Coastalsurvey

My version: 17 years old, down in Baja, Punta Abreojos the destination. We were about 40 miles north at the time that my friends ’69 Dodge van blew a belt. Oh man, what a pain. We’d never been to Abreojos, had been working our way farther and farther south for a couple of years, we knew that there were waves and just wanted to get there and get some sleep (it was getting pretty late, dark for a few hours already).

So we cleaned out half of the van to get to the engine (the access cover was in the middle of the front seat) and finally pulled the belt out. Obviously we didn’t have a spare belt (although by that time we’d learned enough from previous trips to have a starter, battery, etc., etc. … everything but what we really needed). So after a few minutes of trying to adapt another spare belt to fit, I took the duct tape (oh savior) and wrapped the belt around several times, then got it in place inside the engine and wrapped more tape around the belt, then moved it so the covered part was exposed and wrapped that, then moved it again, just getting it tighter and tighter until I’d pretty much used up that roll of tape. Got it to where the damn thing was pretty tight. Good thing there was enough clearance, ’cause the tape made the belt stick out a little farther than normal …. anyway, it got us that extra 40 miles, where we promptly camped for 5 days and surfed incredible 4-6 foot point waves, one day I remember being pretty big, probably 5-7 with 8/9 foot sneaker sets. paying dues…..until we didn’t have any boards left (I broke two that trip).

Any other good duct tape stories out there?

Peace, Jim