Any advice as to what waterproof high-intensity hiking boots are best and most durable?????
High-intensity (lighter weight, modern construction), waterproof (barrier) and durable aren't going to mix well.
IME, the most durable boots are traditional Norwegian welt (visible stitches around the sole) boot made from full grain leather uppers. These boots are:
- Heavy
- Harder to fit (you need to find one built on a last close to your foot shape and even then, expect a long break in time)
- Hard to find
- Not waterproof
If you like the performance of your Solomons, a reasonable approach may be to start buying them from a retailer with an aggressive warranty program, like REI. Having worked in both outdoor retail and in manufacturing (not outdoor related), I would encourage you to be honest with the retailer but to also let the decision to repeatedly extend you warranty coverage to rest with the retailer and manufacturer. That is, so long as you are honest with them, give them the respect to make the decision to cover you and don't feel bad about it. Manufacturers actually have a hard time connecting with their core customers. Most of their time is spent dealing with knuckle heads. I once knew the guy who was head of warranty claims at TNF (decades ago) and he said, "I'm glad to help you with this. Most of day is spent dealing with gang-banger wanna-bes who want me to fix their "poofie" jackets". The manufacturers actually want to know where and how their products are failing and may view somebody like you as a part of the testing team. As for the retailer, they work closely with their suppliers and they have their own interests. It's cheap and effective advertising for them to take care of core customers. Just tell them prior to the purchase that you kill boots quickly and don't want to abuse their warranty program but you are considering buying from them as a way of being protected from boots that wear out quickly. That puts the ball in their court. It's their business decision and if they give you the green light, accept that they are doing it for reasons that make economic sense to them.
If you honestly want to get a more durable boot, I think you'll need to move away from boots like the Solomon that use glued on welts and towards more traditional stitched on welts, like the classic Norwegian welt construction. If you can see the stitches all the way around the sole, it's a Norwegian welt. The big deal with this style boot is a) you are relying more on stitching to hold the boot together and b) when they fail (not if) they can be repaired and rebuilt.
A couple of reflections about Norwegian welted boots.
They are mongo heavy. As in reduce your mileage heavy. The Solomon's you're currently wearing aren't lightweights though so this may not be be a big change for you. But no getting around it. The classic boots are heavy.
They aren't waterproof. They will leak in two places. First, the leather will take on water and leak. Second, the exposed stitches and the leather mid sole (just above the outer sole rubber) will draw water into the midsole getting you wet from the bottom up. You can try to seal the leather with stuff like SnoSeal (bad) or AquaSeal (much worse) but these ultimately destroy the leather. Better to go with a simpler grease like Limmer's boot grease or Obenhauf's treatment. These replenish the oils without loosening up the leather. Leather and feet get wet. Oil the boots to keep the leather healthy. That's the secret to long lasting leather boots, IME. I use Limmers now exclusively. SnowSeal with plug up the leather and the boots tend to rot from the inside out since sweat can't escape. And the chemicals in AquaSeal hammer the leather fast.
You can slow the water coming in through the lower seams and midsole by coating them with SeamGrip. Clean with acetone before you do and when you need to get the boots resoled, do your cobbler a favor and dig it out before sending them in.
Speaking of midsoles... note that some Nowegian welted boots like the Merrill Wilderness and Danner Mountain Light (which should be on your list) use a foam rubber midsole to reduce weight. IME, these break down relatively fast and when they do, the boot sheers apart, ripping out the stitching. This typically happens at the ball of the foot. I used to use the cobbler (in Lexington, MA, long since gone) how had the contract for Merrill's east coast warranty work and when my Wilderness came apart in this way, he said it was the most common failure for the Wilderness. He recommended rebuilding the boot with a more traditional and heavier leather midsole. I had those Wilderness resoled several time after that but the midsole lasted. Ditto my Fabiano Rias.
If I had to replace my Fabianos, the two boots I would look at closely are the Limmer production boot and Alico. Alico boots are regularly available for the past few years through Sierra Trading Post. The Alico Tahoe looks right and is reasonably priced. Notice the leather midsole. Again, these won't be waterproof. Just adjust to that.
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/al...3669/?colorFamily=04&merch=prod-rec-prod63669