wrote in message
oups.com...

I just bought a pair of Cabelas Dry Plus waders. I returned them after
trying them on. I didn't like the built in gravel guards. The elastic
was so tight is made them hard to put on. Are all built in gravel
guards like that? Does everyone prefer built in gravel guards? I'm
thinking about ordering a pair of Simms Freestones instead and using
detachable gravel guards.


Nice to hear that someone else had the same impression. My first waders also
had built-in guards, and I found them a real pain to get on and off. My
second pair had the detachable ones, with velcro at the back, but I lost one
of them while wading in moving water.

I replaced them with my cross-country ski gators! (I use past tense because
some ****wad stole all my gear in South Africa several years ago.) But the
solution was so excellent that I'm going to buy another pair of gators and
do it again.

They were an REI brand, lightweight nylon, very tight fitting around the
shoe (with a hook for the shoelaces), and with a high collar that fit
mid-calf. They had a zipper in the back, an elastic at the ankle, and a
slide-lock around the top. In addition to keeping *all* the gravel out of
the shoe, they also served to protect the lower part of the waders against
abrasion on rocks, or from snagging on brush while hiking. Also, the water
moved through them a little bit while wading, so any fine silt was
constantly washed out. And best of all (for this fat boy) is that they were
effortless to put on....I left them connected to my wading boots, and I just
slipped my foot into the boot, tied it, and zipped up the gator. In fact, I
bet that if some of you guys tried this, you would never go back to
velcro/elastic gravel guards again, and pretty soon the major manufacturers
would start making these. I mean, really, they worked that well.

YMWV
--riverman