|
GearAid Expedition - First Aid for Your Gear
By Jeff Porcaro
Weight: 16 oz.
Suggested Retail Price: $43.00
face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva" size="4">We were two days into a four-day trip in Utah's mountainous High Uintas Wilderness when the daily afternoon thundershower approached. These showers come with fierce intensity, and last about an hour, followed by the dark onset of nightfall. We reached our campsite just before the storm hit. I dropped my pack and pulled out the tent. Quickly trying to pitch the tent to beat the rainfall and keep my gear dry, my eyes met a horrific site--a broken tent pole. Without that pole the tent refused to stand up, instead slumping to the ground while the storm broke over us in its full intensity. I threw my gear into my sagging, lifeless tent and sought uninvited shelter in my reluctant packing companion's tent, there to wait out the storm.
When people get bruised or broken a first aid kit provides supplies for necessary repairs; but what do you do when your gear is cut or damaged?
GearAid is first aid for your gear. Like a first aid kit, GearAid's Expedition kit comes in a zippered pouch made of tough, abrasion resistant, polyester fabric. But that's where the similarities end. Inside this zipper pouch there are no medicine or bandages. There are plenty of items for your gear, including a tent pole splint, straps, buckles, glue sticks, seam grip, duct tape and fabric swatches. Oh, what I wouldn't have given for that tent pole splint that cold wet evening in the Uintas! I suspect my gracious, but inconvenienced, tent mate felt the same way.
Digging through the GearAid Expedition in the comfort of my living room, I immediately liked the simple instructions for common gear repairs. Have a tear in your rain parka? Just pull out the needle and nylon thread to sew it up or use one of the adhesive-backed ripstop fabric swatches to cover it. Zipper busted? I've had several occasions when the zipper repair kit would have brought a smile to my face and restored life to my ailing gear. The various fabric swatches caught my appreciating glance as well.
Recently on a trip in the slot canyons of Lake Powell (llewellyn.asp), one of our testers blew out his gaiter ties, so we looked in the kit. Sure enough there was 100" of Para-Cord. We quickly fixed the problem and we were on our way.
What happens once you've used several of the items in the kit? GearAid offers refill packs to replenish the kit, refilling it with the items you've used in the field.
Summary
The GearAid Expedition kit is perfect for groups and for long trips where equipment failure could spell disaster. At 16 ounces, the kit is worth its weight in gold when you need it. And my experiences tell me you will need it. Our test crew now carries this kit on all group excursions for those unexpected gear breakdowns.
For more information, contact:
GearAid
P.O. Box 7622
Edmond, OK 73083
1-888-750-GEAR
info@gearaid.com
|
