Let’s see –
I've made good use of my sewing kit several times over the years to sew buttons back on me britches and sometimes my shirt. On a cycle tour my partner sewed up a rip in his shirt using my sewing kit which was better than the "hotel" type he carried. On short tips this isn’t a big deal but on long trips it is a drag to be missing buttons on yer pants.
I've used tape to cover holes in a down jacket, and to tape interesting stuff into my journal.
Once or twice I've repaired a hole in thermarest mattress. To work properly these things have to hold air, so this bit of kit is essential.
On my very last trip I needed to pull out my book of paper matches when my lighter was too cold to work one morning.
The tiny mirror in the Silva compass has gotten used by my wife many times fiddling with her contacts, and once on a canoe trip I actually dug it out and took a bearing!
I can’t think of anything interesting or exciting that I’ve done with the spare cord, but it is certainly the most versatile and essential bit of kit in my mind.
I can’t recall ever using the trioxane bar for emergency fire starting, but I carry it anyway. If I’m having trouble starting a fire or everything is wet and my wife doesn’t want to wait for me to play backwoodsman and split dry kindling from a dead old growth tree trunk with my tiny pocket knife, she simply pulls a wax and sawdust fire starter out of her pack and is done with it!
So, I carry just what I’ve found useful over the years, and that trioxane bar so I know that no matter what I can get a fire going.
I can remember a few repairs I made over the years that really saved the day!
Eleven years ago my wife and I went on a canoe trip of the Bowron circuit up in Canada.
About halfway through the trip we came across a father and daughter from California that were having a tough time of it, and shared a cabin one night with them.
It was raining almost every day and all they had was that real cheap vinyl rain suits that were in tatters, and their MSR Whisperlight stove had clogged up and ceased working. The daughter was just about in tears and at the end of her endurance.
My wife and the daughter spread out their tattered rain garments on the floor of the cabin and put them back together with our small roll of tape ( intended for emergency canoe repairs ) and I dug out my MSR Whisperlight kit and replaced the jet in their stove. We spent a pleasant night together with lots of hot food and the next day they set out with renewed spirits, rain gear than might just last a few more days and a working stove, which really helps!
Anyone else ever “save the day” with yer repair kit?
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