Recently in Do It Yourself Category

I have, as have most people, been out adventuring around and broken gear, blown engine parts or destroyed electronics with uncanny ease. Like many of you I quickly break out my MacGyver tools, such as duct tape or an army knife, and expertly craft my repairs. Usually they last for about another mile before they short out or break off and I'm fixing them again. Scenarios like this makes it a crime to not recommend the Plasti Dip line of products to every possible person I can reach. This stuff is amazing. I can't make a better product brief than the creators, so I won't try:

A flexible, synthetic, multi-purpose rubber coating that exhibits excellent moisture, acid, alkaline, and abrasion resistance.

Flexible: Won't crack, chip or become brittle
Insulates: Electrical shock, vibration, heat; Deadens sound
Grip: Provides safe non-slip comfort and control (Non-skid grit can also be added)
Durable: Resists weather, chemicals, impact, and abrasion
Assorted Colors

I've used to stuff to seal and protect many broken parts, repair temporary cracks in parts exposed to the weather, and coat tools and sections of electronics devices. It's actually really fun, I find myself constantly looking for something that I can coat--usually for no particular reason.

It comes in a dip container or spray on version (I have both). Be sure to check out Plastiseam, the weatherproof fabric seam sealer, as well as the vinyl and leather repair products at plastidip.com.

Perhaps the most useful to those traveling by vehicle, though, is Plasti Dip's Liquid Electrical Tape. The product page says it will "seal out moisture and salt--permanently."

Plasti Dip products are available at Amazon.

You can check out Keith Kemp's trip to Louisiana in realtime; I coded a couple of applications for him that will eventually be made opensource and distributed by Treknologies so that everyone can use them. His setup involves a Nokia cellphone, a laptop, a webcam, and a USB GPS receiver.

While researching our upcoming multi-fuel portable stoves roundup I came across Mark Jurey's Penny Alcohol Stove. Many claim it to be the best DIY alcohol stove they've used. I had not researched alcohol as a fuel source extensively until reading about this stove but it looks like a very viable option--finding burnable alcohol on your trip will be almost as easy as finding petrol. The price is right, at roughly three Heineken cans, and it's claimed that the stove can be made in the field with only a sharp knife available. Most travelers I know can spare that, and many will jump at the chance to make this stove if it calls for them to drink a few beers first.

For more information you can check out Zen Stoves (which isn't limited to information on alcohol stoves) and Art Simon's review of lightweight alcohol stoves for backpacking.