We’re approaching the colder Winter months, which means stepping up your game with vehicle maintenance and preparedness. I remember as a younger kid traveling across the United States from Ohio to Arizona and back. On our way back one year we were pulling a trailer full of household items from my grandmother’s house. Not long into the trip, we hit some nasty snow and ice going through Flagstaff, AZ. Enough ice had accumulated on the roads to cause one of the trailer tires to blow out due to a puncture. My dad was driving at the time and quickly pulled off to the shoulder of the road to assess the damage. The tire wasn’t a complete loss, it has just taken a puncture to the tread. My dad immediately went to the back of the van and opened up a box full of emergency supplies (before it was cool to carry a vehicle emergency kit). He grabbed a few things; a road flare, tire repair kit and portable air compressor. He lit the flare to signal to other drivers we were not mobile and then proceeded to patch the hole in the tire and fill it with air using his portable air compressor. No more than 30 minutes later we were back on the road. I can’t image what we would have done without that emergency kit he had in the back of the van.
I’m going to be covering all the gear I keep in my Jeep’s Vehicle Emergency Kit. To start, we’re going to take a look at the Kobalt 12-Volt/120-Volt Portable Air Compressor. As you read in the true story above, the portable air compressor proved to be a valuable piece of gear to have. For a while, I have carried the Slime Portable Air Compressor, which has been filling it’s intended role, but after seeing the versatility of the Kobalt, I decided to upgrade. In the following video, I go into the reasons why I upgraded to the Kobalt and why I believe it to be one of the best portable air compressors in its class.
