Boot Doc offers one of the premier options in aftermarket liners. When a skier is looking for that extra degree of performance, it usually comes at the cost of comfort or warmth, and often both. Boot Doc accomplishes this tough task by making a high-performance liner that is still warm and comfortable.
While I put my foot into the shell, Bud mixed the foaming solution. This is where the process did get a bit uncomfortable: as Bud forced the foam solution in through the rear hoses, I could feel the pressure building around the foot. Bud told me to roll my ankles and move my foot to allow the solution to work through. I was to keep doing that until the solution started coming out the front hoses. Once that happened, it took just minutes for the foam solution to expand, settle, and firm up. We repeated the process for the other foot. Bud did mention that the foam needs to off gas for a few days to settle in. Within hours of the process, the liner is ready to ski.
I have been skiing these liners in my Lange RS140s and not the Tecnica Mach 1 130s I molded them in. Yes, this is a bit unusual. For some reason, I couldn’t adjust to the Langes with their stock lace liner, but once I installed the foam BD World Cups, the Langes are now perfect, even though the liner was molded in the Tecnica. I liked the liner in the Tecnicas, but I love it in the Langes.
On the snow: Performance is just what I would expect from a foam liner: precise. What I did not expect was how comfortable they are or how perfect the heel pocket is; the other area that really surprised me was the warmth. I expected a foam liner to be more like my old lace-ups, performance at the cost of comfort, but these Boot Docs actually have both. Even though I installed Thermic heaters in these, I could tell the liners have a level of warmth that I have not experienced since my old days in a Thermoflex liner.
At this point I have about two dozen days in these Boot Doc WC liners; in my Lange shells, I could not be happier with the warmth and the overall fit. While I have used lace-ups before, I have these set up in the shell like a regular liner and they work just fine. What is most impressive is the heel: I have never had a heel pocket fit as perfectly as these.
I skied in a Flexon for 25 or so years and then moved to the Dalbello Krypton. The common denominators in these two boots were that they had three buckles and a moldable Thermoflex liner. When I moved to Tahoe a few years back, I went to a four-buckle boot and a traditional liner in the Tecnica Inferno 130 series. I skied that boot for a few years, which also included a year in a Nordica Patron Pro. I liked the way the boots skied, but the liners were the weak link and broke down after 50 to 70 days. I transitioned to a Head lace-up liner, which worked well. I never really considered a foam liner, although we did carry the Nordica foams at Start Haus. When Tecnica introduced the Mach 1 to replace the Infernos, it used the very good CAS liner, which broke down very little in the 100+ days I skied them. As stock liners go, it is one of the best.
Setup and molding: Bud Heishman has been so impressed by the new Boot Doc foam liners that he offers them in his shop and is also a distributor for the brand. For our testing, he suggested that I try the World Cup liner. The foaming process begins not much differently than molding an Intuition. You start with toe caps and then add padding in areas where you might have bones protruding, like navicular or styloid; in my case, the navicular needed extra attention. Even though the toe box has a neoprene pocket, we still used a toe cap that wrapped past the first and fifth metatarsals. Once the foot was prepped, we put my custom footbed in the liner and then a thin bag over my foot. Bud had to prep the shell to allow the release hoses to come out the front dam, so he used his floor clamp/binding setup. Once the liner was in the shell, I was able to get into it.While I put my foot into the shell, Bud mixed the foaming solution. This is where the process did get a bit uncomfortable: as Bud forced the foam solution in through the rear hoses, I could feel the pressure building around the foot. Bud told me to roll my ankles and move my foot to allow the solution to work through. I was to keep doing that until the solution started coming out the front hoses. Once that happened, it took just minutes for the foam solution to expand, settle, and firm up. We repeated the process for the other foot. Bud did mention that the foam needs to off gas for a few days to settle in. Within hours of the process, the liner is ready to ski.
I have been skiing these liners in my Lange RS140s and not the Tecnica Mach 1 130s I molded them in. Yes, this is a bit unusual. For some reason, I couldn’t adjust to the Langes with their stock lace liner, but once I installed the foam BD World Cups, the Langes are now perfect, even though the liner was molded in the Tecnica. I liked the liner in the Tecnicas, but I love it in the Langes.
On the snow: Performance is just what I would expect from a foam liner: precise. What I did not expect was how comfortable they are or how perfect the heel pocket is; the other area that really surprised me was the warmth. I expected a foam liner to be more like my old lace-ups, performance at the cost of comfort, but these Boot Docs actually have both. Even though I installed Thermic heaters in these, I could tell the liners have a level of warmth that I have not experienced since my old days in a Thermoflex liner.
At this point I have about two dozen days in these Boot Doc WC liners; in my Lange shells, I could not be happier with the warmth and the overall fit. While I have used lace-ups before, I have these set up in the shell like a regular liner and they work just fine. What is most impressive is the heel: I have never had a heel pocket fit as perfectly as these.
- Who is it for? Someone whose shells are still good but have packed-out liners, and who is looking for the best balance of comfort and performance.
- Who is it not for? Skiers with a low tolerance for pain: the fit process is tough.
- Insider tip: Less is more. Just because there is a whole tube of foam doesn't mean you have to use it all. And it is still not a substitute for being in the wrong size shell.