Very few types of waterfowl hunting gear have advanced as much in recent years as waders. Improvements in fabrics, design, and fit have made modern waders a real pleasure to wear. However, these improvements haven’t come cheap. The following tips will help you store your waders during the long summer months so they will be ready to go on opening day.
Field Norris, co‑owner of Chêne Gear, follows a multi-step process to prepare his waders for storage during the off-season. “The first thing that I do at the end of every season is thoroughly wash my waders. I’ll take them out on the patio or driveway and use a garden hose to spray them down, front and back,” Norris says. “Then I’ll grab a damp, soft rag with light dish soap and take off any mud that’s left. Then I rinse the waders off and lay them out flat in the sun to dry.”
The next step is to treat the exterior of the waders with spray‑on durable water repellent (DWR). This treatment provides a first line of defense against water and helps maintain the fabric’s waterproofing. Norris uses Gear Aid Revivex DWR on both the front and back of his waders. “If your waders see a lot of use during the season, don’t be afraid to reapply this DWR between hunts,” Norris adds.
If your waders have a zipper, Norris recommends applying a gel cleaner and lubricant to it—once while it is closed and again to both sets of teeth while the zipper is open. “This helps protect against the grains of sand and mud that tend to get caught in the teeth of the zipper,” he says. Finally, Norris applies another Gear Aid treatment to the boots to help condition and protect the rubber.
How you store your waders might be the most important way to extend their life, Norris says. Instead of hanging the waders upside down, he recommends hanging them from the shoulder straps (some waders also have a hanging tab) just high enough so that the bottoms of the boots lightly touch the ground. This eliminates sagging or stress on the fabric.
“It should look like your waders are standing up, but there is no strain on the shoulder straps. You don’t want any creases along the seams or bunching of the material,” Norris says. “If you don’t have a place to hang the waders, you can lay them flat on the floor.”
