Author Topic: damp feet  (Read 2294 times)

Ronin83

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damp feet
« on: 22:44:46, 26/08/18 »
Went on a walk today for about 3 hours in rain wearing, for the first time, new scarpa r evo gtx boots.
At the end it seemed the boots were quite wet inside at the heel and from the top middle to the toes. My socks were wet too.
These boots have great reviews, are brand new and gtx. I find it hard to believe they are letting water in already, but it seems more than sweat, especially as it wasnt warm today(top temp 12*).
The suede upper was saturated and didnt bead water even at the start.
Should i assume these boots are faulty or is it more likely to be condensation from feet heat + cooling down + cold water on the outside?
Maybe internal moisture couldnt escape due to the outside being constantly wet?


Owen

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #1 on: 22:50:20, 26/08/18 »
Could be water running down your trouser leg and into the boots through the big hole where your foot goes in. Gaiters are the only way to stop this and who wants to wear them this time of year.

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #2 on: 23:23:42, 26/08/18 »
Could be water running down your trouser leg and into the boots through the big hole where your foot goes in. Gaiters are the only way to stop this and who wants to wear them this time of year.


Nah. I was wearing waterproof over trousers which covered the top of my boot. Plus the water couldn't have magically jumped to my toes, missing my ankle

sussamb

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #3 on: 07:32:56, 27/08/18 »
Stand them in a sink, put some weights inside them and fill the sink up to the water line on the boots.  If they let water in they're faulty.
Where there's a will ...

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #4 on: 16:59:21, 27/08/18 »
Stand them in a sink, put some weights inside them and fill the sink up to the water line on the boots.  If they let water in they're faulty.


Left em to soak for couple hours. Seem dry inside.
I guess it was excessive temperature differential(humid weather, cold outside, hot feet inside, hot when walking, cold when stopped for food/pub) and outside saturation of suede upper preventing moisture from escaping.


I'll see how they go though. If theyre not breathing then there's no benefit over thick smooth leather




KimE

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #5 on: 18:54:49, 27/08/18 »

[font=]"I'll see how they go though. If theyre not breathing then there's no benefit over thick smooth leather"
[font=]
 
[font=]Wet boots/clothes cant breath they can only do it then they are dry on the outside.  

gunwharfman

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #6 on: 21:37:08, 27/08/18 »
Sussambs idea is a good one. In my case I just filled my boots up with water and left them overnight. Really annoying in the morning when you can see water around and along the external seams!Took a while for them to dry, but they did and in three boot cases I've taken them back, either to be refunded or to buy another brand of boot.

I have also had wet feet for the other reason, I wear gaiters and the trouser fabric above the knee became wet and the water seeped down between the gaitor and trouser fabric, into my socks and of course from then on I had wet feet.

I have now more or less solved this problem, I now wear my gaiters under my trousers, not necessarily perfect, it depends on the type and intensity of the rain but its much more effective that my previous way of wearing them.

Even though you were wearing waterproof leggings I still believe that in certain weathers and rains water can travel upwards, over the top of your boot, into your socks and then wet feet again. I believe this happens because when we are walking the bottom hem of the trousers may move, swish back and forth and send the wetness upwards. I always noticed that in some wet weathers, or when walking though long wet grass, the inside bottom of my trousers were often wet up to about 2" sometimes. I've seen this clearly when I used to motor cycle to work, on arrival how did the rain get down inside my wet weather gear? I always noticed that at certain speeds as the rain hit my chest area, some flowed downwards but some flowed up, over the top of my tightly fitting neck area and by the time I got home I could be soaked from from neck to groin.

Troggy

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #7 on: 23:23:25, 27/08/18 »
It may well be condensation if there's been a leakage. The suede tongue seems a bit iffy if it isn't waterproofed along with the rest of the boot, it shouldn't be letting water in so soon, if at all.

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #8 on: 08:08:21, 28/08/18 »
It definitely isn't water running down into the boot, my socks were dry at the top.


I wouldn't fill them with water. Gtx is supposed to stop water coming in, no claims about stopping it getting out so it proves nothing helpful.


My second concern is that the suede was still soaking wet after 2 days in a ventilated room. That certainly makes for cold feet, if not wet

gunwharfman

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #9 on: 10:09:13, 28/08/18 »
I tried putting them in a bowl of water first but could not, even 12 hours later, decide if water was actually seeping in, if so the internal padding was absorbing it which is why filling my boots with water worked in my case. Leakage was easy to see on the outside of my boots, tiny damp patches along the seam, or just tiny bubbles developing.

Just a thought but if water always flows to the bottom, could water have been absorbed by the padding at the top of the boot, dribbled down to the sole inside the padding and then spread itself accross the flat sole of the boot?

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #10 on: 18:51:45, 28/08/18 »
After the sink test, I left tissue inside the toe area of both boots over night and all day. When I removed the tissue it was damp and that's just from the leftover wetness of the upper suede.
This is unacceptable for an expensive boot.
ImIgonna return them on the account that theyre not waterproof and stick to leather boots. Back to the drawing board.
For f*#k sake!!


Might have to head to my nearest altberg stockist and spend the big bucks. Despite softness and comfort of suede/fabric, leather is, I think, the way forward for UK. Kind of knew that, but wanted to give it a go.
I do have some haix leather boots(cheap from eBay) which I haven't used yet, which seem awesome, but a tad big. I was reserving them just for shorter, wet, muddy, sludgy situations. They're British army boots so probs not high on the long distance comfort scale. Maybe I should give them a good go first though before splashing out.

kinkyboots

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #11 on: 10:51:17, 29/08/18 »
This might be what you are experiencing the first signs of with these boots?

Quote
Some wearers decried the dyed tongue of this backpacking footwear. They said it bled and stained their socks after getting drenched.

https://runrepeat.com/scarpa-r-evolution-gtx

It's definitely something you need to be aware of and something to keep your eye on should the retailer or Scarpa successfully wriggle out of this one and you end up having to keep them because you've worn them.

Personally I avoid any outdoors footwear which includes suede in it's manufacture as I just don't think it's a suitable material for use in this country's climate and apart from that it's difficult to keep clean and keep waterproof for any length of time and as you pointed out when it gets wet it takes ages to dry out.

Suede may be fine for use in a dry and warm desert type climate or a dry and cold alpine type climate but in my opinion it's a useless material for use here in the UK.

gunwharfman

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #12 on: 11:42:26, 29/08/18 »
I've no idea what makes a good boot and I don't believe its just to do with price. The issue that most irritates me is how easy it is for manufacturers to claim that their product is 'waterproof' and then present us the public with something that proves not to be so. Maybe I bought POETS Day boots, 'p*ss off early, tomorrows Saturday?'. If I did, I did it three times.  The manufacturers push the 'waterproof' feature, oooh its GTX so it must be good routine to increase their sales but for people like me its not a joke. Some of my hikes have been made less enjoyable because I've believed in the waterproof claims and I should'nt have. When I bought my recent cheapies from Decathlon, although it is claimed they are waterproof, I chose to take no notice, I just wanted cheap comfortable boots and thats what I got. Lucky I took this attitude because my pair were not waterproof.

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #13 on: 12:24:37, 29/08/18 »
This might be what you are experiencing the first signs of with these boots?

https://runrepeat.com/scarpa-r-evolution-gtx

It's definitely something you need to be aware of and something to keep your eye on should the retailer or Scarpa successfully wriggle out of this one and you end up having to keep them because you've worn them.

Personally I avoid any outdoors footwear which includes suede in it's manufacture as I just don't think it's a suitable material for use in this country's climate and apart from that it's difficult to keep clean and keep waterproof for any length of time and as you pointed out when it gets wet it takes ages to dry out.

Suede may be fine for use in a dry and warm desert type climate or a dry and cold alpine type climate but in my opinion it's a useless material for use here in the UK.


I didn't have any dye issues, but yeh, could be handy to know.
I agree on suede. I am done. Leather is the way. Kind of knew that anyway, but iveIlearned my lesson once and for all.

Ronin83

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Re: damp feet
« Reply #14 on: 20:44:32, 30/08/18 »
Well well well...
I took the Scarpa back, explaining that theyretnot waterproof as advertised blah blah etc. The manager cam to sort it, put up no fight at all and did a refund for me without me even needing to ask. I went there ready for a row and it was actually smooth and easy.
So, thanks to blacks. Maybe they do have their problems, but they also have cheap prices and good customer service(at least in the store I went to)


Now to look for some LEATHER boots to replace as my main hikers.
Meindl or altberg. The search continues

 

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