Having spent all your pocket money on some nice outdoor gear, it can be pretty annoying to put a hole in it. Whether it's a barbed wire fence, a brush with a rough rock, a crash, or just good ol' wear and tear, a hole can put a big... er... hole in the functionality of your gear. These days, more and more companies are offering some sort of repair scheme - and you might be surprised at how little some of these can cost. But there are some things we can try and fix at home, so I've rounded up…
Thanks, Hannah, that's really useful. I've bookmarked this for future reference.
Hey Hannah - loved this review. Very tempted to pick up the Patagonia field repair kit. Full disclosure - I work for Restrap, but just a little more info on our patches: they are primarily designed for repairing our dry bags and frame bags (but would work in other applications) - and are the same fabric that we use for sealing seams on products. We recommend using something like an old t-shirt in between the iron and fabric, even on our own products. For larger repairs, we recommend customers return their bags for us and we repair them for free.
I've successfully used kinesiology tape.
Sticky
Stretchy
Comes in a range of colours
Kinesiotape works very well in most cases and can survive multiple washes. Cheap to re-do if they become a bit tatty. Various colours available too!
Great roundup - I do like the animal cut-outs.
I use Spinnaker Repair Tape: https://www.admiralpsp.co.uk/product/spinnaker-repair-tape/ - it's made from a combination of pertex spinnaker cloth and super-sticky gunk on a waxed paper back. It comes in 50 metre rolls that are about 3" wide and is available from your local chandlery etc.
It's usually somewhere south of £15 for 50 metres in a choice of colours. I mark out patches using anything circular (espresso cups give you a good diameter for small tears) on the paper backing, and then cut it out using pinking shears, which stops the edges from fraying. It's handy to have a little ziploc of them kicking around to patch pretty much everything and anything (and in some cases anyone) and the adhesive is super-sticky and survives multiple washes quite happily. I have a couple of rolls around much of the time for sail repairs and anything else that needs the big bad older brother of a sticking plaster.
I've been using Stormsure Flexible Repair Solution with great success.
Used it on shoes, bags, clothing and pads.
If you can get to both sides of the hole/tear put some tape on one side to align the edges and hold it together.
Then use the glue on the other side to form a patch.
Wait until it's cured then peel the tape off.
Got a pair of waterproof boots I repaired with this method that are now worn out after the repair four years ago.
Repair is still in tact and waterproof.
Tried various different patch type repairs and they all peel off eventually.
