UKH

Have had a pair of decent Scarpa full leather boots for years and they have been fantastic. However recently in extreme (Dartmoor) conditions they have failed me quite badly. More of a fast seep than a leak I guess. Recently re-proofed with Nikwax so I’m a bit stumped. Any tips? Is there any way to tell if the leather is knackered or the nikwax is crap?

Use wax dubbing. I find the nikwax stuff to be a bit rubbish.

This is much better:

https://grangers.co.uk/products/g-wax

Is it just age? After a few million creases even thick leather gives up.

They’re fairly old but they look in decent shape! Reluctant to replace them as they have been so good 

I’ll try some cheers. I’ve always used Nikwax and not had any complaints. Maybe leather has got to the point where it will need something decent

Sno Seal

Keep putting it on till the leather will take no more

I long ago concluded that waterproof footwear is a fallacy. There will always be ingress unless you are in wellies and its just a question of how fast that ingress happens. 
 

I have gone the other way entirely and have the lightest mesh shoes that I can find, at least they dry out quickly! My current ones got wet through in a river crossing at the start of a day and were dry by the time I reached camp just by me wearing them! No use in winter when cold is an issue, but for summer it seems the best option for me.

I also used to think the same but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by these boots 

Are they leaking somewhere around the sole or rand? Happened with my well old SLs. Leather is fine.

I would have to disagree. With a good pair of gaiters i  managed to do the Cape Wrath Trail in waterproof leather boots and didn't get so  much as damp feet.  

I concur. I've largely given up with boots outside of winter. For most of the year I now use Invo8 fell running shoes. On wet days I supplement them with a thin pair of Seal Skin neoprene socks.

Me too.

I can't stand gaiters. Long ones bunch up at my knees and short ones dig in to the bottom on my calf muscles. My winter trousers have built in gaiters which are great.

I guess that's why there are so many options of kit on the market as different things suit different people

Well unfortunately for me this is the correct answer. Had a closer look today and they have started to come away at the toe crease. Fixable? Unlikely I guess

Same experience here. I only wear gaiters as last resort though and they come off as soon as possible! 

Clean the boot first with white spirit, make sure it is dry and then melt the wax before aplying. And polish the boot. Wax again and polish.

( old army trick )

Dartmoor? Extreme conditions? We have had virtually no rain for 6 weeks until this weekend. Try Scotland for extreme wet conditions. That will sort your boots out!

You might be able to get some shoo goo or something in there to prevent it worsening/fill the hole a bit. 

To be fair, Devon is the wettest place I have ever lived. I have lived in Glasgow and currently in Stirling. Tavistock was much wetter!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmoor

https://en.climate-data.org/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/glencoe-61865/

apparently average annual rainfall on Dartmoor (Princetown) is 2000mm and Glencoe is 1800mm!

Well in over 20 years of ticking all the Munros I only ever had one decent summer when I was not continually soaked. Admittedly Dartmoor is dryer on the Torbay side,  but it only seems wet in the winter. From April onwards the moors are relatively dry, which perhaps explains why they catch fire every year!

You could try Sugru - they suggest using it on footwear but I haven't tried it (but have fixed lots of other stuff successfully with it)

Proper wax, like dubbin or Grangers G-wax is good. If the leather is a bit dry, try some Neatsfoot Oil. Its quite thin and will take several goes to fully impregnate the leather (which will soften too) but it works.

As a leather boot wearing Dartmoor local, I rarely have problems with leaky boots!

N

I don’t think the location is particularly important. If you’re walking through long wet grass, bogs and fording streams etc for hours on end that’s going to be tough for any boot and that’s when I found them to be leaking!

Incidentally I was around Fur Tor/Cut Hill area on Saturday and the ground was the driest I have ever seen it. If it hadn’t been for the few hours of rain in the morning I would have had dry feet!

I think it may be the Nikwax. I used it fro the first time this year, on a reasonably new pair of Scarpa boots and they were leaking again after a couple of days!? I'll be going back to wax.

I've been using Scarpa boots for years and have always found them to be very waterproof - only ever failing in extreme conditions (I got soaked on Arran a couple of weeks back when it rained for something like 8 hours solid, rivers were forded and many bogs crossed). I'm a big fan of  Scarpa's own HS-12 cream which is silicon based, it's not cheap but it really does seem to massively improve the waterproofing and enhance the life of the leather.

Regards,

Stephen

Try plastic bags - sandwich or freezer type, but not the very thick ones. You will get some condensation but your socks won't be anything like as wet as from leaking boots.  Your feet can still breathe through the big hole where your foot goes into the boot  

Cut the bags or tuck them down from the ankle into the boot.  

Heavier weight of woollen sock also makes this work better.

Used to do that 20yrs ago in Scouts! 

Thanks for the advice all.  Have ordered some shoe gloo and graingers wax so will see how it goes