Who has experience with Korkers OmniTrax Sole Sizing?

Camping & Outdoors
1

A simple question for anyone who has experience with Korkers wading boots with the interchangeable soles.

I recently purchased a pair of Korkers wading boot with soles that can be changed, size 13.

Here’s the question - does the size marked on all the soles match the size of the boots?

Here’s the mystery I’m trying to make sense of:
I purchased the boots 10 days ago at Cabelas. In the shoe box the felt soles were attached to the boots. I did not try to remove the felt soles and install the kling-on sticky soles. After having some trouble removing one of the felt soles, just to see how it worked. I had the sales guy remove and reinstall one of them. The boots fit ok, and definitely were not going to be to tight as my previous Chota wading boots are after about 30 minutes.

Now I’m four hours from home, and decided to swap soles, install the Kling-on sticky soles and try them out.
They do NOT fit. The lock in tabs seemed to be misaligned by about 1/8 in (4mm) with the holes they should seat into. The Kling-on soles are both marked 13 - 13.5. Checking the boots they are both marked size 13. I kept trying to install them by various methods. Nothing worked.

Surprise:
The Felt soles are marked size 14 - 14.5,
Then I thought well, lets see if I can get the Felt sole reattached with out difficulty. They went right on with little effort. Locking tabs and hole match up well & are centered. Tried the other soles again, no success. Felt soles went right on. clipping all round with minimal effort. That’s when I decided to look at what size was stamped no the felt soles, and saw they are marked 14 ~ 14.5 !

Now I figure the sole size should match the shoe size. But have any of you with Korkers boots found that some sole size does not match the shoe size while other marked soles do match the shoe size, but they still fit ok?

I’m thinking maybe I have size 14 boot that is marked incorrectly. That is why size 14 ~ 14.5 felt sole fits the shoe, But the size 13 ~ 13.5 Kling-on sticky sole doesn’t fit, but that size was put in the box because size 13 is marked on both the boots and on the box box.

Anyway, it will be two or more weeks before I go home and can sort this out with Cabelas.

Tip of the day -
If buying wading boots with interchangeable soles. Make sure the alternate soles fit the boot before leaving the store.

2

David,

I have Korkers boots size 13 and the size 13 soles fit them. Mine don’t just snap on, however. I do have to encourage them slightly.

-Tom

3

I have Korkers, size 12. When I bought them, they came with a coupon good for another pair of soles. I decided to get a second pair of felt soles so I would have one for streams known to have didymo and streams that don’t. By mistake, when I threw away the box the boots came in, I threw away the Klingon soles as well. I have since purchased a pair of the soles with the aluminum bars. The boots are size 12. All the soles I have are marked 12-12.5 and they all fit.

As an aside for anyone considering the soles with aluminum bars, they usually stick to rocks like glue, often at an odd angle that is awfully hard on the ankles, but when they slip, it’s like they’re on ice. Also, they are incredibly heavy and by the end of the day I find it hard to lift my feet enough to clear obstacles. I would not buy them again.

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4

I’ve used these for several years. I’ve always just matched the boot size and sole size with the holes lining up like they should. I use the size 13 boot as well.

5

I said this once before, where do you guys get feet so Big!!! I am 5’6" and weigh 155 lbs. and my feet are
8.5 D. You guys must be really tall. I must have forgotten to get in line for normal size feet. I could snow and water ski in feet that large. I’m guessing none of you are 5’6" and that you are in the 6 ft. and 200 lb range? At least I will not have a problem finding shoes/boots in my size. :smiley_cat:

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6

Thanks all for the replies.

Since the size 14 ~14.5 sole fits, I think the boots must be size 14, not size 13 as marked. I think my Chota’s are size 12. Size 13 would probably be perfect. Since the Choatas feel tight an uncomfortable after about 30 minutes wearing them this time round I’d rather err on the side of going to big than to small, and the boots I purchased were the only size close to the size I needed they had in stock.

[ , , where do you guys get feet so Big!!! - Well, you do know the old saying about the size of a man’s hands or feet, don’t you? Just sayin ,. Nah, really just kidding. :wink::roll_eyes:] Shoe sizing is an odd business, In a dress shoe like Rockport shoes, I wear a 10 w, but Merrell’s seem to be under sized, I have Moab’s that are 11.5 & 12. But Merrell Mix Master, size 11, probably because I wear very thin socks with them. I really like the extra ventilation of the Mix Master type shoes for summer, but they are not nearly as robust as the Moab shoes, but I get every penny’s worth out of them, I wear them till they’re falling apart. The more holes, the more ventilation. :smile:

I will have Cabelas’ sort out the Korkers. Probably ask them to order size 13 boots, that may fit me better, and size 14 ~ 14.5 Klingon Sticky soles, The size 14 might fit my son, and he could used them, but he’s 6 inches taller than me, and outweighs me by a lot more than he should. OMAD Fast 5 ( one meal a day 19:5) is the way to go to keep you fitting into those clothes you purchased thirty years ago, and weigh about what you should. :joy:

7

I agree with what others have said. I have a pair of size 14 and all three of the soles that I have say 14-14.5. I also match the soles with the boot size. I have the felt, the Klingon and the studded Klingon. I use the first 2 regularly. The studded Klingon are much too slippery for my liking. Other than that, I love these boots.

8

After being away from home for 4 weeks I am pursuing a resolution to the sizing problem with these boots. Sunday I returned to Cabela’s explaining the problem. They directed me to contact Korkers’ to correct the problem, which I did today.

The guy at Korkers’ customer service directed me to submit a warranty claim explaining the problem, and to submit photos with the claim, and they would get back to me. I guess I will know in a few days whether they will ship me new boots or only the correct size rubber soles, which is all I really need, as I have not worn the boots they could offer either option. Though he thought they might not request I return the old boots if they send me a complete new pair, maybe just gift them to Project Healing Waters or similar group.

When visiting Cabela’s we noticed something that I had not noticed before, the heel of the boot is also stamped size 14 - 14.5. Thus farther confirming that the box and the tongue of the boots were stamped size 13 in error. Some pics to explain the problem.

Boot tongue

korkers_s13
korkers_s13610×480 147 KB

Boot heel

korkers_s14
korkers_s14640×373 102 KB

Felt soles - that fit the boots

korkers_s14b
korkers_s14b640×406 83.9 KB

The klingon sticky rubber soles - that do not fit.

korkers_s13b
korkers_s13b640×392 73 KB

The moral of the story is - I still think I will like these boots, but if you purchase wading boots with exchangeable soles before leaving the store make sure all the sizes match and fit correctly.
Korkers’s has a QC problem, but I am assuming their customer service will satisfactorily correct the problem.

[as an aside I finally remembered to check the size of my Chota wading boots, I thought they were size 12, but they are size 10. However, I suspect that Chota size 10 are larger than Korkers’ size 10. Especially when the removable inner sole is removed to accommodate thicker wader socks. Which the Korkers’s boots do not have. Korkers’ size 13 might fit ok, but this time round I’d rather error on the side of the boots being a little to large than a little to small. And Cabela’s did not have size 13 in stock for me to try on. I also like the Chota boots, but after about 30 - 60 minutes wearing them they just feel uncomfortably tight, which I think also makes my feet feel colder]

9

David,
I hope this gets resolved quickly for you. They defiantly messed up. I’m sorry you have to go through this headache. This problem should have been caught by quality control but mistakes do sometimes happen even with the best of companies. Please let us know how this turns out for you.

10

Sorry for delay in posting a followup. Tenkara for the first time has lost some of its appeal this summer. Mostly due to weather. Dealing with Korkers turned out to be kind of interesting.

I received a reply from Peter Houser at Korkers. Who wrote he would send me a complete new pair of wading boots with proper fitting soles. I received them about two weeks ago.

But Peter wanted me to cut the tongue out of the boots I have and throw them away. So that no one could make a second warranty claim with them. While I was pleased to have the problem completely resolved. This seemed crazy to me. It just goes against my grain to take a perfectly good product, destroy it, and turn it into trash at the land fill. :frowning_face:

I emailed him back with my objection and asked, why don’t you just send me a pair of the proper fitting soles? It would solve my problem, and cost them less money. Two problems with that: 1) he had already mailed the new boots, and 2) big company thinking, for some reason they find it administratively impossible to do that. Even though a pair of soles would be lower cost to them than sending a complete set of boots. I guess that is why I never became CEO of the company I worked for.

However, I suggested just removing (melting) the incorrect size written on the tongue of the boots so no one can make a second warranty claim, the only size marking remaining would be on the bottom of the boots, and then donating the boots to PHW or similar worthy cause. That seemed to be acceptable. :smiley:

The interesting part is when I saw an email from Peter Houser, my initial thought was that maybe something had happened to a guy I worked with at Philips named Houser and Peter was one of his boys emailing me about his dad. Anyway, after realizing the email was from Korkers I texted my old fellow employee (who lives near the Ohio River) and asked him if he had any relatives in Portland. He replied that he had a distant uncle who has lost contact with his family in the east but he had for many years bounced back and forth living in N. Calif or Oregon, but who has since passed away. Peter couldn’t confirm if he was from the same Houser family, but thought it an intriguing question to ask his older family members. Maybe another one of those small world things.

Anyway, it has been an odd tenkara summer for me. Rain almost all the time, and when it is actually possible to go fishing the catching has been slow. In the Greenbrier River in spring I catch a few brook trout, fewer in summer when its mostly some version of bass, bluegill, etc. I haven’t caught a single bluegill or sunfish in the river, and only a few fallfish. Many days catching nothing at all. Which is almost OK, I find casting and being on the water fun in itself. However, I do dislike being skunked. Catch at least one and all is good. I did catch maybe the prettiest brook trout I’ve ever caught, very intense colors, about 14 inches. The higher water may have lured him out of the smaller creek that is so bushy it is difficult to fish. It’s almost as if the high water has washed the fish away. At home it’s been near the standard summer, hot and dry, only slightly wetter than is typical.

I have been at home almost three weeks now and I’m trying to decide whether to return to Pocahontas County. Fours hours away, about 2,500 ft higher in altitude, with more nearby streams. But you can guess rain predicted each of the next ten days. Which really dampens going fishing and hiking each day. But not much time left before snow arrives there. If I’m going to be rained inside I’d rather be home.

10 Day Weather Forecast for Greeen Bank WV

Maybe with a bit of luck the weather will be better than forecast. Plus, hopefully the family and I will still be able to go to Topsail NC in early Oct. Right now I don’t know if power is still off there, if the house is undamaged by the recent hurricane, or if major flooding or flood damage may cause problems getting there. There’s always something to make doing simple things not boring and a bit of an adventure. :smiley:

11

I’m with you :smile:

12

Ah, well. You have no control whether the unexpected will be pleasant or unpleasant. Oddly for some reason the unpleasant is often remembered longer. :confused:

13

David,
What you said reminds me of what Chris Stewart has on his website,
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” – Benjamin Franklin.
I know it does not exactly fit what you mentioned but similar in idea.

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