Gore Tex boots are ALL a joke.....c'mon

[HellsCanyon]

My feet are always dry in My kenetrek mountain extremes. I see a little moisture from time to time where I hunt

Yeah but you hike slow and hardly go off trail.... Apples and oranges man!

And my feet were always bloody wet in my Kennetreks, keyword being bloody, But then again I don't have 2" of anti friction Sasquatch hair on my feet either...

Mike

 

[wapitibob]

GoreTex has no business being in a flexible boot.

 

[HellsCanyon]

GoreTex has no business being in a flexible boot.

Care to elaborate?? I don't disagree with you.... Just curious is all

Mike

 

[Tim in Wa.]

To me it seems like the best solution is an event or gore tex sock and traditionally built leather boots.Even when the goretex lined boot leak enough to let your feet get wet it still makes the boots way more difficult to dry.It would be pretty easy to pack an extra pair of waterproof socks if one pair failed and there would be no need to replace an otherwise good pair of boots
Tim

 

[Poser]

I have a old pair of Gore Tex lined Vasque boots that I bought in the 90s (before they were made in SE Asia). I broke them back out this year because they are the lightest pair of medium duty hikers I have. I reconditioned and retreated the leather. I let then tested them by letting the boots soak in a trough of water for 2 days. The leather eventually became saturated and soaked through, however the Gore Tex liner held. There was a quarter inch of water between the leather and the Goretex, but it did not leak. These boots are 17 or 18 years old.

 

[5MilesBack]

I can only think of a few times when I had a problem with wet boots in the last 30+ years.

 

[gelton]

I can only think of a few times when I had a problem with wet boots in the last 30+ years.

Same here. Now I have had issues with the leather becoming saturated and frozen so your feet might as well be wet because they feel
Like they are but the socks are dry.

For those that are having problems goretex offers a lifetime warranty where they will pay for a replacement - http://www.gore-tex.com/remote/Satellite/content/our-guarantee#!

 

[Riverwalker]

Usually the seams not the Gore Tex

 

[wapitibob]

Care to elaborate?? I don't disagree with you.... Just curious is all

Mike

Gore-Tex is nothing but a semi permeable membrane, housed in a two sided "bootie" for protection. It can't stretch; doing so opens the pores at the very least and generally tears it, rendering it useless. In a static environment it works great, flexible boots, not so much. A water saturated leather outer that flexes at the toe box/forefoot junction, will create an area where that flexing action is trying to force water thru the membrane via pressure. The inner liner can also stretch depending on how the inner parts line up with your foot and the outer boot, eventually tearing the liner or opening the pores enough to allow water thru.
People mention leather treatment is needed, fact is, Gore-tex is a hydrophobic membrane by itself, it needs no treatment. Treating the leather simply keeps water away from the Gore-Tex, defeating the purpose of having it in the first place.

 

[littlebuf]

Yeah but you hike slow and hardly go off trail.... Apples and oranges

Mike

Yeah that's me. I just pretend to be a hunter on line. Kinda like you pretend to be a gun smith online

 

[HellsCanyon]

Yeah that's me. I just pretend to be a hunter on line. Kinda like you pretend to be a gun smith online

Exactly! Ha

 

[HellsCanyon]

Gore-Tex is nothing but a semi permeable membrane, housed in a two sided "bootie" for protection. It can't stretch; doing so opens the pores at the very least and generally tears it, rendering it useless. In a static environment it works great, flexible boots, not so much. A water saturated leather outer that flexes at the toe box/forefoot junction, will create an area where that flexing action is trying to force water thru the membrane via pressure. The inner liner can also stretch depending on how the inner parts line up with your foot and the outer boot, eventually tearing the liner or opening the pores enough to allow water thru.
People mention leather treatment is needed, fact is, Gore-tex is a hydrophobic membrane by itself, it needs no treatment. Treating the leather simply keeps water away from the Gore-Tex, defeating the purpose of having it in the first place.

Makes perfect sense and confirms what I've always thought. Same thing goes for soft shell jackets. I submerged my old C4E Element jacket in water for over an hour and it didn't leak. Wore it hiking in a rain shower and got soaked in 15 minutes. The "pressure" you mention is what forces water through the membrane.

Thanks for elaborating!

Mike

 

[Rick Leathley]

Anyone have better luck with the eVent they use in Schnee's boots?

 

[bcimport]

Gave up on gore tex in my boots. Good leather treated and seam grip the stitches. They are as waterproof as any goretex I have had. The huge upside has been they breath much better and dry faster than the goretex version. Especially important on a long wet hunt.

 

[wapitibob]

Just for shitz and giggles I did Elkmasters water test a few minutes ago. Renegades that have maybe 10 days and 30 miles of elk hunting on them, mostly AZ last year. I buy boots from REI 'cause I return them every year for leaks. These are Renegade #2.
I have not had a functioning Gore-Tex boot in over 25 years.

 

[Yellowknife]

Anyone have better luck with the eVent they use in Schnee's boots?

My dad has a pair. The eVent will eventually saturate and soak through just like GTX.

A leather boot with minimal seams and good leather treatment seems to hold up the best for me. Gaiters really help. Once the boot saturates enough, the walking motion will always push water through the GTX eventually.

My current Kenetrek Guides made it to the end of Day 4 of non-stop rain, wet grass, and dozens of creek crossings last year before giving up the ghost. That was the best I'd even done. This year they are only good until about the second or third day. The two pairs of Mt. Extremes I had were a lot worse, but I was never able to treat leather on those in a way that repelled water for any length of time. The issue with both is that once they give up and soak through, they are soaked for the rest of the trip + about five days afterward. The "waterproof" leather and Windtex holds water in just as effectively as it holds it out.

Yk

 

[Shrek]

We were talking about this last year. I bought some leather lined non goretex Hanwags and haven't looked back. Quality leather with minimal seams treated work well and breath so much better. Mine did soak through once last year after 6 hours of steady rain and high grass but that was it. Feet were much happier than with sweat-tex cooking them. Goretex has its uses but it's not in every boot made and it always leaks sooner or later. Mostly sooner in my experience. I've got to try the seam grip on the stitching as that's where it gets in on my hanwags.

 

[wapitibob]

Just replaced the Renegades with Salomon Quest 4d's. Not holding my breath....

 

[carlc]

Anyone have better luck with the eVent they use in Schnee's boots?

I only have about 50 miles on mine, but I did to a solid 20 miles last weekend in nonstop rain,y feet were dry as could be Andy buddy with two year old kenetreks feet were soaked. In fact he picked up a pair of schnees the next week.

Also, I have been using event exclusively for the last two years for anowmobiling and can tell you hands down it is a more breathable, waterproof and durable membrane. I am consistently less sweaty than before, my gloves will last more than one year, and my ass is usually completely dry, except on warm wet days.

Event for the win

 

[Yellowknife]

I only have about 50 miles on mine, but I did to a solid 20 miles last weekend in nonstop rain,y feet were dry as could be Andy buddy with two year old kenetreks feet were soaked. In fact he picked up a pair of schnees the next week.

Also, I have been using event exclusively for the last two years for anowmobiling and can tell you hands down it is a more breathable, waterproof and durable membrane. I am consistently less sweaty than before, my gloves will last more than one year, and my ass is usually completely dry, except on warm wet days.

Event for the win

This is where boot construction and age start to play a large part. On last years VERY wet hunt, the eVent boots soaked through on day 3, and the Kenetreks beat that by a full day. Both were newish at the time (<100 miles) Now, after significantly more miles, the eVent boots will barely make it through one day, and the Kenetreks are good for about 2 and fading a bit with each trip... I'm not knocking eVent, but in our limited experience they aren't even close to taking over the boot world.

On trips like this, it still beats non-waterproof boots by a wide margin.