Gear Care and Maintenance

Recent Gear Care/Maintenance Product Reviews

Nikwax Down Wash Direct

Nikwax Down Wash left white residue all over my down jackets. I had to hand scrub what I could off the jackets (which was time consuming!) and wash them again to get most of it off. I followed all the instructions on the bottle, including putting my fairly new washing machine through a "clean cycle" at 90 degrees, cleaning the detergent drawer and all rubber sealing within the washing machine before putting my garments in the machine. I then took photos, rang the shop I purchased it from (Macpac),… Full review

Gear Aid Seam Grip+SIL

Specially formulated to be easily applied to silicone-coated nylon and poly fabrics to seal tarps, backpacks, tent floors, liquid silicone has many other uses for outdoor enthusiasts. I took some pictures while doing it, so I decided to turn this test into a mini-tutorial for seam-sealing a tarp. The tube came with the Hummingbird Pelican (shown in the images of this review) to be applied to the tarp‘s ridgeline seam. It comes unsealed from the manufacturer, which is not an uncommon practice among… Full review

Nikwax Hardshell DuoPack

The Nikwax Hardshell DUO-Pack is a great choice for bringing back both the waterproofness and breathability of your Goretex or other waterproof breathable membrane gear. This kit includes a bottle of Tech Wash cleaner and a bottle of TX. Direct, which is a waterproofing treatment that allows water to shed off your jacket. I have a couple of older jackets that have long ago started too wet out easily and were not nearly as waterproof as when they were new, so I thought I’d pick up the DUO-Pack… Full review

Silco RTV 4500 silicon

RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) VOC (Volatile Organic Compound - compliant) silicone has so many uses that this is in fact as much a review as it is a tip for repairing outdoor equipment, and especially cooking hardware. Recently I (inadvertently) damaged my Sea To Summit 1.4L X-Pot while cooking breakfast during a camping trip. The X-Pot is a collapsible cooking pot that has a hard anodized aluminum base combined with food-grade, heat-resistant silicone walls that comes in various capacities… Full review

Sea to Summit Field Repair Buckles

These are a quick fix repair buckle for backpacking, kayaking, and hiking gear. These come in different sizes from 15mm (5/8 inch) up to the larger sizes. Hard to find in the outdoor store, I snapped up a set of the Side Release in 15mm and a ladder lock also in 15mm. Was I impressed? Yup! My tent/backpack repair kit now contains these small wonders.   side buckle ladder buckle replacement buckle I have looked for these when I saw a video of them a while back. I have needed replacement buckles… Full review

Nikwax TX.Direct Wash-In

It worked the first time, but not the second time... I bought this to bring back the waterproofing in my jacket and it seemed to work, so I applied it to my kids' coats and then it seemed not to work. I thought maybe it was the fabric but when I applied it to my coat the next year it didn't work. I am not sure what I did differently; the back says use 100ml per article. Maybe I didn't? Synthetic Wash Cycle, which I don't have. Did I pick one that is too delicate or too rough? It also says use water… Full review

KIWI Camp Dry Heavy Duty Water Repellent

Not sure if it works, and it will discolour fabrics.     I bought this to waterproof our tents in 2019; one tent was only a few years old, very large, and the other was quite old and small. I bought four cans and it took almost one to do the small tent and the rest didn't get all of the large one. We took them camping for three days of rain, sometimes heavy rain, and the small tent was swamped—completely swamped. The kids had to sleep in my aunt's camper a few sites down. The large tent had… Full review

Nikwax Tent & Gear SolarProof

I tried a number of products to restore the water repellence of my gear and this stuff did the job. I have a winter coat that was waterproof at 15000ml and a pair of pants that were hydrophobic repelling light rain and wet underbrush. After a few washes though the pants stopped being hydrophobic and the jacket began to soak through in harder rains. I tried the Nikwax wash-in stuff and it worked on the jacket the first few washes but then stopped. I looked online for a product and ordered the Nikwax… Full review

Guppyfriend Washing Bag

The Guppyfriend helps prevent your fleece gear from spewing micro fibers into the water supply. The concept is pretty simple—a bag with pores too fine to allow micro fibers out, but water gets in during a normal wash cycle to clean your fleece. Cleaning micro fibers out of the bag is a bit of a chore. I have used this a number of times, and it seems durable. March 2022 update: I continue to use this bag to launder fleece. It's effective for washing two medium weight or one thicker/heavier fleece. Full review