For your repairs, call YouTube for help

It’s been a great season of hiking, camping, canoeing, kayaking, climbing, biking, and more. After all these adventures, the equipment is a bit tired. Not to say dented, torn, dislocated.

That’s good, the gray days of November lend themselves well to repairs of all kinds. If some require the touch of a specialist, others are within everyone’s reach. Just do a little search on YouTube (or TikTok) to find a video that explains all the steps to solve the problem.

You still need to find reliable sources. No one wants to ruin a $700 waterproof-breathable jacket by attempting ill-advised repairs.

The pros first

It is therefore a good idea to start by looking for the manufacturer of the product to be repaired. This is how Arc’teryx offers several videos to repair your clothes, whether coats or pants. How to apply a gore-tex patch with an iron, how to fix a zipper slider while you’re deep in the forest, or how to unpick a fleece jacket? The videos are in English, but they are also available with French subtitles (if you do a search with French keywords).

Patagonia also offers a series of repair videos with subtitles. Some are unquestionably aimed at beginners: one of them explains how to sew on a button, by first showing how to thread a needle. You have to start somewhere !

MSR’s videos are a little more technical, which corresponds to the types of products offered by the American manufacturer: stoves, water purifiers, tents and snowshoes. Maintaining some stoves, including the WhisperLite, is tricky business. In fact, just watching the long video is enough to make you suddenly want to get a stove that’s easier to maintain and repair.

If MSR offers subtitles in French, it is directly in the language of Molière that Therm-a-Rest explains how to repair its inflatable mattresses.

Whatever the type of product to be repaired, it often requires adhesive tape, glue, patches or even specialized spare parts. Manufacturers are obviously happy to sell you repair kits.

Outdoor shops

Large chains of outdoor stores, such as MEC, also produce videos on the most common types of repairs. We should not be afraid to also look at what is happening across borders. REI, for example, an American cooperative, offers videos with French subtitles on waterproofing tents and repairing poles. It’s relatively easy to reinforce a broken hoop or replace the elastic inside. There are, however, some little tricks that make life easier: by numbering the pole sections before removing the elastic, it will be easier to reassemble them in order afterwards.

The French subtitles are sometimes a little wacky: in a video on the waterproofing of tents, we are advised to start by “wetting the fly”. It is obviously a question of wetting the flysheet (fly, in English). Fortunately, the images eliminate any possibility of ambiguity. And these pictorial translations make the repair session more fun.

For a more conventional French, you can consult the videos of Forclaz or Atelier Decathlon. How to repair a puncture, fix a valve on an inflatable paddle board, change a strap on a backpack, replace the tip of a hiking pole, etc.

Specialty shops offer videos of more niche repairs, such as changing latex watertight cuffs on wetsuits. It is more difficult to find the equivalent in French, but the images are clear enough to understand the different stages.

Beyond these conventional sources, there are plenty of outdoor enthusiasts who offer their own repair tips. We can think of Randdonner Malin, for example. You have to trust your instincts to assess their credibility. The number of subscribers to their channel already gives a little idea, but you can also take a look at the other videos they offer to see if they really know it.