What's in your "Fix" kit?

[hikingfish]

Hi!
As some of you might know, I'm about to head into a 4 day snowshoeing trip. As I'm preparing for it, I was thinking it would be important to have some extra "fix all" materials, in case something breaks. I was thinking everyone has such kind of a kit...what does yours include?!

I was thinking of bringing:
good old duct tape
tie-wraps
fishing line
needle

Thanks!

Fish

 

[cbcbd]

-duct tape
-guy chord
-swiss army knife
-ingenuity
-episodes of Macgyver

 

[Whiteman]

I have dental floss instead of fishing line. (Doubles as dental floss.) I have a couple of small hose clamps. I have some picture hanging wire. Zip ties are nice, but did not hold up for a snowshoe repair the one time I needed them. And a couple safety pins.

 

[skiguy]

Safety Pins

With out listing everything I bring in a backcountry repair kit the one item I definitely bring that alot of people don't usually have is Safety Pins. You might ask for what? An assortment of different size Safety Pins, especially larger ones, could be very helpful for temporally sealing a blown zipper. Imagine the first night of a multi-overnight Winter trip as you go to zip up your sleeping bag and low and behold you blow the zipper! Or how about blowing out the zipper on your winter parka??? That's why they call them SAFTEY pins. Great thread.

 

[erugs]

One item I'd add to the lists above is several of those loop bungies that have the plastic ball on the end. I repaired a snowshoe several winters ago that had suffered a break on the plastic binding. I was able to MacGyver a pretty good fix quickly and easily and securely, though the shoe did "list" to the right. They also come in handy for strapping things onto packs.

 

[Furry]

Not all that ingenious, but possibly most important IMO......extra batteries for your headlamp.

 

[pilgrim]

good old duct tape

That is the one and only repair item that I have ever brought. There is nothing that it cannot fix.

 

[spider solo]

I also bring a 6' length of double sided velcro. Which I have used whole or have cut pieces from as needed. Good for using with a splint or hanging things up and is reusable.
Good luck on your trip!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Common sense, my .02!



no pun intended

 

[Chip]

- Duct tape will not hold a broken tent pole under tension, even when splinted with extra tent stakes ( in my experience). Bring ferrules that are the correct size to repair your tent poles.
- Have something to set your stove on that won't melt. It provides a solid, level surface if you're cooking on snow.
- a small Leatherman type multi-tool with pliers and screw drivers.
- don't forget things like spare prescription glasses, medications and sun-block.

 

[forestgnome]

electrical wire

Electrical wire (the copper stuff with plastic coating ) has served me very well for repairing my Tubbs snowshoes. I beat the tar out of them off-trailing, so I've had broken rivets and also the loops around the tubular frames have broken. A 6 inch piece of electrical wire works well for such repairs.

Happy Trails!

 

[swamp]

For snowshoe repairs besides wire,tape, and zip ties I carry a couple stainless hose clamps. In an emergency they're strong enough to hold the binding on to the shoe.

 

[pks4000]

My tool kit

1. A small "driver" available at hardware stores (They are the diameter of a 50 cent piece ) and 2 different insertible screwdriver heads, (philips and straight edge) Repair crampons with these if you also have the small bolts and nuts etc.
An extra connector plate for crampon
2. 3 ft of Stainless steel wire for snowshoe/tent repair.
3. Duct tape.
4. pole expander sleeve (that small plastic barrel that controls the telopscoping friction inside the pole)
5. A high quality multitool. Leatherman is my choice
6. Clevis pin and locking O rings for Denali binding attachment.
7. Many plastic locking ties.
8. Small section of rope 10 feet of 1/4 inch nylon.
9. Large safety pins for jackets tents and bags.
All stored in a see thru Zip lock bag (no it never rips)
10. Dental floss
11. A sense of humor
All this weighs in at 1lb. Most of the weight is the muttitool which weighs 7 oz

 

[woodstrider]

Fix kit fixin's

I don't really have a fix kit- but I do have some duct tape wrapped around my water bottle.

I am good at cannabalizing my "at hand" gear to do field repairs. I think of all the stuff I carry with me in a multi purpose way.

 

[VTskier]

One thing not mentioned that I bring is a set of 18 inch Voile straps. They are great if your ski or snowshoe binding breaks, allowing you to lash your foot to the ski or snowshoe. You can also lash poles together. They can apply a lot of force, lock down tight, yet are easy to release.

Brian

 

[hikingfish]

Great replies so far!

Very resourceful group I see. I will be swinging to my local hardware store to purchase a couple of those items. I forgot: Are sense of humors on special this week? hehe

Fish

 

[dug]

-a replaceable length of ski pole (can be used for a ski pole, a tent pole, snowshow frame, or splint)
-duct tape (fixes about anything)
-scotch (fixes what the duct tape can't)

 

[sun=electric]

Ditto on:
Hose clamps, duct tape, safety pins, that polyurethane clear fix-it tape, needle and thread.
Also:
I now bring a 4 X 4 piece of aluminum roof flashing, with the corners cut rounded. It can be scored with a knife and snap cut by bending. It can be rolled tight to be an emergenct ferrule (with some duct tape to hold things together or with the hose clamps) to fix poles, or some other rigid peice of equipment that might break. It won't let sharp ends poke through.

 

[Lawn Sale]

I carry 50' of military 550 cord (550 pound strength), which gets a lot of use, from lowering packs down cliffs to making a clothes line, and in a pinch it'll easily support my weight, yet weighs only 3.7 ounces.

I also bring some of the aluminum post and screw nuts/bolts you can get from the hardware store. 10 of them weigh 0.3 ounces, yet they'll do quite a job at repairing anything from a pack strap to a snowshoe. In fact, it's what I usually use to repair snowshoes permanently.

Moleskin, goes without saying.

Instead of dental floss, I bring some Gorilla Wire fishing line, which is woven Kevlar. It has a 30 lb strength to it yet is about the same size as dental floss. I repaired a very nasty rip on my pack last summer when I fell down Bemis mountain (pretty much the whole way) due to the rain, and repaired it in a shelter, then continued the hike. It's stll holding now, but I did buy another pack for this summer.

Double sided velcro strap. It has a multitude of uses, and a full roll from Wal-Mart only weighs 0.6 ounces.

Duct tape goes without saying.

When tenting I bring some nylon self-sticking patches and a pole splint, just in case.

Enough ingenuity to know I can fix anything if given enough time to study the problem. The fact I have repaired most of my stuff in some way already means I have an intimate working knowledge of the items I bring, which definitely helps.

 

[hikingfish]

- Duct tape will not hold a broken tent pole under tension, even when splinted with extra tent stakes ( in my experience). Bring ferrules that are the correct size to repair your tent poles.
- Have something to set your stove on that won't melt. It provides a solid, level surface if you're cooking on snow.
- a small Leatherman type multi-tool with pliers and screw drivers.
- don't forget things like spare prescription glasses, medications and sun-block.

For the canadians watching this thread, Canadian Tires has a nice small multi-tool pair of pliers for 3$ CDN.

Fish