Quicksand Fans

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Around here, the chest-wader market seems to be taken by Gander Mountain (gandermountain.com) and Mills Fleet Farm (fleetfarm.com). Both are places that cater to the great outdoors.

As a general bit of advice, I'd say to check out any place at all that supplies hunters and fishermen.

Personally, I do not like the kind that have the boots built in. Boots are terrible for getting my feet stuck. I like "stockingfoot chest waders" because I can add footwear that actually works in sticky mud over the stocking feet.

If you like to have the boots built in, you're in luck because they make more varieties of those, although they are more expensive too. If you don't like boots, I see fewer of those for sale, but they're cheaper, sometimes very cheap (my first pair was around $14 from Gander Mountain).

Don't overlook eBay and thrift stores. Of course one can't say when those places will have something, but when they do, it's a great deal because that kind of merchandise generally arrives lightly-used.

For the past three years I've been wearing a pair of neoprene stockingfoot chest waders that cost me about $5. They just don't seem to ever spring a leak! I do have other pairs (and they are from the same place) but I really like this one pair best and I just dread the day when it finally does get torn!

I used them today, in fact. My sinking season is not over yet!

Nessie

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bart1997 wrote:I just learned that these rubber waders come in different qualities ranging from thin material for pleasure angling to thick rubber for the professional fishing-industry. I think i'm more like a fisherman.

Yep, I found that out too. I've seen waders that are very thick, and then there are the very thin ones. I can't be completely sure what I'm wearing since I did get three pairs of these things at this one thrift store. All of mine are the thin ones, though. I cope with additional cold by adding layers underneath. Only the outside gets wet. If I never get the inside wet, all I need to do is hang them up in the garage to dry them off after I rinse them. If I get the inside wet (I hate that!) then I need to make sure both inside and outside get clean (and dry!).

To rinse them, I walk into the cleanup water and they are clean in seconds. If I don't have a lake, I can hose the waders down at home...and if, for some reason, I don't get a chance to rinse them off at all, because I came home in the dark and couldn't see well enough to find the hose...I can hose them later but if I never do, the mud turns to dust which comes right off if I just brush them.

I have seen some waders that are thicker, with a rougher, more cloth-like surface, and I haven't bought them because I don't like anything that thick. I like to feel the mud texture. But if these thicker ones are real neoprene, that is the same thing wetsuits are made of. My wetsuits do in fact rinse off okay if they're dunked in water and they aren't waterproof like waders...so waders, since they only get wet and dirty on one side, have got to be easier.

About a minute and a half into this YouTube clip, my "Remington" waders appear and do their job in this cold mudpit.

http://www.youtube.com/user/harnpitakya ... 39jbVnTHl4

Nessie

you can buy neoprene trousers & jackets/vests from dive shops or canoeing outlets I know you say you don't like neoprene but it does work very well for warmth & protection Try 3mm for ease of movement 5mm is too cumbersome in mud Hope this helps Joe