Dubarry boots - slippery sole - solutions?

The late HW Tilman did a lot of sailing in cold weather in rubber seaboots with thick climbing socks and used to say how much he wished that leather seaboots were still made. He died before Dubarry burst on the scene but I think he would have been an enthusiastic customer. I know I am.
 
Babylon said:
The soles of two consecutive pairs of Henri Lloyd leather GoreTex boots became hard and dangerous after only a couple of years or so (the second pair were a free replacement for the first)! Now I just wear my brother's ten-year old Gill rubber seaboots which he once left aboard, or deck shoes in fine weather, and normal shoes when going ashore.

Why piss several hundred quid against the wall for technology that isn't fit for purpose?
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Because the Gill boots that you refer to, normally only last me for 2 seasons & start to split & then fall apart
So not really so cheap
I wear Dubarry shoes for daytime wear( had several pairs over the years) & the soles grip perfectly well when I go aboard. I suspect the problem for some is lack of wear
 
MonniotC said:
"Dont know if rubber boots would have done the job."
Rubber boots will keep your feet dry.
Good, thick boot/skiboot socks will keep your feet warm.
There is no need to pay through the nose.
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Rubber boots will keep the rain/sea out, but will also keep the perspiration in.

So eventually they become quite damp inside, at which point the thick socks no longer keep your feet as warm as they first did.

Rubber boots also retain their shape, which is not necessarily the same as one's feet, whereas leather boots adapt to the owners' feet shapes.

I wore rubber boots for years, but having later tried Dubarrys (other brands are available) I am a convert. (My bank manager is less keen. :ambivalence: )
 
Euphonyx said:
Your local chandler is wrong. I dropped my 20 year old pair of boots into Dubarry in Ballinasloe last month as I drive by the factory regularly on trips to Galway. They replaced the soles and totally refurbed them including a new breathable lining and leather tops for €50. Basically a new pair of boots now.
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+1. My boots disintegrated at the heal, sent them off last season for repair and they as new now.
 
Leaving aside shop-keepers who tell porkies in an attempt to sell someone a new pair of boots...

The question is this: is the current formulation of Dubarry non-slip rubber the same as the 20 year old one (which never went hard just wore out over time)? Or has it changed to a type with designed obsolescence?
 
Babylon said:
Leaving aside shop-keepers who tell porkies in an attempt to sell someone a new pair of boots...

The question is this: is the current formulation of Dubarry non-slip rubber the same as the 20 year old one (which never went hard just wore out over time)? Or has it changed to a type with designed obsolescence?
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It's a polyurethane material and apparently hardens after 5 years as it "dries out". The material description is from Dubarry's web site and harding information from the link below, basically: -

https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/threads/hydrolysis-of-polyurethane-soles-warning.107554/

What is occurring is a common phenomenon in the footwear manufacturing industry known as "hydrolysis". This refers to the natural breakdown and decomposition of the polyurethane compound of the mid and outsole.
It is not a manufacturing defect, but a natural process that occurs in time and which cannot be prevented, regardless if the footwear is worn or not and regardless of the brand of the footwear. Please note that hydrolysis does not affect rubber, therefore footwear with rubber outsoles would last longer(although it is a bit heavier than polyurethane). .......
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Thanks BoB, that's really illuminating and probably exactly what happened to both my pairs of Henri Lloyd boots, except that the 'drying-out' in each case happened faster than 5 years!

I keep my sea-boots and deck-shoes aboard all the time (why bring them home?) but the boat is surely always going to be a damper environment than the house, indeed colder and damper for most of the year!

The only factor that could have advanced drying is keeping them in the small wet-locker beside the engine-bay (i.e. so wet oilies etc can benefit from the warmth) but that's only 50hrs or so of running each season.

But I note that the Dubarry boots are a compound of PU and rubber, and if they can be re-soled in five years time, then the £280 ticket might be worth it?
 
Babylon said:
But I note that the Dubarry boots are a compound of PU and rubber, and if they can be re-soled in five years time, then the £280 ticket might be worth it?
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But my understanding is the current Dubarrys can't be (readily) resoled - they're glued or welded together, unlike the earlier Dubarrys which were stitched together and can still be resoled.
 
No point then in buying any of the modern generation of sea-boots with glued-on soles, whether Dubarry or another manufacture!

When I slipped wearing my top of the range Henri Lloyd leather goretex boots the soles of which had suddenly hardened after only 3 or 4 years and nearly smashed my face in on a pontoon cleat, I made such a fuss that they replaced the boots free of charge with their latest incarnation (i.e. either they couldn't replace just the glued-on soles, or they estimated that the cost wasn't worth it, or they wanted to avoid adverse publicity).

That was about three or four years ago, but by last year the replacement pair had gone hard and dangerous again and I've since thrown them away! 2-3 years just isn't good enough for expensive boots.

But what I don't understand is why the glued-on soles of hiking boots (which take a huge amount more punishment than footwear worn mostly just sitting on small boats) can be re-soled whereas these cynically-designed sea-boots can't?

I'd consider investing in a pair of new generation Dubarry boots - but only once I've got a definitive positive answer that they can indeed be re-soled.
 
Babylon said:
...But what I don't understand is why the glued-on soles of hiking boots (which take a huge amount more punishment than footwear worn mostly just sitting on small boats) can be re-soled whereas these cynically-designed sea-boots can't?...
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Have you asked a specialist walking boot repairer, they might be able to do something?

Decent walking boots have a two-part sole - so the patterned tread part can be sliced off without destroying the structure of the boot. Do your boots have a single thickness of sole?
 
Sorry about that Minn.

Just spoken to Dubarry UK, who confirm that their current generation of glued-on sole boots cannot be re-soled.

They did say however that if buying new then order direct from them, as sometimes retailers could have had their boots in stock for a long while. As drying out starts from date of manufacture rather than purchase, this would seem very sensible!
 
Babylon said:
They did say however that if buying new then order direct from them, as sometimes retailers could have had their boots in stock for a long while. As drying out starts from date of manufacture rather than purchase, this would seem very sensible!
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Their dealers will be happy with that sort of sales support
 
westhinder said:
Their dealers will be happy with that sort of sales support
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It was with specific reference to older stock and therefore soles that were already part way through their short designed life, but you're right.

The whole thing however is a disgrace. A perfectly sound boot design (with a stitched-on, non-drying sole) was cynically re-engineered to become an expensive throw-away item that is capable of killing the unsuspecting wearer. This was done SOLELY for reasons of increased sales and therefore profit.

As the manufacturers (they're all at it), distributors and retailers all know this, they're all culpable.
 
Babylon said:
Just spoken to Dubarry UK, who confirm that their current generation of glued-on sole boots cannot be re-soled.

They did say however that if buying new then order direct from them, as sometimes retailers could have had their boots in stock for a long while.
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What we're looking for is the retailers who have had the boots in stock for so long they're the previous, sewn construction, re-soleable version. :)
 
PS - if you consider my above post to be hyperbole, consider this scenario:

Middle aged bloke rows out to his mid-river mooring on a cold day. He gains his boat where he puts on his oilies and three year old leather goretex sea-boots, then he steps carefully off the boat onto the pontoon. As he takes a second step, the boots suddenly lose all grip and he goes flying head-over-heels. It is all so sudden that he lands heavily on his chest, his head inches from a large metal cleat. The cleat itself could have brained him directly, but luckily it is the one thing he can grab to stop his body continuing into the freezing water.

They weren't Dubarry boots, they Henri Lloyd copy-cat equivalents, but the technical cause - modern glued-on soles that suddenly dry out to go hard and brittle - was identical.

I'm not interested in being admired for my attire in some marina, I'm just not ready to sleep with the fishes.
 
LittleSister said:
Rubber boots will keep the rain/sea out, but will also keep the perspiration in.

So eventually they become quite damp inside, at which point the thick socks no longer keep your feet as warm as they first did.

Rubber boots also retain their shape, which is not necessarily the same as one's feet, whereas leather boots adapt to the owners' feet shapes.

I wore rubber boots for years, but having later tried Dubarrys (other brands are available) I am a convert. (My bank manager is less keen. :ambivalence: )
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Woolen socks are reputed to be equally effective whether wet or dry.
 
Babylon said:
And at 2004 prices! :D
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That would be the day!
I'm going to try abrading my boot soles with a tickle of angle grinder. I had Gill sea boots before Dubarry. They split and leaked after 3 years. I can still wade ashore with the leather Dubarry boots and stay dry, though on wet teak decks they are currently scary.
 
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