CDN Mukluks Vs U.S. Bunny Boots

[Roy Harding]

Try a washing machine on gentle cycle, always worked for mine, just don't machine dry.

Add a little bleach, too. 

 

[Snakedriver]

Spent four plus years in Alaska in the US Army. The white bunny boots are known as VB boots, VB standing for Vapor Barrier.  Moisture can't get in, or out.  They required you changing your socks at least every two hours as sweat would puddle in your shoes.  But, I was an Aviator, so we wore the green USAF Mukluks.  They are by far the best way to go when modified properly.  If done so, they'll easily handle -50 below, because I know from first hand experience with weeks in the field at a time at those temperatures. First thing they taught us was to toss all the internal guts away.  The small white bootie is worthless.  You want the green canvas shell to be about two sizes larger than your foot size.  You need to put anywhere from two to three felt cushion insoles per Mukluk inside each one and they need to run full length.  You have to buy the cushions that you have to cut down by hand.  You want them fitting right.  Maybe even a bit too long so they curl up ever so slightly on the ends.The trick is to get your feet up off the cold surface and protected by dead air space that can stay warm.  Then you purchase a high quality set of Sorel high-top boot inserts, the kind that go nearly as high as the top of the Mukluk, and put those in there.  Then wear some good wool socks and you're feet will stay toasty.  Spraying a bit of Scotchguard type spray on the outside will help wick away any water that you may come in contact with.  But if you're in the Arctic in winter there's not much chance of that.  The Canadian Mukluks look quite nice, but I hear are fairly heavy.  The USAF Muks are very light and extremely comfortable.  During the Winter months we never took them off, even when not on flying duties.  Like wearing a pair of comfy slippers around the house on a cold morning. Hope this helps anyone looking. 

 

[Blackadder1916]

. . .  The Canadian Mukluks look quite nice, but I hear are fairly heavy.  The USAF Muks are very light and extremely comfortable.  During the Winter months we never took them off, even when not on flying duties.  Like wearing a pair of comfy slippers around the house on a cold morning.  .  .  .

The Canadian mukluks may be a little heavier than the USAF ones but not much.  Much of the extra weight can be attributed to the sturdier construction - water resistant (?) nylon vice relatively light cotton canvas.  There are many similarities in the concepts of both items, however (IMO) the Canadian item outpaces the USAF one.  Notably, there is the mesh insole in addition to the felt insole and the doubled "socks, wool frieze" are much heavier and warmer (even per each layer) than the single layer of the "white booties" that are part of the USAF system. While some USAF types of my acquaintance are very pleased with the comfort afforded by their piece of kit, it is probably not meant for the same type of activity as our mukluks.  One is more at home on a flight line (that, even if austere, is usually a base in a very cold place) while the other has been well tested in very severe isolated conditions.  The zipper on the USAF mukluk would probably not stand up as well in some deep snow conditions.  The one feature of the USAF mukluk that I preferred over ours is the lacing system; it gave me a greater sense of ankle stability.

 

[geo]

Some good points Blackadder.
Individuals should be issued at least two sets of the doubled "Socks, Wool frieze" and they should be changed/rotated on a regular basis.
That mesh insoles... great idea to give you some distance between the moisture and your feet.
The Cdn Muckluck has remained pert much unchanged over some 40+ years.  Are there some improvements necessary ? sure - an improvement of the outer shell's waterproofing and the vuilcanization of the sole are prolly the two things that would be No 1 & 2 on my list.  The lacing part... interesting point - will have to try em out again to refresh my memory

 

[CanadianGuy]

When I was with the LSSR we would conduct the usual w/e winter ex's and often invited up 20ish US National Guard troops from St.Paul-Minneapolis who would come wearing their issue winter gear including the white rubber "Mickey Mouse" winter boots. We would offer to issue them our CF Mukluks for the w/e which sometimes they went for but the one time I remember they did not swearing they would be fine in their high tech boots. Well it was fairly cold out (mid -40's at best!) and with many moves pulling toboggans and pitching/striking tents they in one day used all their socks up as they would be soaked in a very short period of time from sweating in rubber! If not for our troops lending out wool socks and extra mukluk liner socks the National Guard troops would have been forced to stand down and dry out socks for a day or suffer cold injuries if they did not. Those Mickey Mouse boots are awful for extreme cold and could easily lead to cold injuries to your feet in a short period of time. They actually may be useful in wet cold where standing in slush and water would be occurring. I have not seen such problems with our CF Mukluks but even they require maintenance in the field (e.g.-drying liners) or problems could occur.

 

[geo]

They actually may be useful in wet cold where standing in slush and water would be occurring. I have not seen such problems with our CF Mukluks but even they require maintenance in the field (e.g.-drying liners) or problems could occur.

Dunno about you but I certainly would NOT trust our mucklucks in slush and water......

 

[daftandbarmy]

Dunno about you but I certainly would NOT trust our mucklucks in slush and water......

Not without your hi tech 'Glad Kitchen Catchers' on over the socks, duffel, course.

 

[George Wallace]

Dunno about you but I certainly would NOT trust our mucklucks in slush and water......

That is usually in the Lesson Plan.  ;D

Nor would I spray Scotch Guard or the old Silicone Spray on any Mukluk fabric, as that would cause the fabric not to breath and keep sweat in.

 

[geo]

Not without your hi tech 'Glad Kitchen Catchers' on over the socks, duffel, course.

Ahhhh... spoken like a man who has been & gotten wet feet for the trouble

 

[chrisf]

Using my mukluks almost exclusively in a sloppy wet but still miserably cold eastern climate, breathing isn't the concern, keeping out the slush is the concern, I paint my mukluks with boot silicone on a regular basis... I've heard of people using a pair of goretex socks several sizes too big over the outside of the bootie.

 

[NL_engineer]

Dunno about you but I certainly would NOT trust our mucklucks in slush and water......

Well you only get wet feet (the wool keeps your feet warm if you keep moving) and the boot weight only increases to 50 lbs  : don't ask how I know  :



Edited to fix the word than NFLD Sapper pointed out

 

[chrisf]

Of course the damned thing also freezes over night... hooray! Nothing quite as fun as smacking your almost naked under-wear clad tent-mate with a frozen mukluk...

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Well you only get wet feet (the wool keeps your feet worm if you keep moving) and the boot weight only increases to 50 lbs  : don't ask how I know  :

Think you might want a doc to check those out  ;D

The term you should be writing is warm

 

[George Wallace]

Using my mukluks almost exclusively in a sloppy wet but still miserably cold eastern climate, breathing isn't the concern, keeping out the slush is the concern, I paint my mukluks with boot silicone on a regular basis... I've heard of people using a pair of goretex socks several sizes too big over the outside of the bootie.

Once again back to the Lesson Plan.....Any sign of warm temps and moisture, mukluks should not be worn..........Out come the Boots Rubber Clumsy over some Mk IIIs.



The Gortex Socks are also a good back up and recommended by many old hands, when the seasons are changing.

 

[NL_engineer]

Think you might want a doc to check those out  ;D

The term you should be writing is warm

Shut up you  ;D

Hey the spell check doesn't tell me I typed the wrong word  :

 

[geo]

Heh... Large GLAD super tough garbage bags for the sleeping bag carrier & the ruck's main pouch.... + GLAD kitchen catchers for the muklucks.... DND should buy shared in GLAD

Goretex socks - great if you have em ( & thank the lord, I do)

 

[CanadianGuy]

Dunno about you but I certainly would NOT trust our mucklucks in slush and water......

Agreed, just to clarify I meant the US Mickey Mouse boots may be good in slush and water-Not our mukluks unless you want trench foot.

 

[NL_engineer]

Agreed, just to clarify I meant the US Mickey Mouse boots may be good in slush and water-Not our mukluks unless you want trench foot and a bad back.

Had to fix it for you  ;D

 

[TCBF]

- Mukluks are good kit, however:

1. Do not pour naptha on them at - 40 C.  Instant casualty.

2. Use curtain hooks to hang the 'insoles felt and mesh' from the drying line.  Note that it is considered courteous to NOT release the pressure from the pressure cooker inside the tent when there are articles hanging on the drying lines...

3. If you cannot dry your 'insoles felt and mesh' in a timely fasion, remove them, beat the ice from them, then - using your fingernails - scrape the ice from the inside of your mukluks on the bottom.  Yes, that is correct: there will be ice on the INSIDE of your mukluks on the bottom.  Scrape it out of there as often as you can.

4. Air out the 'socks wool freize' (duffle socks), a.k.a. mukluk liners.  They are two-layered and separate (but do not come apart).

 

[sm1lodon]

To keep my shoepack liners dry of sweat, I have put my feet in plastic bags and then inserted them into my boots in very cold weather. The result was: sweaty feet, as usual, but bone-dry felt liners, which retained their insulating value all day long. I eventually quit noticing the strange feel of plastic bag socks under my wool socks.

If external moisture were a concern, then bagging the felt liners would be worth a try, I would think.

I have never had any problems with any foot annoyances of any sort related to moisture or sweat, though, so maybe it wouldn't work for everybody.