| Gater Saving Tip
My favorite gaters for use when
wading are made of neoprene and utilize a Velcro brand fasting system. They are easy to
put on and take off even when your hands are cold and numb. However, after losing one in
fast water I was reminded quite graphically that neoprene floats. And after having to
shell out another $25 dollars for a new pair I decided that the boot speed lace hook put
on by the manufacturer had to be replaced by a better security system. With this in mind I
stopped in at the local outdoor shop which carries camping and packing supplies. There I
found some small engineered material (graphite filled nylon or some such) snap swivel
clips. A pair of these and a foot of nylon webbing of suitable size for the clip loops
cost a mere $2.35 plus sales tax.
At home I used a seam ripper to
remove the nylon webbing holding the boot speed lace clip from each gater. Then I cut and
melted two pieces of the nylon webbing to provide a loop about the same size as the
original from the one foot strip. I placed one snap on each piece of webbing and used a
standard home sewing machine to stitch the nylon webbing onto each gater in the same
location as the old webbing.
Now when I put on the gaters I
snap them onto my boot lace at the toe of the wading boot and even if the closure lets go
or is torn open the gater is locked to my wading boot. This will also work for any other
style of gater which opens into a single layer of material.
The illustration below will give
you all the information you need to make this simple improvement on your neoprene gaters.
Hopefully, you will try this before having to spend $25.00 to replace one lost gater.
|
