My dive supervisor told me to ditch the dry gloves on a cold water job

Last winter in Port Alberni we were doing hull inspection work and it was maybe 38 degrees water temp. My supervisor Paul told me to stop using dry gloves because I kept getting water in them and they were more trouble than they were worth. He said just use wet gloves with wool liners and deal with the cold for 20 minute drops. I argued with him for like 10 minutes but finally tried it and honestly he was dead right. The wet gloves actually kept my hands warmer because I wasn't fighting with the seals every time. Has anyone else had a sup give you weird advice that turned out better than your own plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinns2027d ago

Oh man, I've been there. In my experience, supervisors who have been doing this for decades usually have a good reason for their "weird" advice, even if it sounds counterintuitive at first. I worked a wreck salvage in the PNW once where my sup made us all switch to these cheap neoprene mitts with wool liners instead of our pricey dry gloves. I was honestly pissed until I realized I was spending way less time fighting with frozen seals and more time actually getting the work done. Your mileage may vary, but sometimes the old school way really does work better in practice than on paper. Take this with a grain of salt though, I've definitely had sups give me terrible advice too.

jennifersmith26d ago

Neoprene mitts and wool liners are great but just a heads up neoprene doesn't breathe at all so your hands might get clammy after a few hours. Still beats fighting with frozen seals though, for sure.