I spent three hours last Saturday using the standard gorilla glue approach to fix a cracked vinyl seat on my dad's old runabout, the same way everyone always recommends. It held for about 20 minutes before splitting again. On a hunch, I grabbed a cheap heat gun and a roll of Teflon tape from the garage, wrapped the crack tight, and applied low heat for 10 minutes. The vinyl bonded better than any adhesive I've tried, and it's been solid for a week now. Has anyone else had better luck with heat over glue on vinyl, or am I just lucky this once?
Last summer in Acadia I snapped a tent pole right in half on the second night of a 6 day trip. A ranger walked by while I was staring at the pieces and pulled a metal cigar tube out of his pocket. He said it fit perfectly over the break, so he always carried a few spares in his pack. We wrapped it in electrical tape and the tent held up for the rest of the trip, even through a sideways rain. I now keep a cigar tube in my own repair kit, and it's saved me twice since then. Has anyone else found a random object that worked way better than an actual repair part?