No matter how well you maintain your kit, from time to time things break, and inevitably they break when you’re on a trip rather than at home. So it makes sense to carry a few things with you that will allow you to make some basic repairs to your kit whilst you’re in the field.
This is what I carry in my pack and whilst it won’t repair everything, it’ll provide a quick fix to many issues. With the pouch included, my bushcraft repair kit weighs 85g.
If you want to know what I carry for a few days in the woods, look at this post.
Sewing kit
I’ve made many repairs to my rucksack over the years and whilst I’ve mostly carried out those repairs at home I’ve also made the odd running repair whilst out in the woods. To that end I carry a leather working needle and a couple of smaller needles as well as fishing line (I’ve used this in the past on my rucksack), leather working thread and normal cotton thread (I’ve had the odd button come off too). I keep my sewing kit in a small plastic bag.
Puncture repair kit
About 10 years ago I was spending a few days in the woods; in the middle of the first night I woke up feeling a little uncomfortable and quickly realised that my self inflating mat had gone down. So I got up, moved my sleeping bag and opened the valve. Nothing happened so I blew into the valve and could hear the faintest of noises where the air was escaping. It was tricky to repair in the dark (this is a bit of an understatement!) as I had to find the hole and then bring some water to the boil in a billy can so that I could put the billy can on the patch after it was applied so that the glue would set. But nonetheless it was still better than lying on the ground for the rest of that night and the next 2!
Other items
Another item that I make sure I have with me is gaffer tape, useful in so many different situations; typically I wrap a couple of meters up rather than carry the entire roll. A few years ago we had a branch come through a tarp and gaffer tape wouldn’t stick to it. Fortunately Bob had some ‘tenacious tape’ with him which stuck first time and is still in place; now I always carry some of it.
I also take a small tube of super glue.
Tie wraps are multi useful and always worth carrying. I take a few different sizes suitable for different tasks.
Not in my repair kit as such, but useful items that I always carry are my Leatherman Wave and paracord. I don’t use ny Leatherman often but it’s a really useful bit of kit and well worth having along. The last time I had to use it was to tighten a screw on my glasses to prevent the arm falling off!
