Outdoors

Adventure Tape works as a stretchy, reusable duct tape alternative for field repairs

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Adventure Tape ... the next duct tape?
Adventure Tape has developed three widths of tape
Adventure Tape is easy to carry thanks to its small size and included tin
Adventure Tape is trying to launch with help from Kickstarter
An Adventure Tape multipack includes rolls in all three sizes
Adventure Tape ... the next duct tape?
Drop it in a pocket and up your preparedness
To use Adventure Tape, you wrap it tightly and tuck the loose end away
Adventure Tape fixes up a broken backpack strap
A broken strap in need of some Adventure Tape
Adventure Tape keeping an overfull trunk secure
The original use for Adventure Tape: Brooks' tape is still protecting his chain stay
Floppy sock? No problem!
Sealing up a leaky water bottle
Adventure Tape dries up a hose leak
Securing the ever-important cooler to a paddleboard
Taped up boot ready to hike back to the trailhead (though probably not that comfortably)
Seriously broken boot toe ...
Adventure Tape can be used to compress gear to make it fit in a backpack more easily
We've actually experienced the issue of a broken snowboard binding strap at the top of the mountain ... but ours was a toe strap, which would be a bit harder to properly Adventure Tape together. Here it secures the ankle to the back of the binding in place of the broken ankle strap
Adventure Tape keeps a suitcase with broken zipper shut
Adventure Tape wraps up a surfboard for shipping
Since Adventure Tape doesn't stick to the bubble wrap, it won't rip it like duct tape would, letting you save the wrap for the next shipment
Cracked tent pole all Adventure Taped back together 
A broken tent pole can put a damper on your camping trip ... Adventure Tape can help
Taping up the tent pole
Another possible outdoor use: clothes line
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Duct tape. It's the stuff that puts life back together, from the simple breakdowns you sensed coming to out-of-left-field disasters that would throw MacGyver for a loop. New brand Adventure Tape believes duct tape might soon be relinquishing its ultimate fix-all crown, though. The company's all-new fix-it tape pops out of a chewing tobacco-like tin to repair broken tent poles, fix leaky hoses, sling up injured arms, strap gear in place, and perform innumerable other impromptu functions and fixes. When the mission is complete, give the tape a rinse, drop it back in the tin and use it again next time. You definitely can't do that with duct tape.

While there are likely a million and one home and workplace uses for Adventure Tape, the British spin-off is firing directly at the GoPro and Red Bull set. To make its tape easy to carry in on all kinds of adventures, it's packaged it in a 3.1-in-diameter (8-cm-diameter) round tin. It might be too large for folks who really count every gram and millimeter, but it should be small and light enough for others to throw in a pack, saddle bag or jacket pocket. And if you really want to go fast-and-light, you could always cut a smaller section and leave the tin behind.

Adventure Tape was first designed in 2014 by Richard Brooks, a downhill mountain biking enthusiast who was looking for something to protect his chainstay. The products on the market weren't cutting it, so he used his day job as technical director at Watts Urethane Products to whip up something better. He came up with the stretchy, polyurethane-based ribbon known today as Adventure Tape, wrapped it around his chainstay and it's been hard at work ever since.

The original use for Adventure Tape: Brooks' tape is still protecting his chain stay

Brooks was happy with his protected bike, and at first didn't think of the commercial viability of what he had created. Later, Watts CEO Anthony Cooper found the leftover tape in his drawer, had it developed out, and spun off the new brand aimed at outdoor explorers and action-video protagonists. Both Cooper and Brooks are part of the Adventure Tape team, which continues to work out of Watts' headquarters.

Unlike the traditional tapes we're all accustomed to, Adventure Tape does not rely on an adhesive, but its tacky surface holds to itself when it's wrapped up. In other words, it won't be much help for flat fixes like creating a makeshift patch for a hole in your tent fabric or rain jacket, but it will work for wraparound fixes and uses, sealing a leaky hose, creating a sling, taping the ripped toe box of a boot, or strapping things together. It can also be used to compress gear, like when you need to compact down a sleeping bag.

Securing the ever-important cooler to a paddleboard

Not being able to stick to other things might sound like a real disadvantage (isn't that what tape does?!), but it also has a very clear benefit: Adventure Tape can be pulled off and used again, and it won't leave behind a residue or rip the materials you've secured together. So it kind of plays a role that's part tape, part rope. There are other self-tacky tapes out there, like Rescue Tape, but that one and other styles we've seen are not reusable.

To use Adventure Tape, you simply wrap it tightly around whatever it is you're fixing or tying down, then tie the loose end off or tuck it beneath the wrapped tape. We wonder how strong of a hold that really makes for without an adhesive bond, so we'd definitely get comfortable on small, inconsequential fixes long before using it on something really essential.

Taped up boot ready to hike back to the trailhead (though probably not that comfortably)

Adventure Tape has enough stretch to expand to roughly eight times its length, which means a little bit goes a long way – quite literally. Once you pull it off your repair, it contracts back to original size and can be rolled back into the tin.

In terms of durability, Adventure Tape says its tape resists abrasion better than duct tape and is highly resistant to breakage. It works to temperatures of -4 °F (-20 °C) before getting too brittle to function properly, according to a Q/A on the company's Kickstarter. It is also waterproof.

Adventure Tape plans to offer its tape in three widths: 9 mm (0.4 in), 18 mm (0.7 in) and 43 mm (1.7 in), each in a 3.6-m (11.8-foot) roll. Through its Kickstarter campaign, it is offering a multipack with rolls of all three sizes for a pledge level of £21 (US$28). This multipack also includes buckles, which can be used in conjunction with the medium and large tapes. The company has already sped past its US$20,000 goal and has 15 days left to go on the campaign.

While Adventure Tape looks like it'll definitely find its uses, we don't think it's a universal replacement for other emergency repair tools. Duct tape still seems more versatile thanks to its ability to stick to all kinds of surfaces; rope is better suited to supporting heavy loads; and a needle and thread will stitch up materials in situations that render Adventure Tape useless. So it might be worth throwing a roll of Adventure Tape in your pack next to those other things, but we wouldn't leave them at home until you really know Adventure Tape is your one-and-only fixer.

You can see the Adventure Tape pitch video below.

Source: Adventure Tape

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3 comments
Cody Blank
Sounds like silicone tape... https://www.amazon.com/Versachem-82110-WrapIt-Repair-Silicone/dp/B004I3Z75S
Spod
Cody, that silicone tape forms a permanent bond with itself, like self-amalgamating electrical tape, so is not reusable...
Basil
Self Amalgamating Rubber Tape works like that, but fixes permanently - it stretches and bonds to itself. It also sticks to metals and plastics, and this probably gives a stronger fix. I'm not sure why you would want to remove it and roll it up again.