Boot expectations

[JohnPowers]

Fishing the WB lower gls in ‘14 thought I was walking through vegitation but the drag was from the flapping sole on lightly used orvis boots. Against advice here I bought the Sims Boas. Leaving Buckingham Wednesday (no ISOs) my pard told me my heels were out of the soles. He was wearing his new orvis boots since the toe fell off his old orvis boots on the spring trip. My boots, have delaminated within three inches of the toe. I’ve had them since ‘14 but with the bad back they’ve been used less than three dozen times. Half the trips to Allentown. These boots are glued together with Weldwood they call barge cement. It’s made to hold Formica to plywood. I know wear and tear but no sole should ever fall off a boot. The industry is really ignoring the fact that you just can’t glue boots together. If you ever owned Weinbrenner Borger boots you owned the ultimate boot. If SIMMS flips me off I’m seriously considering a Weinbrenner or Danner workboot with felts glued on. The leather may break down but the sewed on welted sole will never flap around. Whoever said the Simms were POS....ok....you told me so.

 

[RLeep2]

Back 25 or so years ago when it became apparent that the majority of felted wading shoes available were going to have glued rather than stitched felts, I began taking a tube of Aquaseal to new boots before ever wearing them for the first time. I ran a good thick bead of it all around the sole/felt junction.

The actual effect of this might have been in the same class as throwing salt over my shoulder or having a clergyman pray over my boots, but I felt a little more confident and I haven't had a felt fall off my boots since.

 

[JohnPowers]

Felts are not the problem. The Simms are studded. I’m talking the whole rubber sole. Total failure of an inappropriate adhesive. I glued probably three felt soles on the Weinbrenners.

 

[RLeep2]

Well, OK then..

About the only additional contribution I can offer would be to say that I only ever owned one pair of Simms shoes, an early version of the Freestones. After about 75-100 hours of use, both uppers decided they no longer wanted to be associated with the soles and the damn things came irretrievably apart.

That was my one and only experience with Simms shoes. I never looked back. I'm told though that the newer versions of the Freestones are much more reliable. I wouldn't know. Like I say, I never looked back and have been wearing Beans and then Korkers ever since, with a few pairs of the low end Cabelas thrown in here and there.

 

[tomgamber]

Not sure where you store them when you are not using them but my experience has been that wading boots are like cars. If you let them sit around, they tend to fall apart.

I had the same pair of cheap Proline boots for about six years. Fished 150 to 200 days a years for the first four years. When I moved back to PA from Boise my gear sat in the garage rather than my nice cool basement apartment when not in use. That glue gets hot, then it gets brittle. Had a pair of LLBean and two pairs of Cabelas over those next 6 years. I think it was a storage problem.

 

[dryflyguy]

I agree about the Borger boots.
Although they aren't/weren't as light and comfortable as the newer boots.
Kind of a trade off I guess