Camping gear field repair

[rusty_tlc]

Getting ready for the summer I've been making a mental list of stuff I need to check on.

One thing is the kit I keep for doing field repairs of my camping gear, nothing spoils a trip like a broken tent pole or jammed sleeping bag zipper.

Here is my field repair kit;

• Tenacious tape - fixing holes in tents, sleeping bags jackets etc.
• A tent pole repair kit
• air mattress patch kit
• extra shoe laces (actually para cord)
• File/stone for sharpening my shovel and hatchet
• floss - fixing fishing pole eyes etc
• Heavy needle and thread.
• super glue
• Duct tape

I carry a bunch of other stuff for vehicle repairs that also serves for gear repair this is mostly gear specific stuff.

What do you guys pack?

 

[george_tlc]

One thing that I bought years ago and is handy for strong field repairs is a spool of 'kevlar thread'. Pain to cut, but easy to use to sew things up and is STRONG

As you say, most things that are useful for vehicle repairs double for camping gear repairs. I also have an assortment of screws, bolts, nuts (to repair blown rivets on camp chairs etc). GOOD (made in the US) tiewraps. Assorted size hoseclamps etc.

A cheap grommet kit to repair/add grommets as needed to tarps (wind & rain).

I have a 4" vise I like to bolt onto the roobar for trips - handy for repairs/filing/cutting etc.

Most of my trips in oz are a few weeks in length and very remote, so my collection of tools and repair stuff has grown over the years to deal with things. Since all that stuff remains in the vehicle, I rarely take inventory though often surprise myself when opening up one of the tool boxes with the assortment of things that 'could come in handy'

cheers,
george.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I make a point of unloading everything from my rigs once a year and sorting out the stuff that "could come in handy" but I've never actually used. Of course in that pile is the one thing I really could have used on the very next trip.

Rather than a grommet kit I carry a couple of those snap in plastic grommets, lots easier to install in the field. Also handy to add a grommet in a tarp.

Never used Kevlar thread but plain old dental floss is amazingly strong.

 

[Tapage]

maybe not a field repair ..but I always bring extra pair of boots .. there is nothing I hate more than walk with half boot ..

 

[NLXTACY]

One thing that I bought years ago and is handy for strong field repairs is a spool of 'kevlar thread'. Pain to cut, but easy to use to sew things up and is STRONG

Man, maybe I need to find another supplier but the spool of kevlar thread I have is no where near as strong as I would have expected. I kept breaking the thread when I tugged on it to tie it off. It was pissing me off.

 

[george_tlc]

Man, maybe I need to find another supplier but the spool of kevlar thread I have is no where near as strong as I would have expected. I kept breaking the thread when I tugged on it to tie it off. It was pissing me off.

Sounds like it wasn't kevlar. The 'real' stuff is incredibly strong. Years ago we would use the thread bundled in with fine wire cables in a thin sheath for compact underwater probes (lowered off the side of a boat). The kevlar thread was designed to carry the weight of the probe dragged in the water. It would cut your hands before you could ever break it. The only way we found to be able to cleanly cut it was to put some superglue on the fiber, let it dry and then it could be cut with side cutters. If not 'glued' the fibers would just flatten so much that the cutter couldn't 'cut' them. The 'real' thread should have hundreds of super fine fibers making up the thread.

cheers,
george.

 

[NLXTACY]

Then what I have isn't real Kevlar. Bastards.

 

[rusty_tlc]

maybe not a field repair ..but I always bring extra pair of boots .. there is nothing I hate more than walk with half boot ..

Sportsmans Shoe Goo.