Outskirts Overland Podcast

Gear Maintenance 101

• Charlie Racinowski

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Proper gear maintenance is essential for outdoor adventures, especially before stormy weather and bug season hit. I share practical tips for keeping equipment in top condition to prevent failures when you need your gear most.

• Inspect tents for holes and damaged seams, patching with Gear Aid products
• Re-waterproof equipment with Nikwax or silicone treatments
• Prevent mold and mildew by properly cleaning and airing out tents
• Treat clothing and camp furniture with Sawyer Permethrin for bug protection
• Check vehicle components regularly, especially differential fluid and breather clamps
• Verify that rooftop tent hardware and accessories remain securely mounted
• Inspect propane tanks for safety and ensure they're properly serviced
• Replace batteries in essential equipment on a schedule rather than waiting for failure
• Maintain electronic devices and verify subscriptions for emergency communication tools
• Rotate tires and check wheel bearings to prevent vehicle issues

Get your gear ready now - you don't want to realize your equipment has failed when you're already out in the elements.


Speaker 1:

Welcome to the World of Warcraft, episode 1, the Warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft. Hey guys, welcome to Outskirts Overland If it seems super dark for those of you watching just like most of the Midwest, we're getting stormed on like crazy right now. But I was, I mean, even before getting stormed on like crazy. I was going to talk about gear maintenance today, but just a quick thing like I just dropped my daughter off at school. She's nine, but I made sure this morning that I changed some batteries and a flashlight and sent her to school with a flashlight in case the power goes out. You know it's nice to just kind of have a few things ready. She's got two. So in case you know it, usually with I don't do much into, but usually when the temperature getting warmer, when it's raining, it typically isn't a good sign. So and right now it's 70 degrees and raining and real warm feeling and if you watch the flag you can kind of watch it go from one way to flat and that's usually not good either. So that doesn't mean it's going to be a tornado, but it definitely means it's going to be pretty wild wind, something's blowing in with a significant force, anyways. So I just changed the batteries in a flashlight, gave her a flashlight, went over with her, make sure she's ready.

Speaker 1:

I talk a lot, I mean, I'll talk a lot about preparedness, just because it's not typically the uh, the content I put out here, but just if you're in the midwest somewhere, just always kind of be have it in the back of your mind, like you know, having your waterproof stuff, making sure it's clean, so it is waterproof. Recently re-waterproofing it with some type of silicone waterproofer or like a nick wax which you can get on amazon or any sporting goods store or uh outdoor store, using some nick wax like tent wash on your waterproof stuff and then waterproofer. Uh, as far as gear maintenance goes, like this last weekend while I was camping and I I tend to do some of this stuff while I camp I like bring extra batteries and I have an extra power station to charge stuff, but just making sure my gear is maintained Um, I went through and I had a little bitty, like I could see a little bit of sun coming through one spot, my tent. I got my gear aid, gear aid brand, you know, tent patches, patch the outside, patch the inside, just stuff like that little maintenance. I knew it was there, I could see it last time I went camping, um, and I knew I needed to fix it, but I didn't get it. I didn't open up the tent during the week and fix it, so I did it. I also keep gear patches like that in case I get a snag or a rip. They're really good for puffy jackets. They make even make cool size shape on stars, unicorns, sasquatches, planets, whatever. So you can. A lot of times people get rips in there, like down jackets, around the cuffs and stuff. They're really good for that. They stick really well. They're great. But also, making sure you're getting your tent out, checking seams, you can get gear aid. Gear aid just kind of makes everything for this being at gear aid seam sealer and sealant and water. You can get tent wash. You can get the repair tape. You can get all kinds of stuff, because this stuff is made and it's hopefully it's high quality, right, and you hope so, but it's not. It's only as high quality.

Speaker 1:

As you know, the atmosphere you're putting it in obviously like stuff deteriorates. So just making sure you're paying attention to maintaining your gear, washing it. You don't want mold or mildew. That stuff can actually be just as harmful as like CO2 getting in your tent. Everybody's always worried about CO2 in your tent, but if your tent's moldy that's also going to affect your health. So just make sure your tent's aired out, it's cleaned, if you happen to start to get mold or mildew, like everybody remembers from a kid like what a tent that's been packed up smells like, get it out. Oh, you know, if it's a rooftop tent, open it up, put the rain, fly on, close everything. You know they make the tent wash, wash it, rinse it off, you know, wipe it down Like it's a, a vehicle, like clean it it and it'll help get that stuff out of it and then apply some nick wax to it, let it, let it uh, boom, excuse me, let it set in and your tent, you know, let it dry out and then work that bad boy back away.

Speaker 1:

Another thing is it's starting to become the time of year where bugs are out and I tend to use permethrin and it's a bug and tick repellent that you can soak your clothes in it. You can spray it on your clothes. You don't want it on your skin but you can put it on your clothes, your shoes, your socks and it's going to help keep the bugs away. I tend to, uh, treat some clothes with it. It will last through a couple of washes too. Permethrin will sawyer makes it. It's like in a yellow. It's in a yellow spray bottle or a yellow spray, can both. You can also get that at most anywhere. Walmart problem, I mean walmart for sure, but like Dix Academy, fast Pro, amazon, everywhere. Permethrin, it's Sawyer. Permethrin, it's a bug repellent that you can put on clothing to help keep bugs away and stuff.

Speaker 1:

Just, it's not talking preparedness, but just maintaining your gear, like we all buy this really expensive gear checkinging seams if you need to re-sew some stuff, patch some stuff, tape some stuff up If you're getting, you know, lubing hinges, ladders get dirty and then they don't want to work. Well, tightening stuff on your rooftop tent Like my rooftop tent has these little like bolts that go into the side track making sure all that's tight. Um heck, the other day I went to to leave and my ARB compressor was loose. I had to go buy three new screws to screw my ARB back into the into the mount. Like just going through and checking stuff that could rattle loose.

Speaker 1:

Maintaining your gear, thinking about, hey, what do I got, what do I use a lot, and if you're using it a lot, it's potential that some of it's loosened up, some of it needs some help. Recharging things, looking at what needs recharged, recharging your power stations, checking things you know, if you've got dual batteries, there's all kinds of different smart chargers and stuff that could check the health of your batteries making sure the health of your batteries is good. It's a good season to kind of, you know, think about that stuff. Do you always want to be maintaining your gear? Yes, for sure, you always want to be maintaining your gear, always. But I don't feel like it's talked about much.

Speaker 1:

Maintaining your gear. Using silicone spray on your tent seals. Using silicone spray on your tent seals, using silicone spray on your door seals, making sure these things don't dry out um, don't dry out, don't crack, or a little. Have a little more, uh, pliability to them like they would have originally, so that they last you longer. Because gear failure it usually doesn't occur at the. It's usually going to occur when you're out and that's when you realize it's failed. And then again you learn from these mistakes and that's great to learn from them and I think that's invaluable training.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but thinking ahead a little bit. You know we all buy gear. We all do this. You know we're buying the next new thing, but making sure the gear you bought is maintained. You know we're buying the next new thing, but making sure the gear you bought is maintained. You know, if it's waterproof, keeping it waterproof it's not indefinitely waterproof. If it's, you know, keeping the bug spray around. Another you know I use permethrin on my camp chairs and let that sit out and soak in so that it hopefully could keep stuff off my back. Hopefully could keep stuff off my back.

Speaker 1:

Things like this are worth, your are worth their weight in gold and they're not things you want to be doing after the fact, after you've been eaten by mosquitoes and ticks, after you're soaking wet, you know, because then you're soaking wet and then you get in your tent soaking wet. Sorry, if you guys can hear the rain, it's pretty significant. So it's just, it's. It's just, you know, it's just worth, it's just worth going through and it's just worth going through and and uh, working, working your gear. Working your gear, maintaining your gear, making sure everything is up to top notch. Same thing goes with your vehicle going through checking fluids. Checking your diff fluid if you're somebody that goes through the water a lot, geez the train's nuts. If you're somebody that goes through the water a lot, make sure you're changing your diff fluids out. Making sure you're checking the clamps on your diff breathers so water's not getting in because, like listen to this, I mean water crossings are about to be gnarly. So just making sure you're maintaining your gear.

Speaker 1:

I could probably specifically go into many things, but just kind of switch a mindset from packing organization, think maintenance. Like are your connections good on things? Like just go on through and going through and checking, hopefully nothing's wrong and you don't have to worry about it. You know, like, hopefully you're checking stuff that's fine, fully charged, ready to go. Subscriptions are up to date, like zolio requires a subscription. Um, making sure you're familiar if you got the new iphone with how to use the satellite communication. Like, just familiarizing yourself. Checking gear, gear, making sure gear's good. If it's gear you haven't touched in a while, opening it up, making sure it's working, checking it out.

Speaker 1:

Propane tanks go get your propane tanks. Yeah, what am I thinking? Propane tanks, after so long they have to be serviced. Taking your propane tanks in making sure they're serviced, they're up to date, there's no leaks, everything's working well. Um, hoses, cracks and hoses, different, different stuff like that, keeping your lighters full of fluid if they take fluid. If you've got an arc lighter, making sure it's charged.

Speaker 1:

Like just making sure you're ready, like just maintaining your gear, just overall maintaining your gear, making sure you got new. You know, it's kind of like smoke detectors in a way, like you don't need to wait until it's beeping on xbox live to fix it. Go ahead and change the batteries, you know, on a schedule, every year, every season, something like that you're is it wasteful, potentially, but is it also gonna be more safe for you? Yeah, so like I change batteries in like every couple of months, I just change batteries in my lights and stuff that I take camping, because that failure is going to be make it just suck. You know, like I don't want to my life, I don't want it to suck. So making sure you've got a little bit of, you know, an extra batteries too, for that matter Sorry, I got on there and just making sure you're ready.

Speaker 1:

Like just gear prep, gear maintenance, checking your tires, inspecting things, inspecting that you know if you've got cuts in your tires, you're paying attention to them, you know where they're at. Rotating your tires, you know. Getting your vehicle up on some jack stands, wiggling it, seeing how your wheel bearings are doing, you know if you've got, if you've got some wiggle in your tires you got maybe got tire rod issue, maybe you got a wheel bearing issue, maybe you got a loose lug nut. You know just checking your stuff, maintaining your stuff. It's not all go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. It's in. It all just works.

Speaker 1:

Great, you got to pay attention to it. You can ruin it, you can. It can not be effective for exactly what it's made for because you didn't maintain it. Like again, not everything's indefinitely going to be as good as it was the day you got it. So if you spend your hard earned money on gear of any type and you're trying to and you're trying to, you know, get, get your gear to work for you for an extended period of time and not just re be rebuying gear all the time, you're gonna wanna make sure that you're maintaining it or you're gonna to always be like, oh, this deer stinks. Well, it's also not made to be, you know, perfectly effective forever. So just think about it.

Speaker 1:

I will catch you guys tomorrow with a new topic. Sorry about the rain today. And man, this is crazy. If you're in the Midwest, you know, get your canoe out. You're about to be floating everywhere. We're supposed to get 10 plus inches of rain, like across the board. So have a good one, guys. I will catch you guys tomorrow and stay dry. Catch you later.