Rubber boot storage

[Rich]

How do you store your rubber boots during the off-season. I usually kick mine off in the garage on the last day of hunting season and they sit there till the next season. Could be why I always end up with cracks and leaks. I got a set of Muck's for Father's Day and want to get a few years out of them. Any suggestions.

Rich

[Galgo]

I just pulled mine out of the back of the car after sitting there for a month. (that explains the odour). Now they are sitting on my garage florr till I get some scouting and tree stand building done.

F

[JRS]

I wash mine off and store them in my basement with my hunting clothes. I believe heat and sunlight are probably the two biggest culprits in breaking down rubber, and causing dry rot.

[bbbwb]

In storing rubber boots, I wash them let them dry thoroughly and then rub a coating of vaseline onto them. Store them in a cool dark place. This seems to help in prolonging the life of them.

bbbwb

[Boo]

UV light, heat and ozone accelerate the curing process which is what you see when the rubber gets hard and cracked. Store then in a cool, dry dark environment like a black plastic bag.

[shafferm]

You may want to be careful of using vaseline or other petroleum based products on rubber as it may actually break it down faster, some rubber types are better at handling petroleum products than others. One thing you could try would be to wash them, dry them completely and seal them in a couple layers of black garbage bags like Boo said and you might try adding a couple of desiccant packs inside each boot to keep them nice and dry.

[Mike P]

UV light, heat and ozone accelerate the curing process which is what you see when the rubber gets hard and cracked. .

The tag line of the company where I worked for 30 years prior to my retirement was "High Performance Co-Polymers for Industry." In layman's terms that means High Performance Rubbers. And no, that did not include condoms!

Rubber is a generic term. Buna/Nitrile, EPDM, Hypalon, Urethane, Neoprene, and a host of others are all referred to as rubber. But each has a unique set of properties to accomplish what is required.

Various materials are used in "rubber" boots. But one thing most have in common is that they are impregnated with certain ingredients to keep them pliable and supple. These plasticizers are added when the rubber is milled.

Solvents, some oils and certainly heat when placed in contact with the "rubber" extract these plasticizers and the "rubber" becomes harder (higher durometer) and more dense.

But the number one killer of rubber boots is ozone. And the biggest generator of ozone where boots are concerned is electric motors.

I agree that storing your boots in a black plastic garbage bag is a very good idea as long as there is no moisture problem and mold is not as issue. But the number one thing to do is make sure you don't store them anywhere near any electric motor.

[Wayne B]

A good buddy of mine is (was.. retired now) a service manager for a Ford dealership. I would get the gel from him that they would use to treat all the window rubber on their vehicles. I've used it even on the cheap Kamik boots and I've had some of them for close to 10 years. I'll have to check but I think it's silicone based.

[raydaughety]

The last pair of rubber boots that I purchased were LaCross Alpha Burly's. They came with a "form" that goes into the boot and is supposed to keep the ankle area supported and stops the boot from being in a flat, collapsed state for an extended period of time. I've always kept my knee boots behind the seat of my truck or in the tool box during hunting season and in my closet in the house in the off season, always using the form so that they keep their shape . I've had these boots for 4 years and their in great shape. But then again I probably don't put as many miles on my boots than most of you do.

Ray