dry suit wrist bands

hey, guys.

My wrists are bony, and my tendons stick out when I grasp a camera handle. DUI seals don't work well, and I usually use dry gloves when i dive cold.

At DEMA one year, I saw soft, black wrist bands that were designed to help dry suit seals seal well. Does anyone know what i'm talking about, and if so, where I can get a pair?

Hi Eric,

Are these bands that go around the wrist seal itself? I dive with dry gloves too, the ones similar to Viking with interlocking rings, there's another type where you use 1 ring and simply pull the glove over the ring to make a seal. If that's what you mean then my local dive shop sells them.

Stu

From what I understand, they are soft bands that you put on your wrists. The seals seal over them. THey're really soft.

I have the two-ring dry glove thingy that I used to use with my older drysuit, but now I have DUIs with the sort of dry glove that ziplocks on. I haven't tried them yet, and if I have a problem with them, I will have to switch to wet gloves. With my poorly sealing wrists, I want to maximize the chance that i'll make it through cage time in Guadalupe while staying dry. :

http://www.apollosportsusa.com/Products/Drysuits/Bioseal.htm

They are available for necks, but I've never seen them for wrists.

Not high tech at all here, but I've seen people that use the fat rubberbands found on broccoli and they've had good results. Just put them over your wrist seal and they hold it tight to your body even when moving and getting the tendons to stick out.

They're big enough that they don't cause your fingers to go to sleep from lack of circulation, but tight enough to keep the seal against your skin.

I learnt that trick on a canadian liveaboard where you really want to keep the 48 degree water out of the suit.

Drysuit wrist seals come in various sizes and types! I've found Gates (Hunter) suited me quite well - it might be worth having a try of different suits at a dive show and ordering spare seals from the manufacturer who produces those which fit best. Suit repairers rarely seem to stock varying seals unfortunately, only size differences from one manufacturer.

My wife uses one of these soft neck bands below her latex neck seal - its designed for use under the latex seal which causes skin damage without it - which is made from some really bizarre material. It works very well and has the added bonus of being warm, but she is finding that the latex seals are failing earlier than they used to and wonders if there is some chemical interaction between them.

In emergecy we've used neoprene straps held over latex seals with velcro (essentially neoprene wrist seals which can be tightened and held in place by velcro sewn onto it. This works on neoprene seals and probably would on latex too.

I've had to fit new wrist seals to my current in-use drysuit over the last few weeks - one is too tight (absolutely dry but little blood seems to get past it, although after 20 dives it is slackening a bit) and the other was a rush job when a large hole appeared in the other seal (I'm still baffled about how). Despite being stuck on in between dives both are solidly on. If in doubt carry spares and glue!!! Oh yes, and I've tried dry gloves but prefer thickish neoprene as I couldn't get on with the dry gloves which took too much damage.

Diving Concepts in Santa Barbara makes these neoprene rings. They are available in sizes (add 1/4" circumference, 3/8", 1/2", etc) as well as a totally cool field repair kit, no glue required, for wrist seals.

All the best, James

I used to use the spare wrist seals you can get at the same place you buy your dry suit .. worked fine except for the hole in my drysuit boot !

its the Apollo bio-seal, the link already provided Here is the right one, just pick the size/type box, and you get the wrist seal set ($75)

a Friend of mine used to use the Neck seal (she gets a bad rub burn from seals).

the apollo fixed this problem, but significantly shortened the life of the seal, she had to have it replaced after 6 months (around 100 dives) it got real soft & gummy, so she quit using it, and just uses a LOT of talc now.

another option might be the deep sea compressed neoprene dry gloves avail from TDL (pick gloves on left), they go around your drysuit wrist seal (glove/seal/glove).

Art

Thanks, guys. I used SI-TECH gloves on my old drysuit, and may just use those as a backup pair in case I don't like the DUI ZIP dry gloves...

Thanks very much for the link. This comment that "significantly shortened the life of the seal, she had to have it replaced after 6 months (around 100 dives) it got real soft & gummy, so she quit using it" fits exactly what I've been seeing too! I'll pass this on to several friends.

Oh, you ex-PHers - those bands are tres kinky! "Softer than a sting ray's underside?" Be still my heart! But wouldn't studs and extra zippers make a dry suit less efficient?

What about opening a bar (London? The Bay Area?) called something like "Terminal Phase Males" - the interior lighting would simulat water ripples, there would be lots of ntensely saturated ightbox images of sex-changing parrotfishes and the like, while the staff could wear uniforms designed by John Bantin.

But perhaps this isn't exactly the direction Eric intended this thread to be going. Let me refocus by saying that if I ever get a dry suit, then I will definitely want to get Apollo bio-seals. These sound so good I almost wish I weren't a complete warm-water wimp.

Frogfish

Hey Robert,

I have just returned from a Red Sea charter trip with 19 members of GLUG. (Gay & Lesbian Underwater Group). I am sure you at least know that I am man enough to carry it off without undue stress. It was agreed beforehand that although I did not pay for the trip, there would be no question of me 'working my passage'!

(Do I add a smiley now?)

"arf, arf"

Allow me...

Dive safe

DeanB

. - has to be one of your best.

John,

Gee, I had the distinct impression that whenever you were comped on a dive trip you always still ended up 'paying your way'.

All I really want to know is whether we will be able to read about the GLUG Red Sea charter in your magazine soon?

Seriously, gay/lesbian dive groups are springing up all over. There have been numerous groups chartering liveaboards here in Indonesia and in Thailand in recent years, and of course in the Caribbean and Red Sea as well.

The industry here in the Indo-Pacific seems to be becoming more aware of this growing market segment and their interests.

Frogfish

When I bought my last drysuit, 1+ years ago, I opted out of dry gloves having used them on 2 Vikings and 1 DUI previously. A wet dry glove is much colder than neoprene. Have used 1/4 inch 5 finger neo gloves in water barely in liquid a state - hands just as warm if not warmer than with dry gloves.

Tom

the apollo fixed this problem, but significantly shortened the life of the seal, she had to have it replaced after 6 months (around 100 dives) it got real soft & gummy, so she quit using it, and just uses a LOT of talc now.

Apparently the bioseals are simply not supposed to be used with latex. I noticed after 2 x 1 hour dives that the inside of the wrist seal became slighty larger than the outside, so it started curling outwards. That's 2 dives. It ends up losing all elasticity pretty quickly.

A friend swears by just 2 inch bands of tight-ish neoprene over the top of seals, seems to do the trick. I'm hoping dry gloves will as well

I hab a similar problem and had http://www.divingconcepts.com

in Santa Barbara, CA put new wrist seals on. They have a soft rubber extended 'coke bottle' design that solved my problems.

A good company to deal with!