Wading Boot Sole Repair – Goop or Barge Cement?

Wading boot sole repair – Goop or Barge Cement?

Wading boot sole repair – Goop or Barge Cement? Worn out wading boots are hopefully the sign of good things.  The best “good thing” of course is that you wore out your boots with lots of fishing!  If your boots failed shortly after purchasing them, that’s not such a good thing (and you should contact your local fly shop regarding repair under warranty).  In this day and age many of us like the idea or repairing, reusing and recycling our gear.  This falls in the repairing category.  Repairing a loose, floppy sole on your well worn (or not) wading boots is a relatively easy repair with either of these two products.  Barge Cement – Felt Sole Replacement Kit works very well on felt soles while both Barge Cement and Aquaseal products work on rubber soled wading boots.
I typically stretch somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 days of fishing out of a pair of mid to top end wading boots with several “maintenance” repairs along the way.  This picture is of one of those repairs (the second for this boot) after the sole pulled loose on the South Fork of the Shenandoah last week.  These repairs usually run something less than $12.00 – This repair: One tube of Barge Cement $7.00, six days of drying the boot, 15 minutes smearing Barge Cement on the sole and clamping it all together.
Here’s the process I typically use to repair a loose sole on my wading boots.
Step 1 – Clean & Dry the wading boot to be repaired. I let this wading boot dry inside the house for almost a week.
Step 2 – Following the manufacturers recommendations, gather up the supplies needed to apply either Aquaseal or Barge Cement – Felt Sole Replacement Kit. This usually includes some type of applicator like a popsicle stick or disposable brush and clamps, ropes, boards or whatever you plan to use to maintain constant even pressure while the glue dries (up to 72 hours).
Step 3 – Apply a liberal amount of glue to your loose wading boot sole.
Step 4 – Place a clamp (or whatever you plan to use) on the boot to maintain constant, even pressure on the repair. Place the boot where it can dry with adequate ventilation.
Step 5 – Go Fishing and try out your repair!
If you are reading this and you find that you have wading boots or wading gear that is in usable condition and you are no longer using, please give us a call.  We regularly take in unused/ unwanted wading gear and give it to local school kids or charities who typically put it to prompt use and use it until it literally falls apart.  (540-984-4212)