What Gorilla Tape and Reality TV Have In Common

Mark Wilcox
2 min readJun 1, 2022

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Using Gorilla tape to reinforce seams of a tarp
Using Gorilla tape to reinforce seams of a tarp

My wife and I love to watch TV and movies.

I even proposed to my wife during a TV commercial. There’s more to that story but we’ll save it for later.

My wife and I first lived in Frisco, Texas in the mid-1990s and the local cable didn’t have MTV.

The first weekend they added MTV, the network ran a marathon of the TV show “Real World.” It was the first time that my wife stayed up later than me so that she could watch the marathon.

And now, 25 years later, it seems like there’s a new reality TV show every friggin day.

What this also reminds me of is Gorilla tape. Gorilla tape is a brand of duct tape. What makes it stand out is that it’s very sticky and durable.

If you hang out in bushcraft or outdoor survival circles of people, you will discover that we have an almost religious devotion to this product.

But even if you are only a car camper that leans towards glamping, you should keep a roll of Gorilla tape in your vehicle.

Here are three tips for using Gorilla tape.

Gear Repair — Gorilla tape is excellent for repairing your gear. Whether this is patching a hole in your air mattress or fixing a seam on a tent, this is why you keep Gorilla tape on hand. I also use it to reinforce the seams on the tarps that I use for rain flys.

First Aid — If you are out hiking and develop a blister, using Gorilla tape often works better than moleskin. If you have to apply a Band-Aid, put some Gorilla tape over it to keep it in place. Or if you are out of Band-Aids, cut off a portion of a clean bandana and then attach with Gorilla tape.

Fire Starter- Wrap some Gorilla tape around your Bic lighter to use as an emergency fire starter. That way if you need to get a fire going in an emergency you don’t have to scramble for a fire starter.

And finally, if you are wondering how to sleep better in bear territory, then check out my course.

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Mark Wilcox
Mark Wilcox

Written by Mark Wilcox

I once backpacked 100 miles in 90 days. After 25 years in IT, I wanted more adventure in my life. I want to inspire you to add more adventure too.