UKC

First day out with a brand new Karrimor Alpinist rucksack, slipped on my arse and poked a hole through the base of the sack with a krab. Sports Direct won't replace it as its 'fair wear and tear'.

So I'm looking for tips on DIY repair. The hole is only around 2cm but it is on the base so must be a decent repair. Don't want to send it off for professional repair as the sack only cost £50 and repairs are at least £20 - 30.

Any suggestions?

In reply to Malpractise:
Gaffer tape is my choice of repair material for most things.
For something more permanent, I would sew a patch of material on the inside of the pack around the hole.

In reply to DreadyCraig: Cheers Dready. Anyone tried Seam Seal, anything like that?

In reply to Malpractise: Patch on the inside, smear seamseal overlapping hole by 5mm & in the hole, same on outside. Round patches less likely to catch.

Though it's not likely to get much worse: the base isn't so much of a stress area....gone are the days when you could lob a karrimor off the buss & not worry

In reply to Malpractise: my alternative would be to darn it with some strong thread & seamseal / glue / gaffatape.. Good luck

In reply to Malpractise: Done numerous repairs to my POD Black Ice, inners for plastic boots and all sorts of other exped running repairs.

The quick option is basically to patch both sides using adhesive. If you have a Thermarest repair kit or and Ortlieb Drybag repair kit available they work but are very expensive and only handle small repairs, although they do them very neatly. If you don't have one of them and for bigger repairs you will need something to patch with and something to stick with.

For tears it is generally worth trying to sew them up a bit. A quick zigzag stitch along the tear will help hold it together as you cover it with the glue.

As far as the patches, pretty much any outdoor related material will do. Generally the heavier duty the better. Some tents come with repair patches, otherwise start looking at cheap things like stuffsacs or an old rucsac would also be an obvious choice. A non-PU coated cordura is good for the inside because the glue will be able to key to the weave of the fabric better.

As far as glue goes, the best stuff (and IMO really only stuff worth considering) is shoe repair glue. The branded stuff is 'Shoe Goo' but cheaper versions are available. Basically, the stuff will pretty much fix any hole/tear by itself and the patches either side are really just a way of keeping the layer of glue in place whilst it sets and providing some extra protection afterward.

Fill the hole and cover both sides liberally with glue, apply the patches to both sides, place a bit of protective plastic (offcut of a poly bag) on either side (in case glue oozes out), then place the repaired section between two flat surfaces, weight it down with a few kg and then leave it overnight.

For a rucsac base repair you may find that the outer patch eventually comes off. Don't worry, just put another thickish layer of glue over the hole and put on another patch. Even if the patches aren't great, the main thing is that you will be building up a thicker and thicker layer of glue over the hole and will probably get to the stage it is so thick that the patch ends up being redundant.

HTH

In reply to The Ex-Engineer: I'm going to go for the glue and patch method, hopefully it will work. You are right, Karrimor sacks aren't what they used to be - I have a 15 year old Alpinist, nothing wrong with it aprt from it weighs a ton.

All, many thanks for your help

In reply to The Ex-Engineer: Managed to patch it up with some Seam Grip and Tenacious Tape patches. Couple of layers of glue on both sides, TT patch on the outside, gaffer tape on the inner. Seems to have done the trick. Cheers for the advice