You Can Fix It: DIY for Travelers

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When you’re on the road, your gear and clothing take a lot of punishment.
If you’re trying to stick to a tight budget, you don’t want to be replacing stuff every time something tears or breaks, so it’s handy to have a basic fix-it kit.

 

My Fix-It Kit:

swiss army knife
needle
black thread
super-glue
cloth ‘gaffa’ tape (miniature 20mm roll)
small piece of fabric – preferably nylon
 

“That’s Not a Knife, This is a Knife…”

A ‘Swiss Army Knife‘ is a fantastic tool to have with you on the road. 
As well as a basic pocket knife it should have a pair of small scissors, an awl, mini pliers, and a rope hook. 
A good knife, like the ones made by Victorinox, is a bit of an investment, but it is worth getting quality.  Cheap pocket knives inevitably break just when you need them most.
Some travellers carry larger multi-tools, like a ‘Leatherman‘, but for me, the extra weight isn’t really worth it.
 

Running Repairs.

Most of the repairs I make invole tears and holes in fabric: stitching coming apart on the backside of my shorts; a tear in my favourite t-shirt; a strap on my backpack that is pulling apart; a hole in my tent floor. 
Almost any problem with clothing, bags, tents and sleeping gear can be easily fixed with needle, thread, and super-glue.  If you have a little square of light nylon or cotton fabric, that you can use to make patches, then you are really sorted.

My repair work is never fancy.  “Stick it together” is the name of the game. 
For holes in my tent, I often just use a small piece of cloth ‘gaffa’ tape.  If the hole is a bit bigger, or it in a spot that is under strain, I will take it up a notch and break out the sewing kit.
 

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine.

I sew like a neanderthal, but the stitches hold OK, and that’s good enough for me, especially if it’s the difference between having nice warm pants with no holes or my arse blowing in the breeze.
If your sewing skills are a bit so-so (forgive the pun), or there is a lot of strain on the repair point, you can use some fabric as a patch, as well. 
For super strong sewing, moisten the stitched area and dab super-glue onto the stitches and fabric.  Once that stuff dries, the stitches will never come undone, guaranteed.
 

Keep it Together!

Why is super-glue better on moist surfaces?   
Cyanoacrylate, otherwise known as ‘super-glue‘, has been used industrially since the nineteen fifties. 
Since the American war in Vietnam, derivitives of cyanoacrylate have been increasingly used in medical contexts, especially for emergency wound closure.
Most of us know cyanoacrylate as a glue, though.  It sticks to everything, and quickly.  But you have probably noticed that it always seems to stick better to your fingers than anything else.  That’s because of the chemical reaction that happens when the resin comes into contact with the moisture on your skin.  One of the properties of cyanoacrylate resin, is that it hardens more quickly in reaction to moisture. 
To make a very fast drying, strong bond with super-glue, breathe on the surfaces to be glued, or smear them with a little water.  The glue will go off a lot better.
Be sure to keep your tube of glue in a small, rigid container, and double bag it.  You don’t want that shit leaking in your backpack if you sit on it!
 

Rest Easy.

One bit of kit that I end up fixing pretty often is my inflatable air mattress.  It gets little holes in it quite easily, from thorns, twigs, and even sharp stones on the ground.  It is pretty annoying waking up in the middle of the night with a numb butt, because your air bed has gone flat.
There are expensive self adhesive patches you can buy, but they are not a good long term solution because after a while they tend to just peel off, or blister under pressure when you are sleeping. 
To fix an air mattress quickly and easily, just use super-glue. 
Wet the mattress all over, and press down on it to find the leak.  Little bubbles will form at the spot where the air is escaping. 
Mark the hole with a pen, and dab the surface dry with a towel.  A tiny drop of glue right on the spot will do the trick, and unlike other glues, the moisture will actually make super-glue stick better. 
For extra strength you can put a little square of tissue paper on the glue while it is wet, as well.  Ten minutes later you can re-inflate the mattress and go back to sleep. 
Easy and inexpensive.
 

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