How Cavers use Duct Tape....

[L Roebuck]

I happened across DuckTapeGuys.com an enjoyable and enlightening site all about Duct Tape. Some features include duct tape fashions, duct tape wallets, bumper stickers, pyramid repair, Duct Shui, etc, etc. But what they didn't have in their plethora of duct tape pages was any information on how many uses Caver's have for Duct Tape.

It seemed like a reasonable topic for a caving discussion so here's some of the ways we use duct tape: caving boot repair, attaching headlights, cavesuit repair, securing a trash bag in the caving helmet, repairing caving knee pads, seed tick removal, tent repair at caving events, slave flash repair, and ridgewalk blister preventer.

Most cavers have a caving duct tape story and it would be interesting to hear some!

What's your duct tape tale?

[Sharon Faulkner]

Okay, I'll start this off with a few tales of duct tape use.

I had arrived for camping/caving in the Little Coon Valley late one Friday night and lit a lantern to see to put a tarp up at the back of the truck. While I was putting the tarp up it fell on the lantern melting a good size hole in the center of the tarp. This wasn't a problem till it started raining...duct tape to the rescue. It held up perfectly well and I actually used the tarp a year or so with the duct tape leak repair before retiring it.

Another time, at the '98 or '99 TAG Fall Cave-In we used duct tape to repair a broken frisbee. The frisbee held up the remainder of the event.

Once, while in a cave, we used it to splint fingers so the injured party could crawl out. A person took a fall and slid about 20 feet injuring two fingers. Being the "prepared for anything" cavers that we were, we gave the person pain medication, took the back off of a battery case and used duct tape to secure the casing to the fingers. This created a crude, but effective, splint and allowed the person to maneuver back thru crawling passage to exit the cave under their own power.

[Rock]

Several years ago at TAG I stumbled upon a caver who had been secured to his chair with duct tape. Oy and the cavers said it was for his own safety.

[Brian Roebuck]

Hmm - duct tape could come in handy for some cavers mouths who speak things we don't want to hear he he! ;D

Repairs to the caver vehicles (hoses, lights, wiring, etc) is a great use for the stuff.

Chigger and tick proofing your clothes can be another when wrapped to seal the ends of clothing.

It works great to fasten a webbing loop on a cheap 6 volt lantern battery to carry on a belt for that Walmart light system some of us started out caving with.

Leaky carbide lamp bases can be sealed with the stuff - until they get so hot the glue melts. Flame on!

Carbide bombs *likely* use duct tape as part of the construction materials - or so I have been told.

More later...

[madratdan]

Made a kid a chin strap out of duct tape once..................I like to seal the lid of my pee bottle with it after each use.................Also used it for survey markers, then removed them on the way out.

[L Roebuck]

I have used duct tape as an in-cave band-aid in the past. And have also seen a fellow cavers camping chair repaired ( or should I say rebuilt ? ) with duct tape. Actually the chair was very stout!

[guanonoggin]

Woa a topic I know a lot about!

I use duct tape to wrap up my used speleosoap bars in man. Works friggin great! ;D

[L Roebuck]

Oh the made me do it........

You use speleosoap Chucky

ha, just kidding ;D ;D ;D

[anakvr]

Duct tape is good to secure cave light on helmet. And help to cover exposed areas and fix torn caving pants.

[Azurerana]

I'm pretty sure they sold out of Speleosoap here at convention...I even bought a bar...it is AWESOME...You need a cake of it if you don't have some.

[Kelly]

Once while hiking to a cave the sole of my boot came off. I finished the hike with one boot and one bare sock, but realized that for caving, socks would not be good. Duct tape to the rescue...

Oh, and the speleo soap guy was awesome. He had several different kinds including a special poision ivy curing soap, and speleo doggie soap!

[Brian Roebuck]

Dang!

All this banter over speleosoap and Lynn and I without a single bar of it! Apparently we should have gone to convention if nothing else than for the soap! Since this has nothing to do with duct tape I better wash my hands of it all......

[L Roebuck]

drbeaner said:

Dang!

All this banter over speleosoap and Lynn and I without a single bar of it! Apparently we should have gone to convention if nothing else than for the soap! Since this has nothing to do with duct tape I better wash my hands of it all......

AH HA!, I may have a new use for Duct Tape after that last Dr. Beaner post?

Here's the link for Speleo-Soap discussions.

[Dee]

When you sprain your ankle in a cave, a roll of Duct Tape can be a temporary ankle support so you can self rescue.

[Dee]

And I always keep a trash bag in my caving helmet, secured with Duct Tape.

[Taylor]

Another strange but true use for duct tape...

Two empty 3 liter soda bottles can be duct taped together to provide floatation for that unexpected swimming passage in a cave, and they are light weight enough to haul thru the rest of the cave with little effort.


Disclaimer: It goes without saying that this get up would not meet any type of safety standards as an approved Personal Flotation Device or any other known safety standards. You should always consult a water expert before entering any body of water above or below ground.

[L Roebuck]

Duct Tape can also come in handy for camera repair, tripod repair and even repairing firefly slave units.