Brief:
Burn holes in your nylon parachute? Have a tear? Bullet holes? Try self-adhesive nylon tape from Into the Wind!

Construction:
This self-adhesive rip-stop nylon tape is 2" wide and is available in red, yellow, green, blue, purple, hot pink, black, and white. You can currently get it for $1.50 per yard or $8.00 for an 8 yard roll.

Although developed for nylon or polyester kites, it works great on most nylon chutes. I just cut a couple of squares to overlap the area and place one on each side of the damage. At first, I was concerned about how well it would adhere, but after several years, all but one of my patches have stayed on. The chute in the photo was in the trees for over two years attached to my Public Enemy 3" Ultra Fat Boy. When I got it back, I was very surprised that all the patches were firmly attached. Unfortunately, the cardboard and wood components didn't fare so well.

The one chute it didn't seem to adhere to is my Rocketman R12. This material is very low porosity and the tape just didn't want to stick. I have used it on many other chutes successfully however. If it sticks initially, it will pretty much last forever. And I define forever as being at least 2 years in the trees.

Summary:
If you want to keep those old parachutes going strong, this is a great product to keep in the shop. A small amount goes a long way. The best option is not to burn them, of course. But as they say: !#%* happens!

I really like this product and would rate it a 5, but then there's that one Rocketman chute...

Overall Rating: 4 ½ out of 5