Are boots ever totally waterproof?

Yep, I was sloshing around in my Tibets all weekend - becomes quite a problem when wading through snow and your toes get cold as well... That said, I've had these boots for 5 years now and they've only recently started letting water through. That includes 2 Swiss alpine trips with weeks of snow wading and feet staying bone-dry!

@Frosty ice

I think the Scarpa Barun GTX look real good if you can get via a buddy. You can get in SA for R3280 but for R1760 ($239) in America.

Here are some good and bad reviews.

I still favor the Tibet's even after Stijn's post about sloshing in them the whole weekend.

The perfect hiking boot are yet to be designed.

I am always a bit carful of boots with a lot of stitching, to many places for water to get in and to many chances for stitching to come loose. The fact that I have made piece with the fact that you don't get a 100% water proof boot narrows my choice of boot usually to a one piece upper. I use a Jim Green KWD and Merrels - water proof it with Nikwax and had more wet feet from water running in from the top than any thing else. Don't get me wrong I think any boot will begin to leak when it is soaked, especially on the stitching and areas where it bends a lot.

This topic is a complete mystery to me, I seem to live in a Universe all on my own. I hate wet feet more than the devil. I sold my soul for dry feet long ago.

I have never had any waterproof boot be waterproof. Goretex, the new eVent and Hitec's dry whatever have all failed miserably for me. I refuse to use any of them.

Here is what I swear works. I buy a full leather boot with no stupid seams. Then I prepare it. Never mind the instructions. Often they say do not use silicone. Often they say do not use beeswax. I ignore them.

1. I use rubber cement to seal the seams - any thread is coated to prevent it from ever absorbing water and rotting. I have found that extends the life of the boot by a decade and prevents the boot coming apart ever. This only has to be done once.

The next 2 things are done once per season.
2. Then I apply silicone - lots of it over days. Either spray in or the stuff in a bottle. Petroleum based. If they say 1 coat I do 7. If it's not silicone I won't use it. No Kiwidry or proprietary secret magic snake formula. Silicone. Let it dry thoroughly.
3. Then I apply snowseal, which is beeswax and silicone mixed. Softened Beeswax on its own works fine as well. Here's my trick. I apply it in thick gobs, using a plastic grocery bag, especially at the toe. Then I seal it in the plastic bag and put it the window of my car to cook. Then I repeat! No nikwax or other waterbased magic secret snake formula.

Essentially the leather is so saturated with silicone and beeswax it cannot absorb water.

I just finished the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada in California, 25 days and 220 miles and lots of river crossings. My feet were dry in river and rain. I can cross streams and put my entire boot under water (so long as the lip is dry) to stand on rocks others cannot. My boots come out perfectly dry.

People tell me I am wrong because my boots don't breathe. Hell no I don't want my boots to breathe. Sometimes (but rarely) I have a problem with odor and I spray Lysol disinfectant inside and viola.

REI (the premier mountain shop in the USA) sells Nikwax, a product made in GB that is all woofy foofy eco friendly waterbased yuppie expensive - IMHO Big Pile of Bull Pie. I have never used one nikwax product that has ever worked when put to the test yet millions swear by their products and REI can't keep it on the shelves. I swear these hikers stay home and watch mountains on TV. How can a waterbased product repel water? There is magic, and then there is Physics. There are other brands, all of them don't work.

And then are the millions who swear by goretex and its cousins (in boots). I know Everest climbers who swear by Goretex etc boots. eVent is all the rage. My eVent jacket leaks like paper, my eVent boots leaked like cardboard, do you think there is a connection? I wasted a hell of a lot of money on eVent, buying their advertising drivel. They lie, and then they don't stand behind their products. All of my complaints have been ignored.

Call me LOWTEK. Leather, petrobased silicone and beeswax.

Oneye wrote: This topic is a complete mystery to me, I seem to live in a Universe all on my own. I hate wet feet more than the devil. I sold my soul for dry feet long ago....
\\removed rest of it to save space....

I know this is a old post, but seems still very relevant today.
Such an entertaining read and yet full of truth.
Really liked the snake oil bits...

So did anyone try out the 3 step guide to dry boots given by this VE member?