Just the tip of the ice cube......

[oldie moldy]

I like my rubber boots just a little loose, I may be kidding myself but maybe with the slight slop the foot acts like a bellows to whoosh the air (and moisture!!) out so the feet stay dryer.
For me the best boots I've ever found are the LL Beans Maine Hunting boot. You know the ones; half leather and on the bottom rubber.

The only fly in the ointment is that the way I like them to fit the sock is shucked off within the first couple of miles and winds up smushed into the toe of the boot.

The fix is delightfully simple: over the sock at the ankle bone run masking tape twice around the ankle. dead easy. At the start of a camping season I get a new roll because the old one might be just a little dried out.

Best Wishes, Rob

 

[Guest]

Ah, rubber boot days. I spent half my childhood in rubber boots. I was never sure where Mom bought them, but seeing them hung up at the local village store might've been a clue. Instead of putting 2 + 2 together, I was too busy counting out pennies and nickels for a cold Coke from the cooler in the front window. Anyway, those same red soled black boots had curved lines moulded around the ankles, remember? My brothers and I would cut out along these lines to make them look "cool". I thought of mine as being "elf boots". My older brothers sneered at this, and instead described theirs as "cowboy boots". I had a lot to learn about being cool. I remember getting "soakers", and often sat on stream banks wringing out socks. And yes, I did get rumpled up socks migrating down my feet as I went. I eventually gave up on socks, and went barefoot in rubber boots. I still go barefoot in my boots. A consequence is, the need for an occasional soapy water purge of the boot interiors. My fashionista femme is particular about what adorns her feet. I clearly am not. She bought her lovely yellow boots for our trip to Paris a couple years ago. I wasn't allowed to bring any of my rubber footwear. "We'll be exploring streets and cafes Brad, not dirt tracks and farms". She does pack a pair of these rubber boots for when rain is in the canoe trip forecast, whereas my rubber footwear is only for the grungy outdoors; no urban wandering for these country bumpkin boots. Whatever.
Here are the culprits, ready for action.


ps Rob, there are sock garters available. Apparently, they're what every gentleman keeps his socks up with. I'm obviously not in that category.

 

[Guest]

ps Rob, there are sock garters available. Apparently, they're what every gentleman keeps his socks up with. I'm obviously not in that category.

Just mentioning it at minimum separates you from the great unwashed.

There's also such a thing as over-the-calf socks for those of us not-quite-gentlemen. I wore them for years when I was working.

 

[stripperguy]

I have worn the same pair of LL Bean 8" duck boots for the last 35 years...I also wear nothing but 85/15 wool/nylon wigwam socks in all of my footwear (except ski bots, then it's over the calf ski socks).
Most of my wool socks have gotten droopy, some are more than 15 years old, I'm not sure, they all look almost alike. I've given up trying to pair them, but that's another story for another thread...

I too keep my duck boots very open, to the point that my laces have knots in the very ends to keep the laces from coming completely free.

Yes, my socks do droop. If I'm actually walking in the boots, as opposed to just climbing in and out of my boat over beaver dams, I cinch down the laces.
I used to superglue my socks to my legs...but after excessive skin loss, I abandoned that technique.

I guess I'll try the masking tape thing, I much prefer to keep those boots loose.