I bought the new Patagonia booties over the break. They're way nicer than the O'Neill ones I threw away. The problem is, they don't dry out. . . at all, really. And they don't turn inside-out like the crappy ones. Impending stank.
I know some of you mentioned the DryGuy heater and some homegrown options, but it's been a while.
Has anyone tried this $50 option? Any new tips, or should I just drop the $50-80 on Amazon or suffer the stank?
You can take a wire coat hanger and bend it so the booties hang in a way that they stay open. As long as some air (oxygen) can get in there, the stinky anaerobes won't begin to party in there so much. The chloramines in our water (if you live in the city) will keep everything else in check. Back when I lived in Sonoma County, we had wellwater and my booties were pure stank. Now, there almost like a fresh breeze compared to then. I'm not too familiar with the Patagonia booties. If they have that wool inside them, then they will have an increased surface area over that of typical booties, which gives more hiding places for microbes and it may just be the nature of the bootie to hold onto a little more stink.
I have 5mm O'Neills and they have the same problem. They won't dry out. No amount of wire hangers, special folding, even placing under the heater vent doesn't cure them. When they start getting the stank, I wash them good and put them on my dryer rack (keeps shoes stationary in dryer). Not ideal, but it gets me through the winter.
Inspired by the earlier SP thread I purchased the DryGuy you link above. Seemed a little pricey at first, and certainly you could assemble something inexpensive with a trip to home depot and a few hours of time, but the investment has paid off handsomely. The sensation of putting my feet into dry, non-stinky booties is worth any price.
My advice would be - if you're inclined to do-it-yourself, do it. If not, pay the $$$.
I dry my wetsuit on a hanger. I then tie my wetsuit zipper line to the hanging loops on my booties and let them air dry together. Booties take about 6-12 hours longer to dry. No problems though.
On the simple tip - I put my booties on this simple 'bootie hangar', then hang with my wetsuit. Works 100% great unless you need dry booties the same day. If you're doing double sessions, this ain't gonna dry them out fast enough...
http://www.amazon.com/Block-Surf-Bootie-Hanger/dp/B001R2N2CS
I have the Dry guy heater you linked to above and it's been fantastic. But I also take it with me up to Tahoe to dry out boots and gloves so I've found a lot of uses for it. Only two complaints:
1) sometimes the timer dial gets stuck and it will stay on indefinitely.
2) when you're only drying two things a lot of hot air escapes out of the unused vents. I usually take some aluminum foil and wrap the unused vents up which seems to work well.
I put my booties on top of the water heater in my laundry. It gets 'em nice an dry - but no harmful UV.
Mmmmmm, warm booties....
Here's a little plastic hanger I found on eBay several years ago for $10 that works pretty well, but still needs a day or two to completely dry the booties depending on temps. If hung inside during the winter, less time. But I have 4 pair of booties that I alternate: two 3 mm's and two 5 mm's. The name of the hanger is WETBOOTZ. I searched the internet for more under that name recently but could find nothing.
Wow, divers for years have been using hangers that open, drain and dry hoods, booties, and gloves. Ain't rocket science.
There's also this thing: http://www.hanggoose.com/index.php
Pricey but aww, it has a little face.
