I don't have Rock Treads, I do have some of the Patagonia aluminum bar boots. They work. They are less destructive than studs. They will still make a mess of a fly line.
If I may ask, as I understand it...installation of these involves drilling entirely through the boot. How do you plan to make that work with boot-foot waders? Lots of aqua-seal?
If I may ask, as I understand it...installation of these involves drilling entirely through the boot. How do you plan to make that work with boot-foot waders? Lots of aqua-seal?
I bought rubber mats at a restaurant supply store and cut them to size and put them on the floor of my drift boat. They protect the floor and they don't slide around too bad. They've been in the boat for years and haven't replaced, so they're durable. When I remove the mats to clean the boat, no cleat/stud marks.
I did the same thing. Went to Home Depot and bought 1/4" textured rubber matting off the roll. Down side is that it was not UV resistant. 2 years later, totally disintegrated. Ive moved on to outdoor super thin carpet with a thin rubber backing. Same cheap price and seems to be holding up. For my boat it added about 40lbs. Down side is it takes forever to dry out. Dosnt really hold water but stays wet for days.
I suggested nothing of the kind, only that he could quite easily install the disks from one side only should he desire. They probably should be vibram type outsoles, and it goes without saying they have to be thicker than the length of the taps used. Otherwise it’s easy.
The question was about damage to BOATS, not hiking. I would not use bars at all for any kind of extensive hiking, though many people on here have reported that they don’t mind. They are a pain enough on head-sized dry boulders for any distance.
We fished with a guy that does not allow spikes/studs of any kind in his boats. We poo-pooed this attitude but then we saw the chunk of flooring removed by a previous angler with spikes so we got off our high horses.
As for the rest of your comments I don’t know what the F you are talking about. It is axiomatic that larger bars will grip better, which is all I care about in hard wading conditions. They are FAR better than spikes except for a few special surfaces. To paraphrase Ron Swanson:
Dear Disks, you are aluminum that is lying about being bars. Be bars or be nothing. Yours, Ron Swanson. Also as far as I’m concerned not wading is lying about being fly fishing. Be wet or be nothing. :chuckle:
I used the bars for years and have used the rock treads for about 1 year. I can't say I notice much difference in the performance of the two. In my experience, both of them are head/shoulders above felt.
I've used a pair of Weinbrenner felt boots for a few years now, and just use 3/8" or 1/2" (can't recall) sheet metal screws for cleats. Cost about $4 for 50 or so, and while they do wear out (or get lost--I don't use any Loctite or glue or anything) after several outings, replacing every few months isn't a big deal.
The combination felt and well-placed screws provides excellent traction, better than my Simms rubber soled w/cleats that I had prior, although considerably heavier.
I have Rock Treads. IMHO, they work better than the Simms studs. Just make sure your Rock Treads kit comes with Loctite red, or else you Rock Treads won't stay on.
Do they work as well as felt? I don't think so, but they are the next best thing, and they are a lot less messy than felt.
A different direction I realize but I have been using Korker boots for 10+ years now and have 3 different soles for them. The rubber one with no cleats or bars are great for hiking or in a boat. They call them sticky soles but here in the PNW not so much. I have the Triple Threat with the carbide spikes, great in the river, not good in a boat and the felt, good in a boat but I believe illegal in some places. The down side is it makes a sandy wet mess in my sling pack and takes a few minutes to change them over. Hope this helps.
I used Rock Treads on the bottom of my vibram stocking foot boots and had zero problems the entire week wading the river or walking the banks or sandbars. One suggestion is to use the blue Loctite vs the red if you ever plan to remove them. With the blue you can use basic hand tools where the red requires "heat" to loosen them.
Our guide said no problems with the Treads, or Patagonia foot tractor type of cleats in the rafts, however he would not allow studs in them. They were very easy to install as well. It might be more difficult with boot boot waders to install the Treads but you may find similar difficulty with any style of aluminum cleats. I'd give the Treads a try.
I recently got Korkers Triple Threat for my Devil's Canyons and I would imagine that they are similar to the Rock Treads - the hex nuts version anyway.
I put on the hex nuts rather than the bars and they are pretty good, albeit a bit heavy. I still had a few very slippery moments on some very large mossy boulders but I guess nothing would be good against those.
For pure grip bars are definitely the best in my experience, especially on “large mossy boulders”. When I first started using them the issue of grip on all surface simply disappeared. Grip isn’t everything of course, so not every wading issue disappeared. Later I found a few rare surfaces where the grip did not work. I’m not %100 sure of the mechanics, but I believe it was for certain “glassy” volcanic-origin rocks that are smooth at the microscopic level. I just learned to stay off them. Also I discovered to my a***s detriment - freshly laid asphalt is kryptonite for bars.
Nevertheless, bars are not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea - they are heavy, and the thing that makes them great in the river can make them a bloody pain out of the river for many people. Namely, with most studs and spikes of various types they are designed to supplement the grip of your soles. With bars you are for the most part riding entirely on the bars the whole time. I have some custom boots with just a plain extra-hard EVA sole - no vibram outsole or tread of any kind as they were designed for bars - and after years of wading with them the surface of the EVA is barely even scratched between the bars.:Eyecrazy:
On mossy logs and rocks the carbide spikes work the best. Its the rocks with the orange veins in them that are the bad ones. I use the fine file on my Leatherman to keep them sharp.
I use Korkers small studs for spring and summer trout fishing, large spikes for winter steelhead, same boot just change soles depending on conditions , make sense to me. For my Clarka, at Home Deport I found a heavy duty rubber mat material with diamond cutouts to let the water drain through and small nubs on the bottom to keep it slightly of the deck and let the water collect in the bilge. 10 years now an the stuff is still growing strong, boat floor looks like new. I asked once what it was called, the person couldn’t tell me the name but he said a lot of taverns buy it for the floor behind the bar it lets spills drain through and it not slippery to walk on.
I have had Rock Treads on my last couple pairs of boots and have loved them. There's nothing really to worry about drilling through your boot, if your boots have removable inserts (never had a pair that didn't personally) just make sure to remove that before drilling and install the discs. The discs grips extremely well and last quite a long time, I personally feel more stable with them than I ever did with felt. Not to mention how terrible felt is when dealing with snow and ice. I would definitely recommend giving them a try.
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