves...leather work gloves! We did a 110' dive in 47 degree water and he wore leather work gloves. Did I mention they were leather work gloves? Crazy!
 
LOL!! in between the"" I attach the hose and over fill, throwing my hands in the air in a "thank you, Jesus" sort of way to try to relieve the hand squeeze...so now I got mickey mouse hands"". revenge, and the leather gloves. LOL!!


DiveSafe
Dan


Its still funny.,
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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