Duct Tape

Survival with duct tape

Duct tape is an incredibly useful product to have around the house; it is readily available and inexpensive. It has many practical applications including uses in survival situations. The metallic gray color can be somewhat offensive to the eye, so fortunately it is also available in a variety of colors and designs at your local hardware store.

Duct tape is durable, strong and waterproof so it makes for an excellent patch in many situations. Here is a list of just a few things:

-        Repair your rain gear: have a tear or rip in a water repellant article of clothing? No problem! Just cut a piece of duct tape to completely cover the hole, inside and out, and it works just as well as it did before you got the rip!

-        Avoid chiggers: when walking through a leafy or wooded area, tuck your pant legs in to your boots and duct tape all the way around to keep chiggers away from your skin.

-        Repair a tent: Have a rip in the side of your tent? Patch over it, inside and out, with duct tape to completely cover the tear.

-        Create a makeshift butterfly bandage: cut duct tape into three small strips, one smaller than the other two. Place the smallest (sticky side to sticky side) across the other two, leaving the width of the smaller strip between the two.

-        Mark your trail: leave small pieces of duct tape on trees or other markers along your path. This works really great if you have neon colored duct tape.

-        Make cordage: duct tape is very strong, so twisting one piece of duct tape into a makeshift cord may be good enough, but if you need something stronger twist multiple pieces together.

-        Affix a bandage: you don’t want the “glue” of duct tape to affix to a wound, but take a piece of gauze or cotton completely covering your wound and cover with duct tape.

-        Close a hole in your water bottle/container: clean and dry the surface and affix enough duct tape over the hole, since it is waterproof you will not have any more leaks.

-        Mend shoes/clothing: apply duct tape to torn/ripped/cut area. If you have an iron to iron over the duct tape it will make the repair more permanent.

-        Repair a broken fishing pole: Did your fishing pole snap? Find a sturdy stick nearby and duct tape it to the pole (piecing it back together of course). Make sure the stick overlaps the broken section and the duct tape completely covers this section.

There seem to be countless uses to this wonder-tape and it is a must have in any survival situation. Oh yea did I mention the prom drees duct tape? click here to see duct tape prom dresses.