MacGyver Traveler: 14 Ways to Use Duct Tape in Your Travels
As a traveler, you have to get used to traveling without all the amenities of home. It’s very important to be creative and inventive when it comes to solving problems on the road.
That’s why I recommend carrying one of the most versatile products ever created. A product that has even been called a runner up to Forbes’ list of the 20 Most Important Tools Ever, listed just behind notables such as the lathe and the scythe. A product that if mastered, will complete the first step in a rewarding and highly revered journey to the title of “MacGyver Traveler”.
This important product is none other than: Duct Tape.
Check out the following 14 tips for using duct tape in your travels:
1. Use it to stay warm:
Duct tape can be used as an insulator, water proofer, or wind proofer. Wrap your clothes in it for added insulation, to stay dry, or protect against strong winds. Skiers and dog sledders often put duct tape on their faces to block stinging winds and prevent frostbite.
2. Bandage wounds:
Place a piece of toilet paper on your wounds then cover them in duct tape as a makeshift bandage. Can be used on small cuts, or wrapped applying pressure to stop the bleeding and protect large wounds.
3. Suture:
Deep cut but no hospital around for stitches? Clean the cut the cut well, then use duct tape to close it tightly. Obviously you have to be very careful that the cut is kept clean, and should monitor it carefully to avoid infection. But when better treatment is unavailable, duct tape can be quite effective.
4. Prevent blisters:
We travelers tend to do A LOT of walking. If you feel a blister coming on, simply cover the area with duct tape and continue on your journey. Or if you are prone to blisters on a certain area of your feet, just cover those areas from the beginning and avoid developing blisters at all.
5. Remove warts:
This tip has become popular after a few recent studies have proved its effectiveness (though some still question the studies). Traveling through developing countries, in unsanitary conditions, it is not uncommon to pick up a wart or two along the way. Simply cover the wart the wart with duct tape for 6 days at a time. Remove the tape every 6 days, clean the area, and rub the wart down with something rough. Let the are breath over night, without tape, then recover the next day for another 6 day period. Continue this process until the wart is gone (Duct Tape Guys).
6. Create a Splint:
Jam your finger, or need to immobilize an arm or leg. Simply tape the injured limb to a stick, pole, or other body part.
7. Use as a brace:
Twisted ankles and knees are not uncommon amongst travelers and backpackers. If you don’t have an ace bandage or a proper brace, you can wrap the injured joint in duct tape. It’s a good idea to wrap over clothing, so you don’t rip out all your body hair when the tape is removed. Also, make sure you remove the brace occasionally to keep the area clean, and that it isn’t too tight so as to prevent proper blood flow.
8. Waterproof footwear:
Unexpected hike through muddy or wet conditions. Wrap your shoes in duct tape to keep your feet dry and your shoes relatively clean.
9. Protect your ankles:
What about an unexpected hike through the wilderness, and all you have are low top shoes. Wrap your ankles starting from the tops of your shoes (make sure you tie them well first), for protection against thorns, ticks, poison ivy, chiggers, other insects/parasites, or even little rocks and pebbles from getting in your shoes.
10. Hide things:
Use duct tape to hide your passport and money under the bed, desk, table, or anywhere else in a less than secure hostel. Or if you are traveling with large sums of money or your passport, try taping them to your body to avoid pickpockets or robberies.
11. Wrap bags as a theft deterrent:
If you do a lot of traveling in planes, trains, and buses, you might consider wrapping your bags in duct tape (in a way that tape must be removed to unzip the bag), as a way of deterring curious baggage handlers or transportation officials from going through your things.
12. Waterproof or windproof:
Fix a tear in your tent, raincoat, or wind breaker with a simple strip of duct tape. Tape can also be used to cover clothing or items that do not offer any protection against the elements.
13. Flypaper:
If you’re spending a lot of time in tropical areas, flys and other bugs are sure to be a problem. Leave strips of duct tape around your hostel room to catch unwanted insects.
14. Make string or rope:
By simply folding duct tape vertically (connecting the sticky side), you can effectively create a string substitute. Use this string on its own, or reinforce it with other duct tape strings to create a stronger rope substitute. This one application extends the uses of duct tape immensely.
Photos: Duct Tape Guys
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Who would have thought?
Good little article
I bet you can guess what “extra” little thing will be in my bag next time…and on top so I can get to it often.
jim
http://www.yosemitereservations.info
Jim: Thanks very much! If you do decide to carry duct tape on your travels, I’d recommend cutting out the inner cardboard tubing so it fits easier into your bag, and takes up less space (tip from Gadling.com).
Nathan at Ubertramp once shared a tip for duct tape on his site: Wrap a long length of it around a pencil, it will take up less room than a roll and you get the use of a pencil.
I’m definitely putting duct tape in my bag from now on. Hadn’t really thought of it before!
@Stacy: Another good tip, thanks Stacy!
@Jack: Try it out next time you travel Jack, it can definitely come in handy–though much more so for the outdoorsy traveler than the urban traveler.
Hahaha, that’s awesome! But seriously I am so sure all about wrapping my face in duct tape that “waxing” my face off! I am quite keen to suggest this to my travel buddy.
-Serge
www.sergekozak.com
@Serge: Yes, it’s definitely different! I’m a little weary about trying it as well, but you never know when you’ll be in a crunch!
[…] Discover your inner McGuyer with Rob Meyer’s 14 Ways to Use Duct Tape in your Travels. […]
lol! What a great post! I hadn’t thought to pack duct tape but I will from now on! Another essential that I always bring that comes in handy is a spool of thin hemp rope - very handy!
awesome post! bookmarked it for the next time I go camping… thanx
[…] Traveler: 14 Ways to Use Duct Tape in Your Travels macgyver October 16th. 2007, 2:00am Channel 20 - Phlash TV wrote an interesting post today […]
This cracks me up!! We are longtime believers in duct tape! On our last family jaunt (9300 miles around the US and Mexico on bikes) we found a half-used roll of duct tape the second or third week of our journey. “That could be useful!” my husband said - and he directed our son to pick it up and hang it on his handlebar (the back seat on a triple bike). We used that duct tape for this and that for the next 11 months - while the roll continued to dangle on Daryl’s handlebar!
loved this post. i cant believe all the uses for duct tape and they just keep growing. i have used duct tape in the past as a splint. but i dident know it could prevent frost bite. keep up the good posts. http://www.tourist-post.com
This is great! I only thought of making a purse and a bag out of it, but this post tops it!
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I use duct tape when I go hunting as it comes in handy taping all my ducks together.
Duct tape rules! I never thought duct tapes could be this useful!!! I love this. I’m gonna be packing more duct tapes on my next travel.
[…] to have duct tape with you all the time, but you don’t want to carry the big thing (read this article for how to use it). And like, our hero (and all the members of the Hej team) Gary has a Swiss army […]