Detachable Upper Section on Gaiters… Make Sense?

If you're following Roger Caffin's design, then it probably makes sense to leave it full height. For durability he put the seam at the back and I would imagine that having an extra seam all the way around would make it less durable and more fiddly.

The more I think about it, the more I don't particularly like the idea of detachable uppers. The most sensible config would have the seam down the front to match the ORs but I like the design with it in the rear.

A big driver for that idea was minimizing cost and material needed. Is there equivalent fabrics for uncoated Corodura or breathable, durable fabric? The 500D I'm finding is ~$15/yd before shipping…

> The 500D I'm finding is ~$15/yd before shipping…
That's pretty good. You won't need much fabric for one pair, so 1 yd will last for several MYOG pairs – MANY years. very cost effective.

Actually, for some very strange reason, the gaiters I make myself using 500 denier Cordura seems to outlast commercial gaiters by a factor of 3 – 5 or more. That's leaves me to wonder what is the rubbish some of them are made out of?

I don't like the idea of a detachable upper myself, fwiiw.
I have recently switched from 20 mm Velcro tape at the back to a #10 zipper, with a large snap at the bottom. Seems to last better than the Velcro.

cheers

Appreciate the suggestions guys.

+1 on the zipper. My teammates have orienteering gaiters with zippers in the rear, and some padding/plastic insert in the front. To minimize the weight, I think I'll steer clear of that particular feature.

I did manage to find 1000D Cordura on ebay pretty cheap ~$13/yd. Still pokin around for durable, breathable fabric for the uppers.

OWF has uncoated 330d cordura, and The Rain Shed has uncoated 160d cordura. Oddly enough there is very little difference in weight between these two fabrics – I've used both on packs and they are very tough – both are around 4.5-5 oz/yd. OWF also has uncoated 1100d cordura if you want the max.