I’ve disvocered the very epitome of wading boot drying systems. It all started as I was unpacking the trusty fishing van upon returning from my Sunday trip to Mottville, Mi. (see related story under fishing reports section) After I hung my waders from their usual drying spot, a screw hook commonly used to hang bicycles and such from the garage ceiling, I reached in the tote and pulled out my still dripping wading boots. I was looking around for a place to dry them when the central air unit kicked on. BLINK goes the low wattage bulb in my head… :idea: I have an idea says I. I placed my wading boots on top of the air conditioner compressor unit, keeping them near the edge so aas not to disrupt air flow and with 24 hours the boots were bone dry…
So does this make me one of the smartest fly fishermen on the planet or has everyone just been keeping this secret from me for years now???
Satchel, in no way I am attempting to diminish your brilliance and you may in fact be one of the smartest fly anglers on the planet… but wouldn?t a simple fan have the same effect?
We do not have air conditioning, but the basement dehumidifier dries anything out.
A special heater and fan would also do the trick, BUT, the brilliance demonstrated here in Satchels’ idea is the idea of adding a use/task to something not intended to perform the additional use/task without ADDING to it’s workload capacity or it’s draw on energy. Now if he can just figger how to add making sausage …
Marco, I really like your thinking regarding harnessing the energy already in use for one purpose to also perform another task. BUT what about those cooler days when no air conditioning is needed? What happens then? A back up plan is definitely needed?not to mention the need to address the sausage making question.
Wrap the waders in tin foil, put them on top of your car engine on the way home to dry. You can also toss in a couple of sausages and some kraut in and have a warm meal after you unpack whats left of your waders.
Hint: double wrap the foil for maximum performance.
Buy a piece of PVC Pipe, that will be long enough, to make two tubes, that are longer than your waders (one tube for each leg).
Cut the PVC Pipe in half, drill some holes around one end of each tube, on the other end cut a slot in one side of each tube.
Build a box, out of scrap lumber, to house the two tubes. The base will be solid, with a insert with circles cut out using a door-knob circle, securing the bottom of each tube, the top piece will also have two circles cut out for the tubes to fit through.
In the side of the box, cut a circle, for a hand held hair dryer unit to be inserted.
Now all you have to do, is pull your waders down over the tubing, so the waders are inverted. and plug in the hair dryer, and turn it on.
I use a solar energy system. I leave them on a plastic tray in the back shelf of my car. With a sunny day they dry in less than 24 hours. Waders I dry under the shelf in my wagon so its warm but they are not directly in sunlight .
The brilliance is in convincing your wife that although the ‘aroma’ of swamp, muck, fish and moldy felt smells, eclectic at least, now being pumped into every square foot of your dwelling, you read somewhere that it is very good for her, somehow.
Hi,
I just stick such things in the hot water cupboard (Great place for mittens in the winter if you live where winter requires mittens). If you have a long drive, then stuff your wading boots with a few pages from the mornings news paper. When you get home, the paper will be soaking wet, and toss it out. This will have at least drawn out quite a bit of moisture from the boots, reducing the water that has to be evaporated. Repeatedly stuffing boots with newspaper, and removing and replacing the newspaper every so often, was one way to speed up drying boots, but you do have to “tend to them” every so often. Also, the newsprint can stain your boots, so don’t do it if you’re worried about that.
You could mail them to me… I generally put my boots outside in the sun for about 15 minutes flip them over and they are done…of course it is only 110 degrees outside (PHX)…the winter takes a little longer it drops down to 85 degrees…
See, that’s just what I thought. You guys would have all kinds of ideas that make mine pale in comparison. And I thought I was being really clever. I like to get things dry especially when I’m about to take a long trip. The wife complains about that lovely swampy smell from the back of the trusty fish van after a couple of hours. I was just so impresses that I did, in fact, adapt an already powerful source of air flow/energy use for another, prodcutive purpose. Don’t take the waders long to dry just hanging up in the garage, but those boots stay soggy for days without some air flowing around them.
