Studded wading shoes are great for the environment but they’re terrible on fiberglass drift boats. More and more of my shop’s clients are showing up with nothing but studs, and it stinks to make them take their boots off once they’re in the boat, and the workarounds (overshoes, wearing old tennis shoes, and door mats on the floor of the boat, mostly) leave a lot to be desired.
Then I found these boots from Cabelas. I doubt these would work for the sort of abuse we put our boots through around here (hiking, boulders, etc.), but for floats they’d be fine. My question is whether anyone else makes this type of boot with a felt or sticky rubber sole, versus the flats-type sole. Worst case I’d pay retail from Cabelas, but I’d much rather buy them wholesale if I can. Any ideas?
I received a pair of these for Christmas. They were for walking in snow or on ice but I think they will work if placed over wading boots. I am not recommending these because I have not used them. I do understand that they come in several weights of wire and strength, i.e. ‘Pro’ and ‘XTR’ . Take a look and maybe it’s something to consider. Maybe someone here has experience with these?
I don’t remember where it was but I have seen a product that slips over studded boots for use in boots. Not much help but someone does have what your looking for.
Have you looked at beach sandals with velcro straps? I saw a guy put them on right over his wading shoes once to keep the felt soles clean while hiking down a railroad track. Just a thought.
This doesn’t directly address your question, but I have a hard waffle type of material on the floor of my Hyde that Lemoyne Hyde said is not damaged by cleats. I haven’t tested it myself, but assuming that’s the case, you could probably get this material put in the floor of your boat.
Those slip-resistant overshoes might work, but I was really hoping to find alternate cheap, felt-soled shoes that would fit multiple foot sizes, like those Cabelas do, but from a mfg who would sell to the shop wholesale. That way I could get away with getting two each in two sizes for each of our guides and be good to go at a low price. Having something that people have to put on and take off sort of defeats the purpose, since that’s already what we have them do when they show up with studded boots.
John: I had that waffle plastic in my boat for the first week I owned it and then threw it away. Hated it --it was perfect for trapping sand/gravel and losing flies in. At any rate, they only make that to fit the rectangular bottom of the boat, not the raised false floors that get shredded by people shuffling their feet in studs.
I bought a pair of boots by Lewis & Clark called an All Weather Moc at Sportsman’s Warehouse a few years ago. They slip on over waders, ran about $20, and were all rubber lowers and a stretchy canvas upper. Also wore them pontooning as they were light, comfortable, and good protection for the pricey Simms booties coming and going to the water. Also took them to BC for floats in aluminum drift boats and use them here wading the saltwater flats. Great traction and comfort. I got a size 2 up from my street shoe, similar to sizing wading boots, and they fit over the wader booties fine.
Trouble is finding them. I Googled the name and found a reference to Sam’s Clubs, a few on EBay, etc but no way to order them by size.
Try Sp Warehouse and see if they still list them on line or in stores. Or maybe you’ll have better luck searching than I did.
If you got have felt soles, that’s going to be tough to find. If all you need is a slip on boot that covers multiple sizes, and can handle moderate wading, what about just plain float tube booties a la Outcast’s: http://www.flyfishusa.com/outcast/02-Outcast-Accessories/outcast-float-tube-bootie.htm? Retails same as Cabela’s, but you might be able to get them wholesale from Outcast. I’ve heard that they are in fact just scuba boots, so you might be able to find a cheaper equivalent with a bit of searching…I’m sure there are a lot of scuba shops in you area (grin).
Another idea is, before I finally broke down and bought a pair, I was just using Walmart “water shoes” which were fine for light wading as long as there was not too much muck. Biggest downside was find a pair that would fit over XL wader booties. They do not last long, but they are cheap.
The type of floor material that I was referring to is permanently affixed via fiberglass on the bottom of the boat. I had the plastic, removable, squares with a Clackacraft that I had before getting this Hyde, and I agree with what you say about that. The floor in my Hyde is completely different. Mine is a bit harder to clean than a flat surface, but not much. I don’t know if anyone other than Hyde has this available, but I’m pretty sure it could be installed in any fiberglass boat by someone proficient with working with fiberglass.
We actually bought some of those shoe-ins. I’m surprised at the positive reviews. In my experience they are designed with street shoes in mind and even the XL didn’t fit comfortably over my size-12 wading shoes.
Really I’m looking for dirt cheap wading shoes that I can get in a couple sizes to say “wear these instead,” which is why the Cabelas shoes are so appealing. Cabelas doesn’t make any of their own stuff and I’m sure those shoes started off life as flats boots from some standard MFG, but it sure sounds like only Cabelas got them modified with felt soles. I’m strongly inclined to go with felt soles rather than some material with less traction, because invariably somebody will fall if we give them something to wear getting in and out of the boat and numerous lawyers have informed us that our insurance waiver is meaningless if somebody actually gets hurt…
I cannot help you with something your clients can slip on or over their studded wading boots to protect the boats bottom, but, after giving much thought to your situation, I feel that you would be hard pressed to have every size needed and your clients may not approve of using something other than what they are wearing. If they wear what you provided while wade fishing and fell, it could open up the door to lawyers.
If I was in your situation I guess what I would do is use a protective mat on the bottom of my guide boat and I do not mean some cheap throw mat. I would want something that would withstand the studs, stay put and provide drainage. I was thinking something along this line:
I know you didn’t want mats but I agree with Warren’s first paragraph.
When studs and cleats started on the scene I noted that many guides went to mats of some sort. I thought what seemed to work well was a rather heavy duty indoor outdoor carpet cut to fit closely. I suppose they were not fastened down so they and the boat could be easily cleaned. As a client I appreciated not having to change and also not worrying what I was doing to the boat bottom…thought they looked decent too.
And when I clicked on the link Warren provided, I immediately saw that you could get those mats with either yellow or orange edging, and in the right hand column there was a reference to a urinal mat…ummmm…maybe kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak…