For the most part, my trips since have been short enough that wasn't a problem, but for quite a while I've been wanting to upgrade.
After ages of putting it off, I finally decided "good enough" would have to do for a couple items, and just ordered not-quite-right-but-okay:
I had to do a bit of a dance with the vendor to get it made this way - it's ALMOST entirely historically correct: it's a real pitch-lined goatskin bota: no plastic piping, no rubber liner. Just goatskin and pine pitch like in the old days. This is really cool - it feels totally different from a walmart plastic bota the instant you pick it up: the pitch lining inside is I think laid on fairly thick, and the thick-yet-yielding texture feels almost alive as you handle the empty skin.
Right now it's getting it's initial soak, but should be ready to use late this weekend!
There's still some things I'm not that happy with: the rubber 0-ring on the wooden stopper is most obvious, but the "cup" style spout - and it's olivewood construction - don't feel right for Eriador. The capacity is a bit smaller than I was expecting, but it's nice and light as is. That said, were I to do it over I think I'd have ordered the 1.5L rather than the 1L variant.
At some point I'm likely to ask my husband to turn me a more rustic spout and stopper, and while I'm at it craft a leather strap of some kind for it to replace the existing rope. All in all though, it's a decent interim step until / unless I make my own from scratch.
To the wilds!
