Cold Wet Boots

[shaneh]

Well as the title States.

How do you dry them out quickly (when on the move) when they have been totally submerged and are soaking wet?

Now I know a few of you have a BIG problem with Bear Grylls, but I’m quite a big fan, and what he stands for and what he has done. So this thread ISN’T about pulling him to pieces..

But, I have noticed on his programs, that he is possibly missing something. And I think quite a big part of his survival techniques, considering that ALL his programs are supposed to teaching us how to WALK out of a Disaster situation. On more than one occasion, well almost every episode, he has been fully submerged, and he has always been wearing his boots / trainers. Whether it be falling through ice, or crossing a stream / river or in his rapid insertion by jumping out of a helicopter into the sea.

Now when I was in the army, you were taught that the most important thing to keep clean and dry was your feet (in-fact during basic training your feet were examined every morning by the company medic.) Once your feet give way, your out of operation. I think this is one area Bear is forgetting. I notice that when he was in Iceland and Canada (but to name two) in sub arctic freezing conditions, fully submerged, boots soaking, he spends a little time drying his clothes over an open fire (sometimes not even his trousers come off to be dried!)... but in reality could he keep going in these freezing conditions with wet boots?

In my opinion, yes but not for long, before frostbite set in...

I remember whilst on exercise, almost 15years ago in Dartmoor wearing a set of Danners, I was crossing a small wooden bridge when it collapsed, I fell into deep stream and my Boots were soaked, after drying my clothes, I put on a pair of gore-tex socks and carried on, the boots took days to dry, and about a week to be back to normal!

Am I missing a vital “ingredient.”

Is Bear missing a vital part in teaching his Survival techniques?

 

[JohnL]

well it depends what boots he has, obviously. A good waterproof boot that is laced up fairly tightly will not let much water in even when submerged. Thick winter boots can take weeks to dry if they do get water inside though!

I suspect that Bear Grylls has more than one pair of boots and changes when the first ones get wet.

It is better to keep your boots dry, but if you are crossing a river I would take my socks of & put my boots back on. To wade in bare feet is asking for trouble. Then on the other side I would empty my boots out, & then put socks & boots back on. The sock would soak up the last bit of water & stop it sloshing around.

 

[robevs73]

this may seem a bit strange and non bushcrafty to some but if you are doing a lot of walking in wet conditions carry a news paper or two in the bottom of your pack then loosely stuff the paper in your boots at night.
as for Bear Grylls hes got a big crew around him and is not in any danger of getting so much as a common cold! we all know hes got a 4 star hotel to go back to.

 

[baggins]

To be fair, i think you have to take bears programs with a pinch of salt. They can be entertaining and amusing but, as a template for traveling and living in the wilderness, they are somewhat off the mark. Remember, he has admitted to spending his nights in nice warm hotels, so having a wet boots for a day really isn't a problem for him.
The main thing is to try and avoid getting them wet in the first case. Sometimes getting wet feet is unavoidable no mater how good your boots are. In these instances, goretex or sealskin socks are a boon as you can still keep your feet dry, even with wet boots. A spare pair or two of socks, in my mind is an essential in your pack.
If you are out for a few days, a fire can help, but remember, too warm and leather boots will crack and fabric boots have been known to melt
Sphagnum moss or old mans beard are good at absorbing moisture, so you can stuff you wet boots with these overnight and alot of the moisture will be drawn away.

Cheers

Baggins

 

[xylaria]

Stuff them with dry grass overnight, or heat sand/soil/stones and fill them, then empty them and repeat. Soil can make the boots very dirty but it drys them in a hurry reasonably. It doesn't do your boots any good drying them like this. I have coughed up for gortex lined boots now.

 

[widu13]

A tightly laced waterproof boot submerged in water will be just as wet as non waterproof ones

When in Norway and not using ski boots, we sometimes slept with our CBH (wrapped in something) in our doss bag. Now they were never soaking wet out there but in the morning they were dry and more importantly over there- flexible!

I can't see why sleeping with them won't dry fully wet boots to a fairly good dryness- after all 38C is quite warm!

 

[w00dsmoke]

In cold wet conditions without a heat source the answer is "you can't". Like folk said before, goretex socks are the way forward. Forget neoprane bootees, your feet just end up warm but still wet which = footrot.

If it's dry and you don't have a heat source, take the insoles out, turn them upside down (the boots) and put onto sticks knocked into the ground in a really breezey area and they'll be reasonably dry in a few hours.

WS

 

[SMARTY]

I must admit that from my limited experience boots dry quicker if they are the right way up. any moisture vapour produced as part of the drying process can escape and is not recycled in the upside down boots. Its worked for me.

 

[w00dsmoke]

I must admit that from my limited experience boots dry quicker if they are the right way up. any moisture vapour produced as part of the drying process can escape and is not recycled in the upside down boots. Its worked for me.

But if you combine gravity and air and are out in the field with little ambient temp, gravity gets most of the water out faster than by convection/evaporation. Try it with sodden boots in the conditions described. The water soaked in the lining fabric or leather of the boot needs to drain out first.

 

[SMARTY]

I'll try that technique, thanks for the heads up. I did leave out about wringing the boots out first.

 

[gowersponger]

this may seem a bit strange and non bushcrafty to some but if you are doing a lot of walking in wet conditions carry a news paper or two in the bottom of your pack then loosely stuff the paper in your boots at night.
as for Bear Grylls hes got a big crew around him and is not in any danger of getting so much as a common cold! we all know hes got a 4 star hotel to go back to.

he is ex ,,sas,, dont no why people love to hate him i find him intresting to watch

 

[Toddy]

In the cold and wet you can't do it properly.
However, if you're wearing wool socks and you keep moving, your feet will still be warm since the boots stop the windchill. The heat from your body will slowly dry them out from the inside. The wool allows your feet to breathe too so they don't go mouldy.

No idea if this will work in frozen conditions though. It does in a cold, very wet, UK.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[MrEd]

In the cold and wet you can't do it properly.
However, if you're wearing wool socks and you keep moving, your feet will still be warm since the boots stop the windchill. The heat from your body will slowly dry them out from the inside. The wool allows your feet to breathe too so they don't go mouldy.

No idea if this will work in frozen conditions though. It does in a cold, very wet, UK.

cheers,
Toddy

yep, then if you stop at night, dry the socks out properly by the fire and stop your boots getting more wet and the following day they will dry out even more, well thats what i hav done. i love wool

 

[robevs73]

he is ex ,,sas,, dont no why people love to hate him i find him intresting to watch

I dont hate him! I saw him interviewed on tv he seamed to be a nice bloke, just think his programmes are a bit dangerous if you are easily led. what part of the Gower are you from? your not far from me. do you know Andy Price?

 

[MrEd]

i was in clas ohlson the other day and saw this

http://www.clasohlson.co.uk/link/m3/Product,Product.aspx?artnr=18-4091

would be great for drying out boots when you get home!

 

[hiraeth]

Wet boots and feet are a thing of the past, Yeti gaitors ended all that for me.

 

[skaus84]

he is ex ,,sas,, dont no why people love to hate him i find him intresting to watch

He was 21 SAS Reserves. I personally think anyone who can put themselves through that sort of punishment deserves an acknowledging nod at the very least! His shows are entertaining, and if it gets some people interested in survival or bushcraft then they are worth while.

I have never really had a problem putting damp boots on in the morning as long as my inner socks are dry. As a side note which is slightly off topic, when I did my silver DoE in the cadets, I did it in jeans. Imagine my pleasure on the second morning pulling on a pair of cold soaking wet jeans!

 

[malente]

As said wool socks and keep moving works during the day. At night, dry socks (either by fire or in your armpits) and keep the boots from getting more wet. if you have fire (and lots of fuel) then you may be able to have it burning for long enough to dry out the boots.

remember, 90% or so of survival is in the head, so wet and freezing toes might not matter if you want to *survive*. Lost a toe to frostbite, but still alive? Better then dead with all toes....

ATB

Mike

 

[Paul_B]

In the UK people make too much of dry socks, boots and feet. We don't have many periods of cold weather but we do have a relatively mild wet climate. In most times of the year wet feet are not problem but in winter it is more of a problem. It does depend on your boots too. If you have boots with a membrane then when they get wet you won't dry them very quickly. If they are leather without a membrane they will dry quickly.

I have made the switch to using light footwear. Indeed I have worn my fell shoes all through this winter without any problems. They have no membrane and are made of hydrophobic materials. This means they release the water well and dry very easily. The only thing is you have to get used to wet feet unless you wear membrane socks. I wear sealskins personally in winter and autumn. I started using them to cut down the wind as much as keeping my feet dry with my old lightweight boots when the membrane in them went. Anyway the sealskins in fell shoes work well for me. They are as high up as boots so you can wade through streams above the top of the shoes keeping dry feet so long as the water is below the tops of the socks. I've done that with streams and bogs a lot. Also my shoes drain and dry quickly so I don't wory about them.

As far as drying boots goes my tip is forget it with membrane boots. Leather boots need the inside only drying and the classic trip is newspaper inside them. There are also stuff you can buy to dry them out. Some of them designed for ski boots. One is Dampire but there are other ones. I think there is one that uses a crystal/gel thing that absorbs moisture locking it away in the crystals. They can then be regenerated by applying heat. I am guessing that it could be easier to use these to dry the boots then using a fire to heat them to get them ready to work their magic the next night. just an idea.

If you have wet boots and put dry socks in them you will end up with wet socks and not much dryer boots. If you get wet boots on a multiday backpack then put your wet socks and boots on each morning. Keep your dry socks for the tent. If you can dry out your socks then it is quite possible that you can get your boots dry or at least dry enough. Ultimately, if you get your boots wet one day it is likely that you will get them wet the next too, especially with our climate. live with it I'm afraid.

BTW I've heard the best goretex socks are made by a company called Rocky. US company that had a distributor over here but stopped it. I heard they were about to sign up on a new deal so bring them over here. Apparently they last longer than other makes.

One thing though, leather boots do not like direct heat. Do not leave them too near a fire or on a radiator. I used to dry boots out quickly and the leather at the flex point cracked. This meant they lost their water resistance and leaked.

 

[Bravo4]

robevs73, making use of newspaper to dry your boots is as relevant as a hobo stove. It's a hobo blanket in a pinch, an insulating layer and a most excellent boot dryer. A guy showed me a trick; get the paper all the way down to the toe but don't cram it in. Just give the sheet a twist or two. Have a nice long, flat tail of paper sticking out the top of the boot. Angle the "wick" towards a heat source and the exsposed bit of paper really helps to draw out the moisture. Works awesome. I've never tried it with a cotton bandana, but it occurs to me that might work as well.

Not exactly a boot, but to show the "paper wick",