How are diving booties made?

[Bigbella]

While I typically admire the whole DIY ethic, there are clear reasons why I do not make my own shirts and, especially, shoes -- both of which can often be had, for less than the raw materials involved -- not to mention those particular skills, of which I have little to no capacity. Leave it to those Chinese and Ulghur reeducation camps.

I swear by rock boots, which I use with either dry suits or wetsuits with neoprene socks. These particular ones are from Scubapro; but I have had other brands, similarly designed, which wore just as well. They are truly long-lasting; have an actual rigid sole and upper; and are generally in the US 90 -100.00 range.

It should also be mentioned that they managed to survive a glancing Torpedo ray strike in Pacific Grove, without any insult to my heel.

The pair in the photo, have been used commercially for about five years -- over thousands of dives; and the occasional wear and tear that I have experienced with them, can easily be solved by a modicum of patience and a cheap tube of neoprene cement . . .

 

[mysteriousmonkey29]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! The rock boots look very cool and durable. I do think that they would stop a stingray barb, although I agree that neoprene does not.

The videos on converse and boot construction are also very interesting--a lot to imitate/learn from in there.

My only lingering question is, does anyone have information on how more stretchy, less robust neoprene-sock booties are made? I have actually identified a material that is puncture resistant enough to stop a barb, but more flexible than hard vulcanized rubber, as is a common theme in most of the suggestions here. I'm thinking of making them more like socks than like boots, so that they can be more flexible and close-fitting to the foot in the water.

The only issue is that the material doesn't really stretch (unlike neoprene), and I'm not sure how I'm going to work around that.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The above advice to construct them similar to normal boots is good. You'll have to design or reverse-engineer a pattern. Maybe something like a high top Converse shoe template would work. Use the same stitching techniques used on wetsuit neoprene. A sewing awl might be useful here, great tool to have around. Use a glue like Aquaseal or neoprene cement to seal the stitches and glue the sole on. You could use a commercially made sole (maybe taken from an old pair of shoes), cast the sole one yourself (tougher but cool project), or make it out of something recycled like tire material.

Sorry you had so many hostile answers and people telling you to just buy it, this is the DIY forum after all and sometimes projects are worth DIYing even if it's a weird idea or there are commercial alternatives.

This tgread didn't start in the DIY. It was moved over to DIY by a moderator.

 

[mysteriousmonkey29]

Ah. Well thanks to them, then!