C&R:
I've gone through two pairs of Chota STL's and I'm on a third. I had a few problems but never that one. Grit embedded in the laces is the most likely culprit so cleaning the shoes once in awhile may buy you some time plus pay other dividends like helping with Didymo.
The factory repair while reasonable, may end up costing you twice or three times as much as the initial $12 when you factor in outbound and return shipping. There is the time factor as well. Also if you get them back and another loop pops in three months, you are approaching "not worth it" territory.
If I was you I'd take Chota's offer of the free lace loop material and seek out a good shoemaker. A shoemaker is great to have at your disposal for a lot of reasons. You'd be surprised what they can do for you and how much money you can save. Over the years I've had my local shoe repair shop sew leather patches on my Chota's when I wore holes right through the sides. I've had leather patches sewn on other wading shoes as well as getting replacement lacing hooks and eyelets installed on small leather patches which were sewn on the shoes when the originals pulled off. Most of those repairs were less that $10. Maybe its me, but patched wading gear looks cool!!
Back before Chota redesigned the sole attachment method, you could actually buy replacement sole kits for the STL's. I have two of those kits right now. On my first pair, when the soles and heel wore out, I ripped off the worn pair and re-glued a new pair on and had my shoemaker stitch them on. Total cost to me for the repair kit & the shoemaker was $24. That patched and repaired pair of Chota's lived another two seasons before they developed a complete failure of the welt.
Unfortunately, the newest version of the Chota's have a sole that is all but impossible to remove. When it wears out, the only option unless Chota does sole replacement, (which I don't THINK they offer) is to throw them away. I may not be the most frugal fisherman out there but as the grandson of a shoemaker, I just can't chuck a perfectly good pair shoes in the trash just because the soles wore out.
Because of that and despite being satisfied with Chota's for every other reason. I won't buy another pair once my last pair heads south.
A couple of Chota tips:
- The Simms screw in studs work in the Chota's and last longer that the Chota versions.
- The Simms elastic laces are heavier than the Chota versions, last longer and work just fine
- The Chota laces are nothing more than 1/8" or 3/16" shock cord, available by the yard at camping stores and even at places like JoAnn Fabrics. You can easily open and reuse the small plastic doohickey Chota puts on the end of the laces with a pocketknife. Obviously, the cord-lock is easy to reinstall
- On the laces, the fabric covering the elastic craps out first so pulling the laces slowly and easily when you put on the shoes will make them last a bit longer
- Obviously regular laces work fine but you lose the built in tensioning of elastic. A great replacement lace is parachute cord, also available by the yard at camping stores. Just cut to size and melt the end with a match and you have great laces that seem to last forever. Of course parachute cord doesn't have an aglet on the end which is that small sheath covered part of a shoelace that makes it easy to get through an eyelet. You can solve that problem by melting the end of the parachute cord and twisting the EXTREMELY HOT melted nylon between the matchbook cover. That will put a pointy end on it that passes just fine through an eyelet.
Good luck with the repair!
