Tools that work & Etc.

[ebb]

from a company called McNett.
Here's a candidate for the 'Tools That Hopefully Work' category.
It's a clear matte peel and stick tape to be used on synthetic and natural fabrics, fleece, rubber, vinyl - on clothing, tarps, raingear, sleeping bags, mats, backpacks, stuffsacks and so forth. One guy used it to repair a bike tire. Maybe sails too?

It peels off again without leaving a residue. A way step up from 100-mile-an-hour tape: duct tape - which cannot be removed without delaminating and leaving an amalgamated mess.

It is sold in a roll 3" X 20" for the camping trade in a blue see-through plastic container. $3 to $4. That's nice too!


Found the stuff reviewed on the Backpack Gear Test site:
www.backpackgeartest.org
"The most comprehensive interactive gear reviews and tests on the planet"

What you guys and gals got to do is go to that site and see how it works.
To be a reviewer of a product your opinions are preceded by an extensive review of your background, along with the website's methodology for 'testing'. A really nice system, imco.
I have let my Practical Sailor sub lapse because I no longer find their reviews important and questioned their methods
and didn't give a damn about megayacht 'tests'. It may be that PS for me slipped into a recognisable 'personality'. Where I want a product review I get an annoying and questionable PS review. [Maybe the last straw was their comedic marina mud anchor test a few years ago. Close second their paint chip comparisons on a Boston Whaler.]

What is refreshing about the Backpack Gear Test site is that there ARE real individuals involved and a number of their reviews of one product - and the mettle of the reviewer is always on display. At least we can read the testing methods and decide if they are trustworthy. Extensive testimonials. Check it out.


Backpackers are true minimalists when it comes to gear. A lot like micro-cruising an A/C. There have been some great gear changes since my camping days.
A product you might check out for its use onboard for the gunkholer is a tiny UV watertreatment device - "mUV Ultrviolet Portable Water Treatment System by Meridian Design,Inc." Just the idea of taking a UV water purifier in a backpack is mind bending to me. What will they think of next, etc!
Haven't explored the Backpack Gear Test website at all. Hope somebody from here looks in and comments on it.....

At first blush this website makes me wish us small boaters had a Product Review Board for ourselves. Right now we have to roam the forums and read a bilge of hype.

I've been looking for a very compact ultra-lite tarptent to carry in the truck for emergencys, and overnight camping. Any interest???
If the package is truely small enough it would be great to have aboard. A tarptent stuffsack would have useful fabrics (Polycryo, spinnaker cloth and Tyvec, for example), Spectra line, noseeum netting - that would have a place in the ship's survival grab sack. Including that little roll of Tenacious!