Integral Design Shortie Gaiters as they came:
As modified:
I just got my first pair of ID eVENT shortie gaiters, knowing from the reader and BPL staff reviews they did not stay down well over low tops. (One reason I didn't use gaiters was the under sole strap when walking on hard, sharp rock.)
The problem was they apparently would not stay down or totally cover low tops. That could be solved IMO. RJ wrote in a review thread that he sewed his to his low tops and added a velcro system to make them easier to put on and take off.
I bought them because I believed they could be connected to the low tops in a way that would make them removable or addable to the foot wear as desired, and not need to be permanently sewed on — that is important to me because I don't have a number of different low tops and didn't want to permanently sew them onto the uppers of my Montrails.
My theory was I could rig an attachment on the side of the low tops to serve as a connecting point for the grommet in the shortie gaiters.
Thus, I undertook to modify my shoe to add a loop or connector which could attach to the gaiters.
So, here is what I did and it seems to have worked for a test run. But, I need to figure out a more secure connector than a diaper pin between the shoe sides and the gaiters.
Here are the tools:
Tea candle to heat needle to punch holes in Montrail, dental floss for experimental loop, straight and curved needles to sew in loop and poke hole into Montrails, and different size diaper pins for quick experimental connectors. And, BPL lace locks to use lock as replacement for the stopper that comes with the gaiters. (The BPL lock is way easier for me to use, especially with cold hands.)
Test Modification:
First, I checked to see if I could easily replace the stopper on the upper leg end of the gaiter with a BPL Lace Lock. That was a piece of cake, cut off the extra bungy string and tied it on.
Next, I tried to push a needle through the rubber like side of the Montrail, without heating it. That seemed a secure place to put a loop of floss through for the experiment. If you want to know how sturdy and tough Montrails are, you try pushing a needle through the soft feeling rubber on the sides.
I turned to heating the large curved needle in the tea candle and poking it through. Even with the needle heated it was hard to do and the rubberized upper material tended to close back up. So you need to poke the hole and pull the needle out so it does not "freeze" in the shoe.
I had estimated where to poke the holes through so that a loop of bungy string or a diaper pin could be secured to the dental floss loop I was going to create and then hold the gaiter down low to the top of the Montrail low tops.
After pushing the holes through in the chosen locations I threaded dental floss onto the larger straight needle and pushed it through to start the loop.
Once the needle was pulled through the problem was getting it back out the other hole. That was difficult so I pushed the smaller needle through the second hole for a guide, then pushed the threaded needle through next to the smaller guide needle.
Once I had made three loops of dental floss through the holes in the sides of the Montrails I tied them off. The loop was now created.
Then I connected a diaper pin throught the loop in order to attach the gaiters to the shoes (this is just a test method, in the woods I would get a better system going than a diaper pin. Any ideas?)
I attached the gaiters to the Montrails using the diaper pin.
It worked, they stayed down on an initial short hike with little snow.
Well, I got this far so now I am interested in any ideas on (1) what is the stronget thread like material to use to make the loops, (2) what is the best connector to use between the loops and the gaiters' grommets? (The issue is keeping the connector strong and low profile so it will not hang up in brush or rub against rock and be bent, come loose or unsnapped, break, etc.)
