• Happy Patent for First Computer Mouse (1970)! 🖥️🖱️🐁

Potentially promising canoe boots

A

Alan Gage

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
4,884
Reaction score
3,427
Location
NW Iowa
I'm sure I'm not the only one that's struggled to find the perfect footwear for canoe tripping and I'm not sure the perfect boot/shoe can ever exist. But today I noticed a couple new boots soon to be released from Lems that certainly piqued my interest:

Lems Tactical Pro Tall Boot

Lems Summit Pro Boot

The main things I like about them is that they are plain leather with no waterproof lining and they have Vibram Megagrip soles.

Many boots seem to prioritize traction on muddy terrain but when canoe tripping I'm mostly concerned about slipping and falling on rocks that are wet with moss or lichens. I've never used Megagrip soles but they're supposed to be well regarded for wet traction.

I like wearing plain leather shoes as they breathe well and do a fine job of keeping water out during brief immersions. They'll certainly get soaked during prolonged exposure or more than a quick dunking in water that tops the boot but without any sort of liner they should dry quicker.

In a world where is gets harder and harder to find simple leather footwear with no waterproof linings I'm excited to see these and hope other manufacturers follow suit.

Hopefully I can put another canoe trip on the horizon and give them a try.

Alan
 
I definitely need a higher than ankle boot for better support. I didn’t know leather would keep out water for short immersions. Define short, please.
 
Erica said:
I didn’t know leather would keep out water for short immersions. Define short, please.
Click to expand...

I think of shoe material like mesh, canvas, and nylon as having pretty much no resistance to water. If the shoe is exposed to water so will your foot.

I've never done any testing but I would expect my foot to remain pretty dry if I stood in the water for 45 seconds with leather boots. Some might leak in around the stitching but I think the leather would hold up fine. Whether or not the leather has been treated with some kind of grease or oil will have an impact.

I've splashed through many creeks in plain leather boots without getting wet feet at the crossings. I once fell from a log into knee deep water wearing 6" leather boots and my feet remained almost completely dry. Some water wicked in through the top opening of the boot but it was tight enough to keep water from getting all the way down to my foot before I could get out of the water.

In the winter I often take my walks in plain leather boots and I can walk a couple miles through snow in temps just above freezing (when the snow is sticky and wet) and by the end of the walk I'll just be starting to feel moisture coming through.

But leather is not waterproof. It doesn't keep your feet dry by completely blocking water but rather it slows the intrusion and also absorbs water in the process. With each immersion the leather will absorb more water and if it doesn't have a chance to dry out then eventually it will become saturated even after multiple short immersions. The boot won't suddenly flood with water but the moisture will wick through to your foot.

I've never taken plain leather boots on a canoe trip but I would expect my feet to remain dry after quick steps in the water when landing or pushing away from shore as well as splashing through short puddles or boggy areas during a portage. I would expect them to soak through with repeated exposure to quick immersions in a relatively short period of time (multiple boggy spots on one portage), when wading rapids, or on a rainy day.

But thankfully leather doesn't melt so they should dry decently in front of a fire.

Alan
 
I have always preferred leather hiking boots to any synthetics. Properly treated with Limmer grease, I can hike a damp day in my Limmer boots with an occasional "one stepper" to cross a creek without getting wet feet. My Asolo boots don't last quite as long if it is raining, but they do well. Proven yesterday on a SAR incident hike covering three miles in the Adirondacks with a covering of 2 inches of melting snow. The addition of tall gaiters helped a lot, my ultimate "one steppers" when crossing water. My team and I had to make multiple crossings of a small, but substantially flowing creek by rock hopping. Two of the guys slipped and literally tumbled in, getting fully wet to the waist. Luckily we were at the end of the day on our way out with vehicles nearby. I found places where rocks were nearly suitably spaced to hop to, but some required a quick step in 6-9 inch deep water between rocks. Gaiters and leather boots kept me completely dry.

When canoeing, the only time I have to question what to wear is in colder water seasons. Normally I wear a water type wet shoe of various makes to ensure my boat is completely floating before I and my gear get in our out. But at times in the season like now, that same process requires me to wear some sort of high rubber boot, like Muck or barn boots. I don't like wearing those heavy things in case of deep water capsize, but they are large enough to kick off (and to lose) if the need arises.
 
I have worn the NSR Workboot Wetshoes, primarily for ankle support. I need ankle support from having multiple sprained ankles over the years. They are made of neoprene and fake leather with hard rubber soles. They are meant to let water in and out, so of course not waterproof. They are comfortable for portaging and in the boat. The downside are they are hard to get on and off, best to wear a thin sock which helps. The lug soles are good on trails but are hard so not as grippy as I would like.
 
I wore Lems for years, until the umpteenth nail went through my foot working. Get yourself a pair of Jim Green Troopers. JG also make a moc-toe very similar to those Lems Summits.
In my experience decent leather properly loaded with something fatty - bear fat, sno-seal, otter wax, whatever - will keep water out for a good while (ten, twenty, thirty seconds) but the seams are what leak. Lems glues their soles on, so you may have better waterproofing with them versus the JGs.
@yknpdlr I found a pair of insulated Bogs boots in a thrift shop for twenty bucks, and they've been the only rubber slip-on that actually lets your foot and ankle move that I've ever found.
 
Last edited:
Alan Gage said:
I think of shoe material like mesh, canvas, and nylon as having pretty much no resistance to water. If the shoe is exposed to water so will your foot.

I've never done any testing but I would expect my foot to remain pretty dry if I stood in the water for 45 seconds with leather boots. Some might leak in around the stitching but I think the leather would hold up fine. Whether or not the leather has been treated with some kind of grease or oil will have an impact.

I've splashed through many creeks in plain leather boots without getting wet feet at the crossings. I once fell from a log into knee deep water wearing 6" leather boots and my feet remained almost completely dry. Some water wicked in through the top opening of the boot but it was tight enough to keep water from getting all the way down to my foot before I could get out of the water.

In the winter I often take my walks in plain leather boots and I can walk a couple miles through snow in temps just above freezing (when the snow is sticky and wet) and by the end of the walk I'll just be starting to feel moisture coming through.

But leather is not waterproof. It doesn't keep your feet dry by completely blocking water but rather it slows the intrusion and also absorbs water in the process. With each immersion the leather will absorb more water and if it doesn't have a chance to dry out then eventually it will become saturated even after multiple short immersions. The boot won't suddenly flood with water but the moisture will wick through to your foot.

I've never taken plain leather boots on a canoe trip but I would expect my feet to remain dry after quick steps in the water when landing or pushing away from shore as well as splashing through short puddles or boggy areas during a portage. I would expect them to soak through with repeated exposure to quick immersions in a relatively short period of time (multiple boggy spots on one portage), when wading rapids, or on a rainy day.

But thankfully leather doesn't melt so they should dry decently in front of a fire.

Alan
Click to expand...
Me too to mesh for canoeing. I want shoes that drain and along with merino wool socks, keep drop and sand out. I loved my Chota Candy forks but after 20 years they wore out and apparently Chota stopped making water shoes. It's not like backpacking and crossing a stream, for which I prefer my Zamberlan leather boots.
 
MyKneesHurt said:
Get yourself a pair of Jim Green Troopers. JG also make a moc-toe very similar to those Lems Summits.
Click to expand...

I remember you mentioning these another time. I checked them out and they look great but in reading reviews it sounded like the soles are pretty hard and offer very poor traction on ice, which I assume also means poor traction on wet snot rocks.

Alan
 
Alan Gage said:
I remember you mentioning these another time. I checked them out and they look great but in reading reviews it sounded like the soles are pretty hard and offer very poor traction on ice, which I assume also means poor traction on wet snot rocks.

Alan
Click to expand...
That may well be the case. I love mine, though. I made it through a Vermont winter in them and they did great; I would say they've got rather soft soles and I resoled mine with zero-drop vibrams a few months ago. (I walked a lot in them, so the original soles had several hundred miles on them before I resoled.)
 
Still looking for perfection, and have tried many.
My priorities/requirements:
Grip on wet rocks
Drain well
Dry fast
No mesh, as that means sand and other small debris will need to be periodically emptied.
Light weight

Preference for mid-height vs regular shoe hight, however that's mostly about keeping debris out on mucky portages.

Best I have found so far is the Astral TR1 Merge 2.0 - however they absolutely have durability issues. Need to try their Rasslers.
 
PortageW/Cerberus said:
Still looking for perfection, and have tried many.
My priorities/requirements:
Grip on wet rocks
Drain well
Dry fast
No mesh, as that means sand and other small debris will need to be periodically emptied.
Light weight

Preference for mid-height vs regular shoe hight, however that's mostly about keeping debris out on mucky portages.

Best I have found so far is the Astral TR1 Merge 2.0 - however they absolutely have durability issues. Need to try their Rasslers.
Click to expand...

I used the previous version of this Rocky jungle boot which tick many of your boxes:

rockyboots.com

Rocky S2V Enhanced Jungle Puncture Resistant Boot

Get the Rocky S2V Enhanced Jungle Boot with puncture-resistance! Coyote brown, puncture-resistant, comfortable and made in the USA. Order today.
rockyboots.com rockyboots.com

Traction was fine on clean wet rocks. Traction was ok but not great on wet, lichen covered, rocks.

I still wear them when I know wet feet are unavoidable such as extensive wading.

I liked their ability to drain but in cold water on cold days I did not like the inability to keep water out for any period of time. This was especially frustrating when paddling large lakes where there would be no portages, or perhaps only 1 or 2, portages all day long. If feet got wet when launching the canoe in the morning then feet were going to be wet and cold all day long.

Alan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SilentWilderness
Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit Late Autumn 2024
2
Replies
30
Views
7K
ppine
P
A
Canoe tripping footwear
2 3 4
Replies
79
Views
10K
red langford
red langford
A
Gear review after 42 day trip
2 3
Replies
46
Views
8K
Guest
G
G
Camp footwear
2
Replies
27
Views
4K
Guest
G
Back
Top Bottom