Mad_Mat wrote on Oct 9^th, 2009 at 1:00pm:

I also recommend the OTB boots.  JD's complaint is the only one I have heard of so far on the OTB. Always a good idea to do some research on the gear review websites to see if things have changed, and to get a bigger sampling for most items.  Haven't looked for OTB reviews myself, as they were a new item when I bought mine. My Abyss boots have done two Quetico trips and are still in almost new condition, after some 58 wet-footing portages this year and probably about 50 last year.  That's 22 days and about 300 total miles of use, so they got a pretty good workout.  The only wear is a slight amount on the toe-cap stitching, none on the heel.

 Considering the trips YOU do, I would say that's a pretty good recommendation. I would like too hear from jdrocks, IF he gets any feedback from the MFG, on why this happened?
 Little tip for extending your shoe/boot life IF you have some frayed stitching issues? When my shoe of choice is NEW, I coat ALL stitching and seams with welt/seam sealer. This seems to "lock" the threads down and so far has solved "that" problem.