Dry Suit Boots? Input needed.

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Alright, I'll just throw this in as a counterpoint: I don't like socks and overboots. I prefer DUI turbosoles....for whatever that opinion is worth. I must admit that every dry suit that I have owned to date is from DUI. Turbosoles allow me to you use the same fin for wet or dry diving. If I switch to a rock boot I would have to change my jets from XL to XXL. YMMV.

Safe dives,

Cyp
 
have always liked a real over boot with an arch and heal .. seasoft stealth with my wetsuit and rockboots with my drysuit (although, rockboots do not fit in with the phrase real boot) thinking on tennis shoes next
I learned hard way about not using neoprene boots over drysuit socks, inverted, my feet inflated and my foot came came out of boot
 
One thing I should add is that with traditional rubber boots, my feet always feel squeezed when I am vertical and feet low in the water column. With an integrated sock and outer boot, I don't get that squeezed feeling.

What do you think is the most important thing in the design of the rock boot? I like the idea of lacing on the side with a pull cord instead of laces. I just don't like the idea of knocking off someone else's product and importing crap from China. Another thing I'm wondering is that we use both a heel on our boots, and a flat sole. Our heeled boot seems more popular. Most of the "Rock Boots" I've seen are flat soled which seem like they would be uncomfortable walking on rocks.
Laces on the "inside" side of the boot would be fine and would be easy to reach when gearing up or getting out of the boots and would be reasonably snag free. A pull cord with some sort of slide lock would be fine as well.

But, there is also nothing wrong with laces in the front. Something you might experiment with is a lace up boot (standard front or side laced) with a zipper in the middle of the laces (something like what used to show up as a lace option on combat boots back in the day). You'd need a decent plastic zipper like those used on wet suit boot, but it would allow both adjustability and ease of entry. The major advantage of a lace up boot is that the fit and width of the boot can be tailored to fit your foot and different sock thicknesses. Traditional rubber DS boots feel sloppy, and that adds to the squeeze issue as well.

In either case, if you use laces, you need a place to put the excess cord. One thing I like on the EVO 3 boot is that I can lace them up and tie the knot toward the inside eyelet of the boot, and then tuck the excess cord under the tab that wraps around the boot and supports the last pair of eyelets. It keeps it very clean with nothing sticking out to create an entanglement hazard.

I'm a definite fan of a heel and at least some arch support as it greatly aids walking as does a reasonably aggressive tread - but don't go crazy with heel, arch or tread as you want it all to fit in an XL or XXL sized fin, and the primary role of the boot is swimming, so it needs to retain good feel in the fin.

Material selection is also important. One of my major beefs with the DUI rock boots is that they just don't hold up well and basically start to rot and fall apart. The other major objections are the flat sole and generally poor/floppy fit.
 
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I have had both types and prefer the integrated boots if they truly fit and only require a medium thickness insulated sock. This works best with a custom suit when you can get a good fit.

Jeff
 
As a woman I want sock type. I have a Mares She Dives with integrated boots. They are too big. My feet have way too much room. I've tried filling them up with all sorts of things, but nothing really works. I tried stuffing the boots with the inserts for fins that people use when not wearing any boots with fins to avoid getting two pair of fins. All that dead space leaves room for AIR. I've only been inverted once and that's one time too many.

As many have mentioned there is less fin control with the boots. I feel my feet moving in the boot and not transferring the movement to the fins. I have to over rotate my feet to transfer movement. Since the boots are so loose I get blisters. UGH. Thankfully I stay dry otherwise I might just go back to diving wet for all the foot pains.

As for walking, forget it! The sole might be thick, but there is no stability with my feet flopping inside! I like the suggestion above for some type of lacing or adjustable zipper.

Now if I were a rich diver I'd have a custom suit made!



Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
 
One thing I should add is that with traditional rubber boots, my feet always feel squeezed when I am vertical and feet low in the water column. With an integrated sock and outer boot, I don't get that squeezed feeling.

Laces on the "inside" side of the boot would be fine and would be easy to reach when gearing up or getting out of the boots and would be reasonably snag free. A pull cord with some sort of slide lock would be fine as well.

But, there is also nothing wrong with laces in the front. Something you might experiment with is a lace up boot (standard front or side laced) with a zipper in the middle of the laces (something like what used to show up as a lace option on combat boots back in the day). You'd need a decent plastic zipper like those used on wet suit boot, but it would allow both adjustability and ease of entry. The major advantage of a lace up boot is that the fit and width of the boot can be tailored to fit your foot and different sock thicknesses. Traditional rubber DS boots feel sloppy, and that adds to the squeeze issue as well.

In either case, if you use laces, you need a place to put the excess cord. One thing I like on the EVO 3 boot is that I can lace them up and tie the knot toward the inside eyelet of the boot, and then tuck the excess cord under the tab that wraps around the boot and supports the last pair of eyelets. It keeps it very clean with nothing sticking out to create an entanglement hazard.

I'm a definite fan of a heel and at least some arch support as it greatly aids walking as does a reasonably aggressive tread - but don't go crazy with heel, arch or tread as you want it all to fit in an XL or XXL sized fin, and the primary role of the boot is swimming, so it needs to retain good feel in the fin.

Material selection is also important. One of my major beefs with the DUI rock boots is that they just don't hold up well and basically start to rot and fall apart. The other major objections are the flat sole and generally poor/floppy fit.

One thing that could be done is what we did in the Army with our boot laces. They were long enough to lace all the way up to the top eyelet with enough left over to tuck into the top of the boot. The laces were long enough that tucking them in and having them fall out was not a worry because they were tucked in deep.
 
So what ever happened with this?

I'm looking to get my first dry suit and so I have a vested interest.

It looked like there was potential for USIA to develop their own rock boot, but there's still nothing on their website.
 
I have two suits and each one has these;
usiaultimatebootmain.png


Ultimate Replacement Drysuit Boot - Dive Right in Scuba
 
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So....you really like them and that was your first choice for a boot?

I like the idea of having a boot that is firmly attached to my foot, wiggle room just lessens efficiency and creates the potential for blisters, as others mentioned. Plus, I have really bad ankles when it comes to stability, just broke my ankle at the beginning of the year in fact, so having something that is at all loose with no ankle support is not appealing at all. I can't see how the Ultimate Replacement Drysuit Boot would fit properly in both cold/ice water and warmer waters. Surely it won't feel as good a fit while wearing less insulation on your foot as it does when wearing max insulation.

Of course, having size 15 feet, I'm going to be limited with any option I go with, and a pair of Converse sneakers as overboots as a couple people mentioned, might be my only solution.
 
I wear size 14. I wanted boots that wouldn't wear out as fast as the stock boots on the drysuit. I sent my suit and these boots to Superior Drysuit Repair and they attached them perfectly.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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