Northwest Dive Club

When talking to Seven Seas yesterday about drysuits, I also checked with them about their drygloves.

The system they sell was pretty interesting (to me) in that you are not supposed to leave the cuff (system?) in the suit. You take it off between days of diving to keep the gasket from being damaged/cracked/bent out of shape. And the "gloves" themselves just slip on and slip off between dives (the glove only which has a thick bottom edge to it, not plastic cuff pieces). It is the Si Tech Rubber Glove system

Pro/con to this system (anyone even know what I am talking about)? I have also seen divers putting their drygloves on with a pvc type tool to stretch the gasket over the cuff (I think, only saw it once and was intrigued).

My current drygloves...well, they can stay on my old drysuit as a backup. I liked them for the past 12 years but a PITA to install/remove and they are hard to get "undone" after diving.

Any brands I SHOULD be considering? I don't want zipseals, so just looking for drygloves that pop on and off between dives.

THanks!

I am a huge fan of the Viking Bayonet system. They have a interlocking ring system (twist to lock on, twist to release). One 1/2 of the ring attaches to your drysuit. You can do this one of many ways. You can glue it straight to the suit, or you can leave your wrist seals in tact. It works with latex and neoprene wrist seals. The other ring attaches to your glove. You can use any glove you like. Viking sells a set, but I use $7 harbor freight blasting gloves. The two rings interlock together with a sturdy oring in between them.

I purchased mine online for $115 after shipping and added $7 for gloves. I later purchased a 2nd pair of gloves to keep in my save a dive kit (yes, its simple enough you can replace gloves at the dive site). Some people complain they can be difficult to lock. Mine came with a 2nd oring that is softer than the normal one. The stanard oring is harder/thicker because its rated for hazmat work.

Another bonus of the Viking Bayonet System is how they attach to your suit and your gloves. They come with color coded rings of different colors/thicknesses. This means you can use them with different thicknesses of wrist seals or gloves.

The Diving Concepts rings are a 2-person job to install (unless you have the special tool,) but the gloves are a piece of cake to put on and remove between dives. There's a very positive "Pop!" when they snap on, so you know they're attached and sealed, and as long as you put some silicone on the o-rings every couple of dives, they're basically foolproof. I have the Deep See neoprene gloves on mine, and even without liners, they're toasty warm...

Oh, and a link to where I ordered them. You have to place an order over the phone, no website checkout. The owner is a really funny old guy, but super nice!

http://comdive.com/parts.html#Drygloves__Rings_Info:

Btw, I'm not affiliated with Viking or comdive in any way. I just like the glove rings.

+1 for the Viking Bayonets, which you can also use with the neoprene dry gloves and the $4 atlas gloves from Seattle Marine.

I've not heard of the glove system that you saw at Seven Seas. I would be wary of a system that didn't stay on the suit, though, taking them on and off is harder on the seals than leaving them on.

trevorrowe wrote:Oh, and a link to where I ordered them. You have to place an order over the phone, no website checkout. The owner is a really funny old guy, but super nice!

http://comdive.com/parts.html#Drygloves__Rings_Info:

Btw, I'm not affiliated with Viking or comdive in any way. I just like the glove rings.

+3 for the viking bayonet system. Do a search here about them for more praising from me.. and probably Lynne too.

And also for Bob3 of comdive.com... who is super nice guy... in spite of his crap ass website.

-Eric

I own the OS Systems rings and the DC Rings, and I'm currently diving Zip Gloves.

I prefer the seal on the DC Rings to the seal on the OS Rings, but I'd much rather replace the gloves on the OS rings.

Both are good systems, and I do miss being able to remove my gloves.

I also know people who dive and swear by the Viking rings.

i have the SI Tech Quick Glove system, which i got used for $50, never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault, like catching a piece of my wool glove in the rings as i put it on.

spatman wrote:i have the SI Tech Quick Glove system, which i got used for $50, never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault, like catching a piece of my wool glove in the rings as i put it on.

See... if you had the viking rings you wouldn't have had any problems at all. There's really no way to put them on funny or halfway... they're either on or they're not....but I'm sure it'd be your fault anyways.

-Eric

The Viking bayonet system is the easiest to install and use I've seen yet. Only potential drawback is that the rings aren't particularly big, and for someone with big hands they can be difficult to get into and out of.

For women, or guys with smaller (as in thinner) hands, they're the ring set of choice.

... and Bob Thiry (bob3) is definitely the person I prefer to deal with for that stuff ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sockmonkey wrote:

spatman wrote:i have the SI Tech Quick Glove system, which i got used for $50, never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault, like catching a piece of my wool glove in the rings as i put it on.

See... if you had the viking rings you wouldn't have had any problems at all. There's really no way to put them on funny or halfway... they're either on or they're not....but I'm sure it'd be your fault anyways.

-Eric

Oh that's not true ... I've flooded the Viking set before ... so has Cheng. You still have to be careful to not catch a bit of glove liner in them ... and it IS possible to put them on just a little bit catawhompus so that they look OK until you submerge (and get wet).

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Another for the Viking bayonets system. Great product.
I got mine from Bob3 as well.

scottsax wrote:The Diving Concepts rings are a 2-person job to install (unless you have the special tool,) but the gloves are a piece of cake to put on and remove between dives. There's a very positive "Pop!" when they snap on, so you know they're attached and sealed, and as long as you put some silicone on the o-rings every couple of dives, they're basically foolproof. I have the Deep See neoprene gloves on mine, and even without liners, they're toasty warm...

+1 for DC. I had them factory installed on my DC drysuit and ordered a second pair for my DUI (they went on over the existing zipseal system). I also have the Deep Sea neoprene gloves. The only time I've had them flood was when I got the wrist loop from my undergarment caught in the seal.

As for putting on and removing the gloves, I'm going to need lessons from Scottsax on the "piece of cake" aspect of that, since I usually (wait....always) need help getting at least the first one off. That's what dive buddies are for, though, anyway.

I love the Viking Sleeve Rings...you install them once, and just pop the glove on over the rings. It's simple, but sometimes if you've got small hands you might need help getting them on. I've only managed to once flood my glove because it wasn't seated properly (my fault), and even if the edge of the glove gets a little tear in it, it's still diveable. Plus like the other Viking system, the gloves are cheap to replace.

The two ring systems:
http://www.vikingdiving.com/?id=1832&subid=1832

I just got the DC system on my new suit and really like it so far. I find the stock gloves to be a bit clumsy though so I'l likely be looking to try some neo ones.

If you email Bob Thiry (bob3) don't use his old pacbell email address. It'll bounce. Use one off the website.

-Ben

Mattleycrue76 wrote:I just got the DC system on my new suit and really like it so far. I find the stock gloves to be a bit clumsy though so I'l likely be looking to try some neo ones.

The Deep Sea gloves are really nice, Matt. You should be able to pick up a pair for less than 40.00 at NWSD.
During the Summer you don't need a liner and during the winter a thin, poly pro liner works just fine.

Just another vote for the DC gloves. Doesn't get much easier to don them, just a quick snap-op. I would like to try putting on a pair of Neo gloves as well.

I don't like the idea of twisting/turning on some of the other brands.

+1 for the Si Tech system.
Put them on myself in about 5 min.

scottsax wrote:The Diving Concepts rings are a 2-person job to install (unless you have the special tool,) but the gloves are a piece of cake to put on and remove between dives. There's a very positive "Pop!" when they snap on, so you know they're attached and sealed, and as long as you put some silicone on the o-rings every couple of dives, they're basically foolproof. I have the Deep See neoprene gloves on mine, and even without liners, they're toasty warm...

Are you referring to installing the glove itself? I have installed many pairs of DC rings on drysuits and it is a 1 person job. As for installing gloves, I have never used a tool. Just 2 people for glove install and in less than 5 minutes it is done.

I love the DC ring system. Very easy and no issues. Love Smurf Blue glove for teaching.

Pinkpadigal wrote:

scottsax wrote:The Diving Concepts rings are a 2-person job to install (unless you have the special tool,) but the gloves are a piece of cake to put on and remove between dives. There's a very positive "Pop!" when they snap on, so you know they're attached and sealed, and as long as you put some silicone on the o-rings every couple of dives, they're basically foolproof. I have the Deep See neoprene gloves on mine, and even without liners, they're toasty warm...

Are you referring to installing the glove itself? I have installed many pairs of DC rings on drysuits and it is a 1 person job. As for installing gloves, I have never used a tool. Just 2 people for glove install and in less than 5 minutes it is done.

I love the DC ring system. Very easy and no issues. Love Smurf Blue glove for teaching.

The suit install is very easy. Total of five minutes for both wrist seals. The gloves have been giving me some serious problems so I decided that I'd wait for some help.....

LOVE the Viking bayonet system.

Easy to install or remove, without tools. Easy to change out a glove in the parking lot, without tools.

I've never had the rings fail to seat that I didn't notice it when I was putting them on. I also like the fact that this system maintains the inner seal on the suit, so if you have a glove leak, you don't have a flooded suit.

Bob3 is the man. (For Sitech valves, too!)

I've got the DC system myself. Never had any problems. Have you checked the DIY thread yet? Several folks have the homemade PVC ring-vacumecleaner belt-blasting glove set up and swear by them (not at them). Big savings in $$. I suspect that was the setup you saw in use with the glove-streaching ring.

kagey747 wrote:I've got the DC system myself. Never had any problems. Have you checked the DIY thread yet? Several folks have the homemade PVC ring-vacumecleaner belt-blasting glove set up and swear by them (not at them). Big savings in $$. I suspect that was the setup you saw in use with the glove-streaching ring.

It's just a rip off of the original viking dryglove system. I like that it's super easy to change out gloves and that it was super cheap to make. I've had one leak since I started using them, and that was due to a pinhole in the glove. Since I started using an o-ring that's stretchy I no longer need the loader tool either. You CAN rig this system to maintain the inner seal, but I think most of us doing no-deco dives with this system just take the risk of the suit flood for the comfort of not having to deal with wrist seals.

Nwbrewer wrote: You CAN rig this system to maintain the inner seal, but I think most of us doing no-deco dives with this system just take the risk of the suit flood for the comfort of not having to deal with wrist seals.

People intentionally rig their suits to remove/not deal with wrist seals? I knew zip seals didn't have teh inner wrist seal...but I guess I never thought about the fact that people didn't WANT the inner wrist seal. Hmm.....