ripSPOOL™

The ripSPOOL started as an elegant way to carry duct tape and grew into a complete field repair and survival kit. It is a collaboration between Daniel at BattlBox and Rob at Exotac, and the brief was to make something unique, genuinely useful, and well made rather than another zip bag of loose parts. The result is a machined spool that combines the essential repair, fire-starting, and utility tools into one system you actually want to carry.

Wound on the body is over 50 inches of heavy-duty repair tape: use it to patch a hole in a pack, a tent, or a jacket, to improvise a bandage or a splint wrap, to build a bush-crafting tool, or, since it is flammable, to burn as emergency tinder. Inside is over 60 feet of 30-lb test synthetic braided line for re-stitching torn gear, lashing, creating tools, or rigging an improvised fishing setup. A #16 sail needle is held by an o-ring in the line spool, so it functions as an awl or a thimble on its own; pull it out, attach thread, reinsert it, and sew.

The lanyard is 550 FIRECORD, so the tether doubles as cordage and backup tinder. There is also room inside the tape body to store a small fishing kit alongside the needle, though one is not included.

The body is anodized aluminum, made in the USA, and offered in Black, Gunmetal, Blaze Orange, and Olive Drab, with a 012000-KIT refill for the consumables. It is covered by Exotac's lifetime warranty. The ripSPOOL is the natural partner to a knife and a fire starter in an everyday-carry or pack kit: between weight and precision it will close a tear that a roll of duct tape can only cover. It is the tool that turns a failed zipper, a blown-out seam, or a torn tent floor from a trip-ending problem into a ten-minute fix by the fire.