Making your gear last
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[edit] Caring for Gear
To make your gear last, it is important to care for it properly. To understand how to do this, you must first understand what causes gear to die.
[edit] What kills gear
[edit] Abrasion
Abrasion kills gear. In canyoneering, the number one source of abrasion is sand. Sand surrounds you in almost every canyon, and sand find a way into every bit of your gear. Rubbing sand against something is a proven way to wear it down - just ask any furniture maker. When sand gets on your rope, it will rub through your rappel device much faster than a normal rope would - and if you aren't careful you will see noticeable wear on a rappel device after only one muddy canyon.
Fast rappels also generate a great amount of heat. This heat can actually melt the outer layer of the sheath of the rope, and cause it to "glaze over." If you want to do a fast rappel, just make sure it's not your rope.
[edit] Sunlight
Sunlight is a "silent killer" - it reduces the strength of certain kinds of nylon greatly. In general, this does not affect gear in your pack - but it does affect important gear that you rely on known as anchors. If the webbing on an anchor has been left exposed to sun for a long time, it can no longer be trusted and must be replaced.
[edit] Chemicals
Rope is in a category all of its own when it comes to gear care - but it should be noted that certain chemicals should never come in contact with your rope. Bleech is one of them. Any form of acid is another.
[edit] Protecting Gear
Avoiding potential problems is one way to protect gear - but some things, such as sand abrasion, are simply inevitable. One way to protect gear from sand abrasion is to reinforce it. SeamGrip - a glue-like substance made by McNett for seam-sealing tents - is an excellent material to reinforce gear with.
[edit] Use SeamGrip to reinforce gear
[edit] Shoes
Regardless of what high-tech shoes you are using, you have points that will rub against the sandstone. Apply gobs of seam-grip over those areas (such as the points on the sides of your shoes... etc) - To make a nice-looking edge, you can mask of an area to not apply seam-grip with tape, and then pull the tape off when it is dry.
[edit] Rappel Gloves
You can apply a bunch of seam-grip to the palms of leather gloves you will be rappelling with to increase the life of your braking hand. Lay it on 1/8th inch thick (or more) in areas where the rope runs (diagonally across the palm, a bit in the fingers... you can tell by looking for the black marks on an old pair). When the seam-grip gets worn down a bit, you can simply apply more.
