Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Spawn Sack on November 04, 2025, 01:28:15 PM
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I have two pairs of Simms boots that are still in pretty good condition, but the felts are worn pretty thin. They need new felt or I'll unfortunately have to toss them. Does anyone know a shop or cobbler that still does this kind of thing?
A year or so ago I posted the same question on this site and had a good answer from Dan, or Daniel. Forget his last name. Krentz maybe? He used to post a lot on this site and also sold roe flies on this site and maybe also Facebook. Anyway, he mentioned that he posted a video on Instagram showing how he re-felts his wading boots. Unfortunately, I can't locate this past discussion on this site (I did do a key word search), nor can I find the video on Instagram.
I do have a pair of Korkers with replaceable soles. I find they are fine for summer/fall, but for steelhead when I'm walking a lot, the Simms boots (esp the G3s) are just WAY more comfortable. So I'd really like to re-felt them rather that buy new boots.
I would rather pay someone to do this for me. Seems like a bit of an iffy job getting the new sole glued and clamped well to get proper adhesion. Would suck to buy the adhesive and felt and have the sole peel off prematurely.
Does anyone known a guy or business that still does this? Express Reel did back in the day (he has been closed for several years).
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Perhaps Langley Shoe Renew?
In the dark recesses of my memory I recall an ancient FWR thread (that I cannot find!) about a shoe repair/cobbler in Langley that re-felted wading boots. I seem to recall the business was located in Langley Mall, but the closest shoe repair place to the mall is Langley Shoe Renew just a block or two down the road on 56th.
Edit: did a bit of extra curricular digging...10 yrs ago Quick Cobbler in Vancouver re-felted wading boots and was (is?) an approved Simms boot repair centre
https://forum.flybc.ca/index.php?/topic/51254-wading-boots/
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New West Cobbler used to do this kind of work though I don't think they are in business anymore. Sometimes tackle shops have a good idea where it's possible to get this kind of work done.
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Whatever happened to Daniel Krentz? He used to post on here all the time. His wife Kitty was Rods video fishing partner.
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Whatever happened to Daniel Krentz? He used to post on here all the time. His wife Kitty was Rods video fishing partner.
Dan's website outdoor addictions is still online at wordpress. There is a link to his instagram account there as well.
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I asked the guys at PA this question and they said at this point just buy new shoes. Seems like its pretty tough to re-felt your shoes without it ruining the integrity of the shoe.
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I think the point is, that getting it done at a cobbler costs about as much as getting a new pair. And that's just the labour cost. I have done it myself, but even just finding replacement felts is hard these days... or was the last time i checked.
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I’m in the same position. My current boots are a pair of Korkers with interchangeable soles that are fine but have a pair of Simms G3 boots that I much prefer and are still in great shape but felt soles are completely worn.
I have read a few diy tutorials but would prefer to have them done by a cobbler or someone that has refelted them regularly to reduce the risks of being hiked in somewhere a long ways from the truck and dealing with a delaminated sole.
Any recommendations appreciated
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Since there's been no specific recommendations it might be an idea to check out website and phone some repair shops
This one in Langley feature sole replacements so I don't think it would be much different for them to do felts on wading shoes.
https://www.facebook.com/shoerepairbypark
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It is not a very difficult job to do it yourself. I find the biggest issue is the tiny amount of contact cement provided with replacements, barely enough for one boot. I get a can of heavy duty contact cement and lay it on. Trimming the sole after gluing can be done with any decent box cutter.
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I used marine grade Goop in the past. Worked great. I bought the big tube (for a caulking gun) from Canadian Tire, and used the whole thing for a pair of boots.
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Thanks for the replies guys.
I contacted the company from the facebook link provided by Ralph H (Shoe repair by Park). They replied saying they do not do felt/wading boots.
Have not looked into Langley Shoe renew yet.
Message Dan K. on instagram and asked him for a link to his video where he showed how to DYI (I can't find the vid on his Insta, for whatever reason).
May just have to give up, toss the Simms boots, and buy a new pair. Which SUCKS as they are still in really good condition.
I've had like 5 pairs of Korkers in the last 5-7 years. IMO they are crap. One pair inevitably has a failure somewhere and Korkers keeps warrantying them with a new pair. I will say their warranty is good!
I'd just stick with Korkers but IMO every pair I have tried is just not that comfortable. They are fine for the boat or fall coho where there is little walking. But I find for a day steelheading the Simms G3s I have are HANDS DOWN WAY MORE COMFORTABLE. I wish they'd make a removable sole like Korkers. Such a piss off.....
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If you like your Simms with felts try searching Amazon for crampons, they have an excellent selection of slip on grips with all types of cleats from aluminum to carbide and they are pretty reasonable. I tried to link to the page but.... technical difficulties.
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If you like your Simms with felts try searching Amazon for crampons, they have an excellent selection of slip on grips with all types of cleats from aluminum to carbide and they are pretty reasonable. I tried to link to the page but.... technical difficulties.
I wonder Gord, or anyone else for that matter, have you tried such crampons on your wading boots? I've seen purpose made for wading boots that look something like galoshes, I did own a pair, may have them still, they worked ok. These had tread like aluminum bars and cost about as much as new boots. The crampons for hiking boots look like a great value though I wonder how long they will stand up to rocks etc - at least the ones that use bungee cord.
I do still have them. Photos:
(https://i.imgur.com/Lm28SuG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/58Lt9B6.jpg)
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I have not actually tried these on the river yet because they were bought to try and get around the Dewdney Slough, hence the aggressive studs, but I wasn't ambitious enough to attack the mud after they arrived. There is an ankle strap that I didn't do up for the pic. I used the carbide tipped ones on the ice in Ontario and Quebec after their Ice Storm and they were great. I would have gotten the carbide ones for river banks but these were specifically for the mud. There are lots on Amazon and they are cheap. (https://i.imgur.com/yg4t7bj.jpeg)
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I previously purchased new felts from Highwater tackle on the north shore and Larry's Sports would remove the old and glue on the new. One set of my Simms are over 7 years old and have been re-felted twice now. Because I was wearing through felts every 6 months I switched to Vibram (not as gripey) to reduce the wear rate which I augmented with studs. Not sure if felts are still available at Highwater or if Larry's still do replacements, but may be worth calling.
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Thanks knnn, I will hit up high Water tackle and see if I get anywhere with them.
Regarding the comment by GordJ about using crampons, studs and similar. For me, the only time I would use such a sole is in snow/ice. Or maybe if I'm hiking in on a trail that I know is slippery/muddy. For 99% of my fishing I like felt.
I have tried the Korkers alumabar soles. They DID actually grip slippery rocks quite well. However, they are heavy and clunky/loud for most of the places I fish. The bars also broke and fell off the soles at an alarming rate. Like maybe 10-15 times out steelheading I had lost 1-2 bars per sole and others showed signs of failing. I contacted korkers and requested a set of carbide stud soles instead. They sent me a set, which has been fine for the odd day on snow/ice.
I will also say that if you wear the studs for walking on regular rocks they are terrible, unless you like the sound of nails on a chalk board all day. And, I find they do not grip the big smooth rocks that well (think Tamahai area). It's like the rocks are TOO hard and smooth. The only exception would be slimey rocks. Felt tends to slip on these whereas the studs bite well.
I own two pairs of Korkers that I use from time to time. One pair is older with the boa lace system. I like them for boat launching as they are ultra fast to pop on/off. I have vibram soles on these as they are grippy on muddy boat launches and sand and crap does not stick to them like felt, which then gets tracked into the boat. My other pair are lace up. They are more comfortable and what I reluctantly wear steelheading ATM. I have felt soles on them 99% of the time. Will occasionally put the studs on if I know I'm heading out to snow/ice. Having had like 5-6 pairs of korkers (most warranty replacement) over about 15 years I will say that every pair has pretty much sucked. Not that well made, not that comfortable, although the replaceable soles IS THE BEES KNEES. I will also say that Korkes warranty replacement HAS been very good to me and have given me a new pair several times times with minimal hassle. By comparison, I have had to deal with Simms warranty replacement just once for a G3 jacket many years ago, and they were beyong brutal and really dropped the ball.
I have pair of G3 boots with the felts worn right down to SFA, and an old pair of Simms Guide boots in the same shape. Not even wearable really the felts are so worn down. Still, I refuse to toss them out until I exhaust all of my refelting leads. They are definitely WAY more comfortable, especially the newer G3 pair, than any other pair of wading boots I have ever owned or tried on.
I sent Daniel K. a DM on instagram telling him that I cant find his refelting video. No reply back yet. Can't seem to find an email address on his insta or website.
If anyone has any better contact info for him please DM it to me on this site. Thank you.
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Spawn Sack , I did a google search on "refelting wading boots " and got several promising hits. Saw one video on youtube where a fellow carefully cut off the old felt and reglued using gorilla glue . Other adhesives were mentioned as well. It's worth a look .
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Alright, I've been email/calling around and have some good info to report.
The Cobbler (Vancouver) got back to me and said they do re-felting for $180 +gst AND YOU HAVE TO SUPPLY YOUR OWN FELT! Ya, I'm serious. Give that that guy a miss. Jesus.
Didn't really have any other luck finding a cobbler that will do the labor work for you. As others have said, seems like a job no one really wants to do any more.
However, I got a hold of Daniel K. and he told me how to do it yourself. Does not sound that hard. Basically,
-Remove/sand the old felt off as best you can. You want a flat, clean, dry surface. He said no big deal if a bit of the old felt remains as long as it is stuck on really well and is clean/dry.
-Stuff rags in the boots so they'll hold their shape when you tape the crap out of them after.
-Good coating of E6000 glue on the felt and on the boot sole.
-Glue it in place, then tape the crap out of the boot with packing tape. Leave to cure for a few days.
-Remove tape, trim felt as needed with a box cutter
-IMPORTANT: after the felts are glued on and cured, go around the entire perimeter of the sole, and apply a coat of glue to the edge/outside of the sole, where it is adhered to the boot. Let that dry/cure for a day or two.
Dan said he just buys/uses the felt insoles from Mark's. They are about $12 for a pack of 4.
I plan to give this method a go on my older Simms Guide boots. If my glue job holds, I'll buy some more expensive felt and do my G3 boots. The felt insoles from Mark's look like they would shred pretty fast IMO. However, Dan says because it is softer felt, it bites REALLY well on wet slimey rocks.
As far as "more expensive felt" goes, Searun has some on their website that looks pretty good/thick for around $80 plus tax. I called Simms and they sell the OE felt for $80 USD and will ship it to a US postal address. The guy on the phone said it is the same as the OE felt, which IMO is far superior to any 100% felt you can buy in stores in Canada.
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A couple of years ago I couldn't find any replacement felt at any tackle store at any price, so I went on line and bought the toughest, high quality industrial felt I could find, 3/4 inch thick, from a business called The Felt Store. The smallest portion they would sell is enough for 4 boot re-fleltings. Went on great, looked great, worked really well, but did not last even half the summer beach fishing. Ended up buying new boots because of the required drying time.
I still have enough for 3 more sets of felts.
What I'm thinking I want to do is, before I put the felt on the boots, I want to soak the felt in some kind of liquid plastic stuff that will will soak all the way through, and then cure in to a flexible plastic. Probably polyurethane. I think that is what's done to the store bought felts. My question though is, does anyone have any idea what particular product I could use?
Any thoughts on this will be helpful.
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back in the day people used indoor/outcarpeting. I have no experience with it however.
I have also heard recommendations for the felt used in conveyor line belts.
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I have Simms G3s and the felt was worn to nothing (over about 10 years or so)…I tried a couple of places in Maple Ridge and the felt fell off while fishing….I sent them back to Simms in Montana and for about $100 they did a great job…just like new…
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Yaaaa, personally I think soaking them in anything like that would greatly compromise the grip of the felt on smiley rocks and similar. I get what you are thinking, as clearly the OE felt is not 100% felt; rather, they obviously soak the felt in something, or the material it's self is a blend of felt and resin or something that adds in durability but maintains its grip.
A couple of years ago I couldn't find any replacement felt at any tackle store at any price, so I went on line and bought the toughest, high quality industrial felt I could find, 3/4 inch thick, from a business called The Felt Store. The smallest portion they would sell is enough for 4 boot re-fleltings. Went on great, looked great, worked really well, but did not last even half the summer beach fishing. Ended up buying new boots because of the required drying time.
I still have enough for 3 more sets of felts.
What I'm thinking I want to do is, before I put the felt on the boots, I want to soak the felt in some kind of liquid plastic stuff that will will soak all the way through, and then cure in to a flexible plastic. Probably polyurethane. I think that is what's done to the store bought felts. My question though is, does anyone have any idea what particular product I could use?
Any thoughts on this will be helpful.
Huh, interesting. I DO actually have a decent amount of indoor/outdoor carpet let over from redoing the bunks on my boat trailer. I can see it gripping alright and being reasonably durable. I'll probably just stick to using actual felt for now.
back in the day people used indoor/outcarpeting. I have no experience with it however.
I have also heard recommendations for the felt used in conveyor line belts.
Okay ... I'm guessing this pricing is a bit out of date as I just called Simms last week and the price for just the felts was $80 USD. Add in the cost of shipping them your boots there/back, plus whatever they charge for the labor ... probably more than I'd want to pay.
I have Simms G3s and the felt was worn to nothing (over about 10 years or so)…I tried a couple of places in Maple Ridge and the felt fell off while fishing….I sent them back to Simms in Montana and for about $100 they did a great job…just like new…
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Okay ... I'm guessing this pricing is a bit out of date as I just called Simms last week and the price for just the felts was $80 USD. Add in the cost of shipping them your boots there/back, plus whatever they charge for the labor ... probably more than I'd want to pay.
UPDATE: I called Simms USA and the cost for them to re-do the felt is $150 USD, plus you are on the hook to ship them the boots. However, included in the price is return shipping within the USA. I still decided to just order the felts and glue them on myself.
I removed the last of the old felt off my G3 boots with a 40 grit flap disc (used on an angle grinder). Cleaned up the job with an 80 grit disc on my palm sander. Have not picked up the felts yet in Sumas, WA, but when I do my plan is to give the soles a wipe with acetone, and glue then on using E6000 ahhesive.
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I have Simms G3s and the felt was worn to nothing (over about 10 years or so)…I tried a couple of places in Maple Ridge and the felt fell off while fishing….I sent them back to Simms in Montana and for about $100 they did a great job…just like new…
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To update my progress on re-felting my freestones for the third time...
As I said before, I bought natural, high density felt (actually 5/8 in thick) which, when I tried it last year, wore away very quickly. I still had lots of felt left, so I wanted to try again.
I bought a quart of oil based liquid polyurethane from Home Depot thinking it might be enough for a couple of sets of felts. After a successful test on a small piece of scrap felt, I started pouring it on to felts that I had cut to a size just slightly bigger then the boot prints. I was shocked to find myself pouring the whole quart on without it being enough. The felts could have soaked up more. The VOC stink was terrible. Took 3 days before I could go near them.
Instead of letting it cure completely, I just waited until they weren't tacky anymore, and glued them on to the boots using the marine grade Goop. Since Goop is also polyurethane, I wanted the glue and the liquid polyurethane in the felts to bind and form a single piece. Taking no chances, I used the equivalent of a whole tube of glue for each boot. I have had them fall off before because I didn't use enough glue. I applied a layer of glue to both the surface of the boot and the surface of the felt, let it de-gas for 10 or so minutes, and then applied more glue before putting them together. The felts didn't absorb as much glue this time, I think because of the pre-treatment with the liquid.
The cure time is critical because exposing polyurethane to water prematurely causes it to go a milky colour and fracture. Because the solvent has no where to go except through the felt, it takes a long time. The way I think about it, if you can still smell it, it's not finished curing. I would say at least a month, if not 2.
Total cost for materials for one pair came to about $110. But these are twice as thick as most replacement felts, and I'm hoping they last a long time. I will do another update after I try them out and let you know how they work on slippery rocks.
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To update my progress on re-felting my freestones for the third time...
As I said before, I bought natural, high density felt (actually 5/8 in thick) which, when I tried it last year, wore away very quickly. I still had lots of felt left, so I wanted to try again.
I bought a quart of oil based liquid polyurethane from Home Depot thinking it might be enough for a couple of sets of felts. After a successful test on a small piece of scrap felt, I started pouring it on to felts that I had cut to a size just slightly bigger then the boot prints. I was shocked to find myself pouring the whole quart on without it being enough. The felts could have soaked up more. The VOC stink was terrible. Took 3 days before I could go near them.
Instead of letting it cure completely, I just waited until they weren't tacky anymore, and glued them on to the boots using the marine grade Goop. Since Goop is also polyurethane, I wanted the glue and the liquid polyurethane in the felts to bind and form a single piece. Taking no chances, I used the equivalent of a whole tube of glue for each boot. I have had them fall off before because I didn't use enough glue. I applied a layer of glue to both the surface of the boot and the surface of the felt, let it de-gas for 10 or so minutes, and then applied more glue before putting them together. The felts didn't absorb as much glue this time, I think because of the pre-treatment with the liquid.
The cure time is critical because exposing polyurethane to water prematurely causes it to go a milky colour and fracture. Because the solvent has no where to go except through the felt, it takes a long time. The way I think about it, if you can still smell it, it's not finished curing. I would say at least a month, if not 2.
Total cost for materials for one pair came to about $110. But these are twice as thick as most replacement felts, and I'm hoping they last a long time. I will do another update after I try them out and let you know how they work on slippery rocks.
Too expensive. Must source something from China
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Too expensive. Must source something from China
Agreed. Let me know if you find something.