Changed my mind about dry gloves after a 20 foot vis day in Puget Sound

Honestly, I was dead set against dry gloves for years. Thought they were just bulky and a pain to seat properly, especially with my old ring system. But last month we were pulling lines off a barge in Tacoma with maybe 20 foot of visibility, 47 degree water, and my hands were shot after the first hour. My tender had a spare pair of the pull-over style with latex cuffs, so I swapped out. Ngl, it took me about 10 minutes to get the hang of the cuff lock, but once I was down there, the dexterity difference was night and day. I could actually feel the shackle pins and twist off nuts without fumbling around half blind. Came up after a 3 hour bottom job and my hands were still warm, which never happened with wet gloves. I've got a set on order now, but I'm curious who else runs them in cold water and how you keep the cuffs from rolling when you're reaching overhead. Anyone else deal with that grip slipping issue or is it just me?

1 comments

1 Comment

river_hart181mo ago

Heard from a few divers up in Anacortes who run dry gloves year round, and they swear by putting a little talc on the latex cuff before seating it. That stopped the rolling issue for them when they're reaching up to adjust shit. Also, if your cuff locks are the plastic ring style, try twisting the glove a half turn before you snap it, it seats way flatter. I waited forever to switch too, but now I'm kicking myself over all those frozen fingers on winter inspections.