A season of wading and hiking will wear down felt soles in a hurry, even on the best of wading shoes. A lot of guys buy a new pair every year, in fact. But a quick examination of my shoes revealed that the soles were the only real problem, and, being the frugal fisherman that I am, I wasn't prepared to spend a minimum 40 or 50 bucks to replace them.
Time for a tutorial.
Here's what you'll need:
-A piece of leftover carpet or an unwanted doormat. Make sure that it is heavy duty and durable carpet with thick fibers.
-Waterproof superglue/sealant, like Aquaseal.
-A spool of twine
-A black felt-tip marker
-A knife capable of cutting carpet
-Pliers
First, ascertain that there is, in fact, a problem:
Next, rip off the remnants of felt with the pliers and clean up the exposed rubber as much as possible:
Proceed to place each shoe on the overturned piece of carpet. Trace around each sole with the black marker, and cut along the lines with the knife:
You've now got two new soles. All that's left is to apply the waterproof sealant to both the soles and the shoe, especially thick around the edges, align the two, and stick them together:
Keep the carpet and rubber tightly together to get a good bond by tightly wrapping twine around repaired shoe:
Let the shoes dry for a couple days before taking them out into water, as most sealants take quite awhile to fully dry.
These shoes should provide another season of safe wading if they've been glued adequately; carpet is actually superior to felt in it's non-slip qualities, and dense carpet is plenty durable.
Feel free to ask questions if you've got them.
Happy wading,
Andrew
