Just as the title suggests, how did you fix or make temporary repairs to a damaged tent pole, leaking canoe or tent, cracked paddle, blown out zipper on sleeping bag etc.?

As one of those people who are an accident waiting to happen and have experienced all of the above, I would really like to know how others have dealt with broken equipment in the field. Please don't limit yourself to the few things I listed. There are plenty more things I can yet break.

I've taped leaks in canoe hulls with gorilla tape (works surprisingly well as long as it's not a large hole).

Field repaired a hanging canoe seat where the hanger broke using some p-cord (just suspended that corner of the seat with the cord).

I sewed a cracked plastic canoe blade together using the awl on my multitool and some micro cord once and then melted some plastic into the crack to glue it back together.

Also had to use a tent pole repair sleeve once with gorilla tape as well.

I've done a number of backcountry sewing repair jobs as well using needle and thread as well as tenacious tape. Those are not all that uncommon.

That's about all I can think of. :)

On a 10-day trip, a pair of Rothco knock-off jungle boots started delaminating on my 2nd or 3rd day out. I made them last the trip:



TZ

I've been lucky not to have to do too much repair work. Patched some clothing and a sleeping bag with Tenacious Tape. I like it, works well. I've also used a Tear-Aid patch on a water bladder. The most extensive repair I've done was on a Sea-to-Summit pack when the backpack strap came loose where it was attached at the bottom (due to a bad weld). I used super glue and duct tape - StoS complimented my repair skills - and sent a new one. It held up for the rest of the trip - 25 miles from Cap to Boulder and out through Kawishiwi.

Broke the middle seat in a Q18.5. Some beaver wood, zip ties, duct tape and para cord and she held rest of trip.

Patched a leaky rivet on an old Alumacraft with a Band-Aid and candle wax.
Held up for a week.

Fixed Katadyn hiker input nipple fitting with some chewing gum. I think that is the only repair I have needed on a trip.

Awesome to see the repairs. Definitely going to hold those images in my mind for the future.

We haven’t had any significant repairs. The one sleeping bag pad we had fail did so by blowing out a big length of seam. There was no hope for it. And we tried.

A tip that we picked up here and have used was turning a tyvek ground cloth into a tent fly by wrapping small rocks in the corners and tying a line around them. Held great. It wasn’t really a repair because the tent fly had not failed. It was just back at our nephews home.

Repaired hinge on friends much needed prescription glasses with a safety pin. Worked well till we were out of the woods.

I always carry a field repair kit on trips. When car camping the repair kit is bigger with more items which are carried in a surplus ammo can.

As I recall there has been at least one thread on bwca.com in which people listed what repair items they carried. The more experience you have tripping the more you can figure out what items you need to carry.

We definitely carry a repair kit too. Key items are patch material, glue, sewing kit, eyeglasses kit, and HIGH QUALITY DUCT TAPE! Currently we have a roll of what Piragis sells as boat tape. I'd feel comfortable with lots of other brands too.

Forgot another repair. We were using a Cabelas frame pack as a knupac (the ones where you portage the canoe on the top of the frame instead of your shoulder). The broken frame was "fixed" with a stick inside and duct tape. But it wasn't up to portaging and just got used to carry a pack.

My wife's Keens delaminated our first day in. I was halfway joking when I did this. Surprisingly, it held up for the remaining three days. Granted, they were just being used around camp after that.

A tent pole splint is a good idea to have. Most new tents these come with one and they can be lashed into place with paracord or you could use tape.

I bring some gorilla tape, a mesh patch kit for my tent, some twisty ties, zip ties, a bunch of aluminum foil folded up and Gerber Dime multi-tool. This next year I am going to add a few of the small bicycle tube patches because they are extremely sticky and could probably do well at patching a leaky hip wader or a pinhole leak in the canoe. May also toss in the seam sealer kit or a mini-tube of Permatex vinyl repair which dries as a flexible seal, making it useful for many repairs.

That pretty much has me covered for most scenarios I think.

I’ve used braided fishing line for repairs a few times, very useful stuff. Had a chair pole poke a hole through the pocket it fits into & limped it along by stitching the hole & stuffing a small rock in the pocket before the pole. I carry with me a repair kit & sewing kit. Repair kit has stove repair parts, jb weld, super glue, UV/waterproof tape, a heavy-duty gorilla glue patch material (for patching the canoe), etc & sewing kit has a tape ruler, safety pins, needles, scissors, ribbon, denim/other patch material, etc. I’ve used just about everything in the kit at one point or another, sans the jb weld & canoe patch.

Not are repair but a few years back I realized at our campsite that I had neglected to bring a couple of cooking utensils. We fashioned a spatula out of a stick and a piece of cardboard and flipped our pancakes quite nicely. And a forked stick was carved to serve as our fish flipper. I still have them on my workbench at home.

AlexanderSupertramp: "...patching a leaky hip wader... "

I'm struggling on this...

My buddy and I fixed a broken canoe yoke with a branch and some para cord. May have also used some duct tape but I'm not sure on that. This happened on the first portage on the first of a six day trip to Woodland Caribou, and it surprisingly held out all week.

In May 2022, the spring we had the epic high waters, a buddy and I set out from the Little Indian Sioux North entry on a 12 day trip. It was a cool and rainy start - he in his Rapidfire and me in the Magic. At the end of the very first portage, he set his canoe down, turned, caught a root, slipped and fell backward into the boat, breaking the rear thwart completely free and one side of the front thwart as well. Fortunately, HE suffered no real damage and the hull was fine too. The Rapidfire is 100% composite, including the gunnels and thwarts. Never thinking of turning back, we looked at each other with a 'how do we fix this' mindset. We took some cordage and basically lashed them both back into place with several turns around the thwarts then under the hull to keep them located, then a trucker's hitch across the beam to keep the boat from spreading. He has a custom backrest mounted to the rear thwart, which we were concerned would walk backward with weight on it but found we could lash it to the two factory seatback support loops on either side and that kept it in place and held his weight decently. That all held amazingly well for the 12 days, even in spite of lots of portaging. Once back home, he was able to effect permanent repairs with the proper resins.

pd

Not a repair but I lost my spoon once on a solo trip. I "bushcrafted" a replacement.

Worst. Spoon. Ever.

bobbernumber3: "

AlexanderSupertramp: "...patching a leaky hip wader... "

I'm struggling on this..."

Which part? I fix all sorts of stuff with bike tube patches. Anything that I need to be air or watertight. If you spring a pin-hole leak in your hip wader or even say.. the side of your muck boots, these are great.

AlexanderSupertramp: "

bobbernumber3: "

AlexanderSupertramp: "...patching a leaky hip wader... "

I'm struggling on this..."

Which part? I fix all sorts of stuff with bike tube patches. Anything that I need to be air or watertight. If you spring a pin-hole leak in your hip wader or even say.. the side of your muck boots, these are great."

Hip boats for a canoe trip? You must hit some really muddy portages!!

Our aluminum canoe had a pin-hole leak, which was "fixed" by inserting a round toothpick. Lasted for years. I imagine the toothpick swelled a bit once in the water, and sealed the hole.

If I have my needle and thread, Duct tape, 1/8" polyester rope and a
leatherman, I think I can fix just about anything that comes up. I've done zipper repair on all three trips that I've done so far.

Lots of simple repairs to things like chairs and tent poles. Once we were short a chair and my friend made one.

The big repairs have been damaged boats. A friend sunk his canoe on the John Day River, OR in flood. We dragged his fiberglass canoe ashore and pounded it back into shape. Major damage. A roll of duct tape and we got back to the take out, which was another 40 miles away. We did a lot of eddy shopping on the way recovering items lost in the sinking of his boat.

On my first handful of trips, I would only bring a cheap collapsible fishing pole. This also meant get what you pay for and a snapped in half fishing rod when some force is applied. A shaved down branch was run down the inside of the rod and an extra tent stake with some duct tape wrapped around the outside did the trick to last the trip.

Duct tape has also come in handy for shoe repairs when old cheap camp/wet foot shoes don't last the trip.

We've also used paracord to reinforce some pack straps that started tearing at the seams.

Circa 1989: Ripped a three inch gouge in the bottom of an Alumacraft while trying to run the rapids into Clove Lake. The fix: with a rock I pounded the ripped edges to close as much of the hole I could. Shoved some tin foil in it, then sealed the inside and outside with some seam sealer I brought. Wasn't perfect, but it allowed us to continue the trip with both canoes.

Mike

I've used the tent pole splint before, and a patch kit for an air mattress. On the same day.

After using my buddy's splint I bought my own, but I do also bring multiple types of tape depending on what we need it for. Gorilla tape for big patch jobs like the canoe or a pack, and thin duct tape for tent walls and rain jackets. Paracord works for lots of things too.

I’ll never trip without Gorilla Tape. It’s patched a small hole in one of my boats for years now. Mended a canoe blade that snapped in half on day one of a trip several years ago. We splinted the paddle blade with a tent stake and applied the tape. That fix is still holding up. Two summers ago the soles of my boots came off on day one. Gorilla tape and paracord to the rescue.

Funny! I'm wearing the same pair of Vasque boots right now. Mine never came apart that badly. I've contacted Vasque before about sole issues and they have sent me a few pairs of new replacement boots.

Tom

Sewing kit saved a cheap bug shirt that the hood torn when it had been pulled too tight under pack straps during a portage. Speedy stitcher fixed a pack that blew out a main seam.

I always bring a repair kit, but it's not very large. So, for a crack/hole in by friend's canoe, I melted some cord and worked it into the void, then sealed it with another layer of melted cord. I don't remember putting any duct tape over it, but whatever I did held and didn't leak any more for the rest of our multi-day trip.

My friend's alumicraft sprung a small leak on a trip to LLC one year and I mixed wood ash, some fine plant fibers with pine pitch, ruined a metal spoon and forced it in. Then duct tape. Worked for that trip, but I understand it can get brittle over time.

Noticed a swift leak in a rental canoe on our entry lake of a trip way back in the day (2000) when we were renting aluminum models. Seemed like it was from some missing rivets along the middle seam such that the holes couldn't easily be seen. We hauled it up on a dock on Farm Lake's big island (a Scout camp, I think) and jammed some chewing gum along and under the seam as best we could and covered it all with duct tape. Thanks, MacGyver!

I take Gorilla tape to fix things around camp. I also take an “S” needle and Spectra 50# braided line for any sewing repairs. Here is the link to a YouTube video for the S needle. It is really amazing and will go through anything you will encounter. It goes through leather or nylon straps like butter. S needle

Not sure I've ever used this on a canoe trip (yet) but for so many other fixes, bring along a tube of Shoe Goo.This stuff sticks to just about everything, even polyethylene after a fashion. The obvious application is shoes, but I have dabs of it on pinholes in the floor of my whitewater raft. Used it to repair fabric tears, dry bag leaks, so many possibilities. IMO the GOOP products are inferior to the original Shoe Goo.