Repairs

[Greasepig]

Where is everyone going to have repairs done to their ice houses? Ie zippers replaced, stitching repaired.  My hub has seen its better days and has seen a lot of abuse over the last few years. Billings, Helena, kalispell, Bozeman, butte ect

[meandcuznalfy]

I would think that a place that makes tarps or anything from canvas would be able to fix it.

[pmmpete]

Getting gear repaired can be expensive. Wait a month, buy a new ice shelter on sale, and keep the old shelter for an emergency backup, loaner, and part supply.

[wyogator]

I bought a speedy stitcher sewing awl.  If you don’t have one, they are very handy.  It uses heavy waxed thread and has different size needles that store in the handle.  I used it last year to repair a spot where the fiberglass pole was poking through on my Quick Fish 3.

[Fortpeck1]

if close to Missoula,
I use Rex's upholstry

[pmmpete]

I bought a speedy stitcher sewing awl.  If you don’t have one, they are very handy.  It uses heavy waxed thread and has different size needles that store in the handle.  I used it last year to repair a spot where the fiberglass pole was poking through on my Quick Fish 3.

I've made and repaired a lot of gear with a speedy stitcher, and they are slow and a lot of work to use.  You have to have access to both sides of whatever you're working on to use a speedy stitcher, as you ram the awl through what you're working on with one hand, and you feed one end of the thread through the loop formed by the thread on the needle with your other hand.  If you need to do repairs near a door or a removable window, you may be able to do a repair with a speedy stitcher, but if the repair is needed in a corner of the shelter which is a long way from a door or a window, it'll be a huge hassle to use a speedy stitcher.

Here's a tip for using a speedy stitcher:  If the webbing or fabric you are stitching is thick, it's hard and somewhat dangerous to ram the speedy stitcher's needle through it for every stitch.  So get a piece of 1" x 4" board about 16" long, tape a couple magazines to the board, set the board across your legs or on a work bench, put what you need to stitch on the board, and ram the needle through what you need to stich into the magazines.  That will make it much easier to make each stitch.

A speedy stitcher can be useful, but if you use one, I predict that you'll come to hate it.

[wyogator]

I just saw an Eskimo Quick Fish 3i on sale for $189.99.  I’d be hard to have it repaired much cheaper if any than that.