Are shoes soles still a problem for marking boats?

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Pretty sure most shoes regardless of sole colour aren't as prone to leaving marks as they used to be. Is this still an issue to watch out for when people come on board with regular shoes?
 
Athomson said:
Pretty sure most shoes regardless of sole colour aren't as prone to leaving marks as they used to be. Is this still an issue to watch out for when people come on board with regular shoes?
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Two issues, grit and sole materials.

Easily avoided at the cost of being disciplinarian.

In first year of ownership I had a friend pitch up with his "these are definitely non-marking" trainers. Cue footprints all over the boat which lasted some months.

Since then, zero tolerance. Sailing shoes or white soled plimsolls (the latter cost about £8); donned on the pontoon. If worn from the carpark, I volunteer to scrub them with the deck brush which is never used on the (teak) deck, which receives salt water and nothing more.

People who think I am a tosser don't have to come sailing with me. I don't consider any of the above a hardship compared to the cost of boat ownership. Guests are welcome at my expense, food berthing diesel maintenance costs provided, my rules.
 
One of my daughter's friends came along on for a week-long early spring cruise with nothing but hiking boots. It was cold. It also sounded like cattle on deck and lots of prints, but no harm was done and the prints all vanished within two months. No problems, great trip that will never be forgotten.

I suppose grit could be a problem if the dock was closed to the lot, but there is 150' of wooden dock walking first, which removes the sand. The really source of grit on board is beach walking and dinghies. That requires some attention.

The day I have to scrub shoes every time I step on the boat, I'm working for the boat and not the other way around. A boat is a tool for sailing and cruising, not dock jewelry.
 
My boats have all been past worrying about little scratches and scuffs but I thought the soles on shoes are much better than they used to be. The marking sole hayday was probably the 70s/80s when they shed their oily tar like rubber all over the place. The sips in soles of the best deck shoes and boots are maybe the worst design for carrying sand about though, I can imagine them after walking across a path made from tiny flint chips. The stuff of new boat owners nightmares.
 
I have a pair of shoes that leave black marks whenever I forget I am wearing them. I do ask people who are going to be on board to try wear gym shoes or similar.
I think trainers / gym shoes would be ok regardless of sole colour - to avoid marking gym floors etc.
 
Our club car park is a fine gravel :cry:, luckily I can step over the varnished decks of my boat (1ft wide) into the cockpit. The cockpit being also effectively the bilge and grey painted it's not a problem.

If I owned one of the larger Keelboats, with all varnished cockpits I would definitely change shoes..
A Yare and Bure One Design,
Not in the best condition, but you can see all the varnish work.
1660453796711.png
 
The Q said:
Our club car park is a fine gravel :cry:, luckily I can step over the varnished decks of my boat (1ft wide) into the cockpit. The cockpit being also effectively the bilge and grey painted it's not a problem.

If I owned one of the larger Keelboats, with all varnished cockpits I would definitely change shoes..
A Yare and Bure One Design,
Not in the best condition, but you can see all the varnish work.
Click to expand...
We used to hire White Myth, along with a motor boat to sleep on. Great boats as far as I remember. I have cine film of family in two of them from about 1937. At one point they collide and it became the subject of acrimonious debate thereafter, even though on film.

My decks are teak, and although they are in good order they get marked by teenagers with chunky soles, whose lack of co-ordination makes them grind them into the deck. It may appear to some that boats are just commodities to be used, but many of us take pleasure in owning a worthy craft, and there is also the matter of keeping the boat's value for that day when it has to be sold.
 
I quite often wear my karrimor walking shoes on board. Black soles that don't seem to leave marks. Personally I don't like walking around on bare feet so either wear sandals or cross, again no marks left.
 
Or any number of obstacles fitted to the deck. I wear deck shoes, but had a pair of black trainers bought about five years ago that were comfier and gave a better grip than cheap deck shoes and never left a mark.

Unfortunately, Milady didn't like them, so they were decreed to be too scruffy and disposed of before they were even worn in properly
old-shoes-22188100.jpg
 
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