This past season whitetail hunting I found myself desperately trying to recover my doe that had slid into a ditch. Up on the mountainside, with light fading quickly, I got hung up. Multiflora rose, my least favorite prickly plant gripped my coat with a vengeance. Frustrated, tired and cold, I struggled and sure enough, ripped my jacket. My Uncompaghre is part jacket, part woobie, and all comfy. So I figured rather than retiring it I’d try to fix it.
I recovered my doe but lamented the jacket for the rest of the season. Thankfully Pennsylvania whitetail is the cherry on top of my hunting seasons for the year generally. So when I got home and unpacked, I had plenty of time to fix the jacket before it would be needed again.
I thought about sewing it, but the fabric on the outside is quite thin covering a sort of cotton batting on the inside. It’s not meant to be waterproof — in fact when faced with water it becomes a bit of a sponge. I think they addressed that in the FirstLite Foundry Uncompaghre jacket, the successor to this one. Since the tear was pretty big, and this was a bit of a badge of honor, I decided to treat it as much.
The reason the jacket tore in the first place was that I’d used it as an outer layer in an area that I probably shouldn’t have. The Uncompaghre jacket is best suited to sitting and not diving into multiflora rose. It’s used as an insulative mid layer. So, on to applying the badge of honor.
Repairing the Damage
After doing a little bit of research it looked like the Gear Aid Tenacious Tape brand of patches was going to be my best bet. I’d seen people patch jackets, sleeping bags, and all manner of things. They offered pre-cut patches in different shapes but also big strips of colored tape. Originally I’d ordered a few hexagonal patches in blaze orange only to figure out they weren’t going to cover the massive hole. So I went back and ordered some Tenacious Tape.
The best way to patch this was going to be a two part sticky patch much like a sticker. Because the rip was so big it needed to be a large patch. It’s better to invest $7 in a patch rather than throwing out an expensive jacket. So careful not to rip the jacket further I slipped the patch on the inside of the jacket, sticky side facing out. After trimming some of the ragged edges of the remaining fabric I affixed the fabric as close as I could together in the way they would have been pre-tear. I pressed on the fabric ensuring that the patch material stuck. Now there was a little bit of exposed sticky material and a jagged line of fabric. I cut another patch from the roll to cover the top, and applied pressure evenly.
While it’s not the original fabric, the patching material is water proof, durable, and cheap in cost. It should help my Uncompaghre jacket live on in my pack and on me for a few more seasons. Gear is expensive, it’s worth trying to save it.
