Have you ever listened to one of my Bower Power Hour shows? If you have then you know the comedy behind the title! At the end of each interview I always ask the guest: "So which one do you prefer: zip ties or duct tape?" The answers are always entertaining!
The reality is, you want to have both. You also want to have a few extra goodies that you may not have considered before.
Duct Tape
Have you seen everything you can do with duct tape on Pinterest? Holy cow there are a lot of options. For the sake of actually going out 4x4'ing, we aren't going to be building a duct tape purse, so feel free to grab a smaller roll to keep in your door pocket...but on the other hand, do you ever want to run out?
We are very space limited in the buggy so Matt has wrapped a tube with a decent amount of duct tape. You want to pre-wrap the tube with the sticky side up, non-sticky side towards the tube. The first round of wrap will be sticky-to-sticky, then continue to wrap the tube until you have a decent amount. He re-wraps more onto the tube after we use some on a trail. Not going to lie, it is really handy to be able to just reach over and take a small piece of duct tape off. (Ever ripped your pants on the trail, yep, get some duct tape on there fast so they don't rip all the way!) If you are on a motorcycle or atv where you use a butt-pack for your tools, I do the same process, but without the tube in the middle making a small oblong roll of duct tape to always have available.
I will admit it, I have always been a 'regular duct tape user' with the occasional orange or pink tape usage (to mark my camera equipment so when I travel with others and we mix all our charges etc everyone knows whos is whos). However, I just got introduced to Gorilla Tape and I have to say I am moving onto the amazing grip of the Gorilla when I need to do some major fixes...like keep my RV Vent corners together. 🙂
Zip Ties
Zip ties are another must have. Be careful about skimping on the quality of a zip tie. The cheaper ones may get the job done for a little while, but what if this is the moment that you need the strength and security. There are assortment packs that have different sizes that may come in useful.
We stick to the 10" style mostly. The space saving technique on this is to tie a group of zipties to something like a dowel. We have a dowel that goes through the quart fluid holder that we have zipties resting against. To hold the group, put one zip tie at the top and the other at the bottom. As we (easily and quickly) take out a ziptie to use we synch down the two zipties at either end to keep them tight. On my dirtbike I have a small hand full in my butt-pack, again contained by another ziptie.
Ratchet Straps, Rope, Bungie Cord and Shoelaces
You never know what you might need to tie down with a ratchet strap or a rope, or utilize a bungie cord for. These tools may also come in handy when trying to do a recovery. They are simple to store or have extras holding down your standard gear that you could relieve if needed.
Yes, even a shoelace can come in handy to tie something small down while 4x4'ing or if you are dirtbiking you should have at least one in your butt-pack for sure...have you ever had a bike off a cliff and wonder how you are going to get it back up onto the trail? We've used two shoe laces tied together and pulled!
Let's Go!
Time to stock up on the little must-have's that make your world much easier. Put these tools in a simple place to access, these are not items you want to be digging for if needed.
Author: Charlene Bower
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