replying to my own question here,   I have a local antique  boat repair guy offer to fix them by remolding the filler portion of the boot with special plyable resin.  Will keep you posted with the results. He claims it will be a 1000 mile boot, lol

Rubber (or PU) does not age well... My old Solomon hiking boots (18 years old) have a leak in the sole somewhere, but otherwise have remained intact.  I can't think of any outdoor gear that I would expect to last longer than 10 years.  Leather still looks good!

I had something similar happen to a pair of safety toe boots used for construction. They were about 10 years old and after not using them much for the last 2 years I did some outdoor renos last summer for a friend. On the same day I had chunks of rubber break off each boot and the next day one sole half ripped off. I guess rubber (at least the type that was on my boots) has an expiry date on it and for me it was about 10 years.

It may be time to update your boots!

2wheeler said:Rubber (or PU) does not age well... My old Solomon hiking boots (18 years old) have a leak in the sole somewhere, but otherwise have remained intact.  I can't think of any outdoor gear that I would expect to last longer than 10 years.  Leather still looks good!

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You are right, i just wish they boot company would have put 5 bucks worth of higher quality materials.  On the ski boots there is a layer that is between the actual rubber sole and the chassis of the boot that the leather upper is nailed to.   This inner layer of  foam type rubber dies a premature death compared to the rest of the boot.  I have just poured West System resin into this cavity.  In the toe area the resin layer is thin and stays flexible and at the heal it is thicker and rigid.   I will post some picture of the repair.  I will try them out first  ( as soon as we have more snow )  before doing all the cosmetic touch ups.  

here is a shot of the repaired boots. Tested them for the last 2 days and they are better than new.   Flexible where the resin is thinnest and rigid from the arch back to the heel.  total cost   $20   This is what the boat  repair shop charged for the materials   no labour as they thought it was a great story and they had never repaired boots before.  I will do a final finish of the resin and then a bit of dye.   The leather uppers are so comfortable.  I am glad i did not give up on this piece of equipment.  cheers wolf

will post the final finished job as soon as the snow melts, lol  

here is a shot of the repaired boots. Tested them for the last 2 days and they are better than new.   Flexible where the resin is thinnest and rigid from the arch back to the heel.  total cost   $20   This is what the boat  repair shop charged for the materials   no labour as they thought it was a great story and they had never repaired boots before.  I will do a final finish of the resin and then a bit of dye.   The leather uppers are so comfortable.  I am glad i did not give up on this piece of equipment.  cheers wolf

will post the final finished job as soon as the snow melts, lol  

Day 3 of testing and 100%  perfect .  Not the prettiest at the testing stage,  lol

feb 2016 012.jpg

After days of hard skiing the boots are still in perfect repair.   I think I can move on to cosmetic finish as soon as warmer weather arrives.  Thanks everyone for your input.