The other week I learnt a little lesson, dont leave my boots in the shed over the winter months.
I had left an old pair of fabric gortex boots (still in good knick mind) in the shed and come spring I decided I needed them and to my horror I discovered a hole had been gnawed through the fabric ( about 2cm near the little toe area, between the mesh fabric and the leather). Luckily the inner gortex sock has not been touched.
I tried searching the web for ideas regarding repairing the hole with little success. I even approached a shoe mender who quoted some sill money and suggested just buying a new pair.
Anyway I had a boot with a hole. It is not in a place where it will seriously effect the performance of the boot unless I am in a bog. So I thought about repairing the said hole and decided good old superglue would do the trick. I applied the glue, let it set and went for a test walk, the fabric simply came apart (the toe pressing against it), so that was no good.
The next idea I had was to use rubber compound, the little tube you get in cycle repair kits to glue the patch to the inner tube. So I put some of that over the hole, but it would seem that you have to keep applying the glue, layer upon layer until I had a thick enough build up covering the hole. After a couple of days of glue build up, this seems to have done the trick, the compound is flexible enough to allow the toe movement around the hole without putting too much undue stress on it. The rubber will proof the hole from the elements.
Unfortunately it doesnt look very pretty, due to the boot being green, it looks someone has spat something nasty on the boot, but it should do the job and can always apply more of the compound. This should work on all fabric boots, but I am not sure about how the chemicals may affect leather or treated materials, but potentially would save you a few pennies and possible a new set of boots....
I had left an old pair of fabric gortex boots (still in good knick mind) in the shed and come spring I decided I needed them and to my horror I discovered a hole had been gnawed through the fabric ( about 2cm near the little toe area, between the mesh fabric and the leather). Luckily the inner gortex sock has not been touched.
I tried searching the web for ideas regarding repairing the hole with little success. I even approached a shoe mender who quoted some sill money and suggested just buying a new pair.
Anyway I had a boot with a hole. It is not in a place where it will seriously effect the performance of the boot unless I am in a bog. So I thought about repairing the said hole and decided good old superglue would do the trick. I applied the glue, let it set and went for a test walk, the fabric simply came apart (the toe pressing against it), so that was no good.
The next idea I had was to use rubber compound, the little tube you get in cycle repair kits to glue the patch to the inner tube. So I put some of that over the hole, but it would seem that you have to keep applying the glue, layer upon layer until I had a thick enough build up covering the hole. After a couple of days of glue build up, this seems to have done the trick, the compound is flexible enough to allow the toe movement around the hole without putting too much undue stress on it. The rubber will proof the hole from the elements.
Unfortunately it doesnt look very pretty, due to the boot being green, it looks someone has spat something nasty on the boot, but it should do the job and can always apply more of the compound. This should work on all fabric boots, but I am not sure about how the chemicals may affect leather or treated materials, but potentially would save you a few pennies and possible a new set of boots....
oh dear thats not what you want to find when your on your way out.
