Boot Dryer - Xc or Downhill Skiing - Hiking - Etc

Tired of these boots that never seem to dry after a day on the trails? With a small fan and a few pieces of wood, here’s how I fixed that.

Step 1: How It Works

That’s how the assembled dryer looks like. Think of an upside down cabinet drawer combined with a pipe organ. You will need a small fan, a few lengths of pipe (ABS and PVC pipes are easy to cut and drill), some masonite or other similar thin stock and a few pieces of plywood, MDF or particleboard. The end pieces slide in and out to open or close vents as needed. The forced air will quickly dry your boots so they will comfortable when you hit the trails again the next morning.

Step 2: The Fan

I started out with this fan but soon found out that it wasn’t up to the task, so I later upgraded to a cabinet fan.

Step 3: The Box

Here are the required pieces of wood. Bottom panel is not shown but is the same size as the top piece. The long sides have a groove: this is to allow thin pieces of masonite to slide in and out to open/close vent holes as required. The width of the shorter sides matches that groove. The hole drilled in one of the longer sides is for the fan air intake.

Since my dryer was for xc-ski boots, holes only had to 5 inches from each others, center-to-center. Downhill or Snowboard boots are bigger, so for those you will have to make that measurement a bit bigger.

Step 4: Almost Done!

On this view of the partially assembled box, you can see the groove where the masonite piece will slide.

Step 5: The Pipes

My ABS pipes had a 1-13/16” outside diameter and I only had a 1-7/8” drill bit… I trimmed some plastic off one end of the pipes by running them on the table saw with the blade low enough to barely touch them. At the other end, I drilled a couple of holes on the pipes walls.

Step 6: Seal and Plug

I taped the bottom piece in place because I wanted to be able to reach inside the dryer if needed. And I did have to get inside when I “upgraded” to the cabinet fan.

Plug it in and that's it!

BTW, If you get back home with your boots soaken wet, you can always stuff some old newsprint in them for a few hours. This will wick most of the water out and greatly reduce drying time.