I just traded by friend my old gloves for his boots. Needless to say, his boots smell like s**t. Any tricks to clean these things out?
make sure they are completely dry and put them in the freezer for 48 hours. This will kill all of the bacteria that causes them to be so funky. I have to do it to my boat shoes, it works. A little booty juice never killed anyone....
There are a few products out there that work... Sink the Stink...Stink Out... you can usually find them in dive shops. Or you could try this home remedy... http://www.korduroy.tv/2010/defunkify-your-wetsuit ...but bump up the antiseptic. Other things I've tried with varying degrees of success are antibacterial hand soap (out of the pump container... you gotta rinse really well), hand sanitizer, denatured alcohol, boiling water, beer bottle sanitizer, and a 15 minute soak in diluted bleach solution (one cap full per gallon of cold water - if you smell bleach, you've added too much. Rinse with hot water).
This has been my (1-2 times a year) wetsuit cleaning routine for at least the past 20 years. Everyone seems to think well-diluted bleach will destroy my neoprene, and turn my skin into Michael Jackson, but so far i've had not noticed any problems and it kills stink dead.
i use wetsuit shampoo by aquaseal. you can find it online or at dive shops. Eliminates the odor and preserves your suit!
x2 but you should also be rinsing your suit after each use with freshwater. I fill my boots up with water in the shower and dump them out. Then hang them to dry. I use a plastic hanger from a tux i had rented. I dont have any stinky boots becuase I make sure they are rinsed and dry within 12 hours. Bacteria and mold will grow if left in a an area where the suit wont dry in time.
go to your local surfshop and buy piss-off. it's by ripcurl. All you do it pour 2 capfuls in a tub while filling it, and then handwash the neoprene then let sit for 30 mins. rinse let air dry, and they now smell like brand new wetsuit. oh and it also gives it that gooey feeling like when you first bought it i think it's like 8 bucks...
no - just give up the smell will never come out i think the rubber has micro holes in its surface and... like one time i bought a used yukon and my hands would smell funny after I drove the truck and I was like WTF. It turned out that a preacher owned it before me and he applied aftershave liberally each morning then drove the truck and the leather just sucked in the smell. I tried everything but no luck - i finally sold the truck. To a guy who also used aftershave.
baby shampoo Baby shampoo is great to get the suit/boots/ whatever clean. Its a mild soap handscrub the boots out rinse well then air dry. Not sure it will kill all the odor but at least ya know they are clean. I do this every fall and every spring to my suit. I espically do it before the start of suit season and then at the end of it and put it up fresh and clean and dry in the garage
if that works that's the sickest thing i've learned in the past two weeks. (meaning of 'hot karl' is a close second.)...
cat 5 wetsuit cleaner is the best stuff I ever used. You can use it to clean or deoderize . I use it on all my gear once a month depending on useage
just take a bath, and bring your suits and booties etc in with you. let them soak a while in the soapy water. freshensthem up a bit but to reiterate what someone else said, you will never kill all the stench. just get used to it. its like hockey equipment. it smells. nothing you can really do. I will have to try the freezer method. It makes sense logically. But then again, I leave my suits outside to dry in freezing temps and they still stink.
I hop in the shower with my wetsuit and get it nicely rinsed with freshwater after every single session. My suits never smell funky and the neoprene stays nice and supple for quite a while. I bring my boots and gloves in with me as well. Also, I don't piss in my wetsuit either so maybe that helps to keep it fresh as well.
that piss off stuff makes it smell like it's brand new. i've never had a problem with the smell after wards. it always has gotten rid of it.
I wouldnt recomend letting them hang dry in freezing cold temps . Neopren is a semi pours material . If the water freezes while still in the neprene it will cause the pours in the to expand which can cause damage to the suit . the fabric and neoprene will become weak and the suit will rip .
