poor surfing conditions at San Francisco - Ocean Beach

I agree had fun so calling Fair for the time of year. The outside had a few at one spot drifted away and decided to enjoy some zippy wedgey Inside Bump And Funk. Fully disorganized but snagged a few really Fun doubled up rides one connecting to another to form a wedge down the line made it round the corner and was launched down the last section...fun little mutant.
Stoked.
Out of interest how many booties is it normal to burn a year mine last like 3 months .?.?? Pricey. anyone suggest a better brand I use Exell... and would pay more for longer lasting .

My O'Neills (3 ml) have at least 300 days use. They're faded, ugly, and I wouldn't let anyone else pick them up but they have no tears, peeling or cracking. I rinse them then immediately hang them on a home made bootie rack that allow all water to drain out. I may have a crazy mutant pair but it seems like they still have life in them...

Hey Squid Lips, I'd love to see your bootie rack design if you're open to sharing your ideas.

(that sounds weird, btw)

@Brit, only 3 months??!! Are you jogging in them as well as surfing? If that is a regular occurence for you, something isn't right. I use Xcel and they always last a couple of years...always out last my wetsuits...but then, I only wear them about half the year. Where are they showing the wear? Toe, heel, sole? Are you buying them too small thus causing toe holes? With regular use, they should last at least one or two years.

You have to prance a bit so you don't scuff them up. Snagged a couple this morning, but it's not really working that well. Did see some decent peaks out there, but I couldn't line anything up in the short time I was out.

I made a bootie rack, but sliding them between the wall and a towel rack works better. Now if I were to hook up some air to it it might be different. That's my next project. Can't believe everyone else in the house wasn't as excited about my creation as I was, but so goes it.

Oh, and there's no power to the wall mount, just the cheapest thing I could find to mount it to the wall.

@rick, maybe not as nice as squidlips, but I put together this low tech rack for 4 booties and 2 gloves. I planned to hook up a small fan to the ends to circulate air better. I kept the joints unfixed so I can fold easy and stash away. So far the natural flow of air works fine. At a minimum, it drains things. Xcel booties dry slower than o'neils, but I find that happens anyway due to the extra rubber on the sole.

Not sure if this will post right, I am mostly a lurker and have not posted any images before

My idea was to cap any exposed ends on the PVC and perforate the part that's inside the boot and then hook up an old aquarium air pump that I have, we'll see if it works. If it does I'll re-post, but it's not super high on my to-do list. Next time I'm at a pet store I just need to remember to get a nipple that I can seal into the PVC. Probably a LOT easier to just get a boot drier, but so far I'm only about $5 in to my creation.

Found this on eBay years back for about $12. Works well, and I hang my wetsuit on the bottom. Unable to find it anymore though.

@Rick - homemade from scraps. The key is the 3/4" trim that is thin enough to reach the toe easily and angled so the water drains from toe, past heel, out ankle (sorry, not like fatnewt; more like grnplatebrd and wave glider but steeper)

...see rudimentary profile 1 and profile 2 pic. Now who's f'n off at work?

My bootie drier is the corner of my trunk. Mildew and athlete's foot come included.

squidlips, good to point out the length of the rod or vertical piece that bootie hangs on. I think mine was an accident, but I can straighten out the booties enough and it lets the air get to toe ends better. Fatnewt, Thanks for the idea of perforating the pvc inside the boot, great idea once(if) I get a fan hooked up.

FYI- on a similar note, I purchased a portable 'bootie dryer' that plugs into a cigarette lighter, but was underwhelmed with the result.
link for example:
http://www.amazon.com/DryGuy-Circulator-AC-Footwear-Dryer/dp/B002VTNTF6/...

Thought it was going to be great for road trips to dry in the van, but not so much in my experience

I bought one of these on sale for $50 or so from REI. They look to be about $75 new. They are for ski boots but they dry out booties well and keep the funk down to a minimum. Rinse, throw on the dryer and off you go.

Thanks for feedback.
Yes I do ride my bike to the beach allot as I live up the hill so I figure that may be the prob.
But even so I seem to wear out the toes really quick..
If they lasted a year I would be stoked...
I will revert to sandals on the bike then change at the beach but that sucks some times as they do go missing etc.
And I love the bootie racks ????
I hang mine in the bathroom the wife loves me for the awesome smell...
Haa.

I like rack and I like booty.

Hahaha!

booties suck