Sailing boots to last a couple of seasons.

[Adonnante]

I have just returned from an excellent trip to the Scillies which was only spoilt by cold and wet feet due to my leaking boots. The recent pair, now split and cracked, were cheap and just over a year old bought after my experience of a pair costing five times as much that were dangerously slippery on the trampoline netting and a nightmare to put on or remove due to the lining coming loose! As I'm clearly a pillock at selecting footware is there any first hand advice that the cognoscente can offer?

Peter.

 

[flipper]

I bought a brand new pair of Dubarry Ultimas from a guy who had won them in a PBO competiton for £105. Dont think I would have stretched to £200 for them as they are now. Apart from plastic sailing wellies I have no experience of other leather sailing boots but the Dubarrys are comfortable, very warm, dry and grippy. They are one size too big which I wanted so I can get them off easiliy if I was to go overboard.
They stop being waterproof when the water is up to your knees though - dont ask me how I know that...

Patrick

 

[Cloven]

I invested in a pair of Dubarry ones when I retired 8 years ago having had multiple pairs of rubber ones before that. Yes they are expensive but they are still going strong - I reckon they look better scruffy than they did when they were new. Wear them most of the time when at sea and they are great, warm & your feet don't sweat.

I do however keep a pair of rubber ones on the boat for the times that I know they are going to get very wet/muddy such as wading ashore from the dinghy when at anchor etc.

 

[crewman]

Boots

I have Quayside leather boots, bought after recommendations on here. 3rd season still working well seem to be lasting and good grip and warm feet. Much less expensive than Dubarry's.

 

[Theshipscat]

Dubarry ultimas yes. Fastnet no. I bought a pair (fastnet) in 2009 and they were warm and comfortable until they got wet. The water got between the leather and the kevlar and they were heavy, freezing and sloshed about. Two of us wore fastnet boots and both experienced the same thing. We took them back to Force four and the lovely lady (unfortunately not there now) rang Dubarry and gave them a rollicking. Dubarry's response was well they're not meant to be immersed in water. This was on a very wet sail from Falmouth to Chichester in November. I changed them immediately for a pair of Ultimas which I have to admit are tad short at the leg end but are brilliant boots.

 

[dylanwinter]

wellies

I use cheap wellies from the ag merchant

Noras are deisgned to grip on wet concrete

they are unlined - so they dry in no time - lots of socks

when its dry and cold I wear those fabric walking boots

mind you I don't have a trampoline and never have to leave the cockpit other than for anchoring

It always makes me laugh when I someone wearing Dubarrys

especially for use in the snow

more money than sense

but what do I know

Dylan

 

[VicS]

I have had my present sailing wellies for best part of 30 years. Made by Nokia But I think they make mobile phones or some such useless tat now

 

[Ubergeekian]

It always makes me laugh when I someone wearing Dubarrys

especially for use in the snow

more money than sense

I've spent years wearing el-cheapo plastic boots, and they worked fine. This year, though, I needed to get some new ones as the old had worn through. As a result of a misspent youth I have very large calves and could not find any cheap seaboots which fitted. The only ones I could even get on were Lazilas from Duncans in Glasgow, and even those were a bit nippy.

So, with financial regret but out of necessity I have splashed out on a pair of Dubarry Ultimas. Only first impressions so far, but those are of warmer, drier, comfier feet than I have ever had on a boat before. If they last reasonably I can't imagine going back.

Mr Toff.

 

[thedoc]

best wellies

if you want the dogs *******s sailing wellies then Le Chameau Neptune boots are the ones. Hard wearing, warm soles, flexible and keep your feet dry, they even fit over my large calves.
Loans to buy them available through Barclays marine finance.......

 

[Laurin]

http://www.yachtboot.com/yacht-boot_blue.htm

Significantly cheaper than Dubarry, very warm and fit over my calf unlike dubarry.

 

[mjcp]

if you want the dogs *******s sailing wellies then Le Chameau Neptune boots are the ones. Hard wearing, warm soles, flexible and keep your feet dry, they even fit over my large calves.
Loans to buy them available through Barclays marine finance.......

eBay Le Chameau boots £228 + £8 shipping (uk)

mjcp

 

[pikeyrm]

Gill Kevlar boots, used in south atlantic crossing and pottering around the solent, great boot i find, great grip, and i use these to wade into my dinghy.

 

[flipper]

Dont recall who said it but the quote was something like, " shoes and beds, buy the best you can afford, because if you're not in one, you're in the other"

 

[Adonnante]

Thanks for all the input, it looks as Dubarry Ultimars are the boot of choice but at £200 so they should be. That would make them my most expensive footware which includes some hi-tech motorcycling and climbing /walking boots. Perhaps the Quayside copies might do the business but without the Cowes style, we are talking Cornwall here.

Thanks

Peter.

 

[activesail]

I bought a pair of Henri Lloyd Gortex Climate Control boots last year.

They have been really good so far, even in November my feet where not cold.

 

[pampas]

Perhaps the Quayside copies might do the business but without the Cowes style, we are talking Cornwall here

Cant beat TRAGO`s cheap green ones.

 

[dylanwinter]

yea -Trago mills rules

brilliant place for sleeping bags, boat crockery, waterprooofs and boots

where quality and style part company

Dylan

 

[Strathglass]

Thanks for all the input, it looks as Dubarry Ultimars are the boot of choice but at £200 so they should be. That would make them my most expensive footware which includes some hi-tech motorcycling and climbing /walking boots. Perhaps the Quayside copies might do the business but without the Cowes style, we are talking Cornwall here.

Thanks

Peter.

I had always wanted a pair of Dubarry boots but our family quote was 'if we win the lottery then we think about it'

Well, a PBO competition obliged a few years ago and I got a pair.

I have used them virtually every time I sail and with the boat on a swinging mooring they often get wet.

They are comfortable, dry and thanks to SHMBO's diligance with cleaning them they still look very good and do their job comprehensively.

In spite of the price will be buying her a pair this season.

Some of the less expensive makes may be as good but I just don't know.

Iain

 

[blackbeard]

I read the thread title, and some of the posts, with dismay. To last a couple of seasons?! forsooth! just what, in the name of Great Propacopaqetl, can this portend?
To be serious, even if only for a moment, if there's a risk of boots failing to outlast a couple of seasons of moderate use, then there's something seriously wrong, the makers are making something unfit for purpose and not of merchantable quality, and both manufacturers and retailers invite derision (my thanks to those posts which go some way towards this).
For the record, old Blackbeard gets about 5 years out of a pair of deck shoes (used for everyday wear, not just on the boat), and still has a pair of old Musto wellies, serviceable after 15 years at least ...
... or is it that the modern hyper-expensive hi-tech breathing stuff is somehow less durable than good old twentieth-century technology?

 

[planteater]

Is it possible to wear out wellies?

My father still uses a pair I remember from my childhood. The only pair I've ever thrown away got covered in epoxy and grass cuttings and were beyond salvage.