Zipper Pet Peeve

[Guest]

Dang, that subject line could lead anywhere. Skinny jeans, manscaping and . . . . .

But I mean tent zipper pet peeve. I am working on all of our tents, and finding some that were packed away with the zippers half open. Egads, that is not good for zipper longevity.

The only thing worse is my pet peeve with (usually) friends or (less often) family leaving tent door or vestibule zippers half zipped, especially in the wind.

Watching that half closed zipper flap around in the breeze greatly reduces my sympathy when they say Crap, the zipper on my new tent is effed up.

Do tell, I wonder how could that have happened?

 

[yellowcanoe]

If its your gear. Check it before it is stored.
Always.
Though I have done that, I know its me and to get mad at me,

 

[dogbrain]

A pet peeve of mine is the wimpy zippers they put on tents these days to save 2 ounces. A few years ago I started putting on a few extra zipper pulls while had the thing apart, now there are extra zipper pulls in reserve for an emergency blowout.

 

[boatstall]

Zippers complete structural integrity on fabric structures. Closing zippers is akin to learning about closing gates. Significant Grrrrrrrr issue here as well.

 

[Odyssey]

We have been bless-fully blissfully free of tent and gear zipper issues. The only snag in an otherwise smooth world I can ever remember was intentional and occasional. I would hold the big family tent zipper closed with a large diaper safety pin at night. A big baby blue one IIRC. One of our youngsters had the odd urge to go for nighttime rambles in her sleep. Securing the zippered door seemed like a good idea at the time. Except that even long ago I also had the nightly urge to nighttime ramble, for a pee. One time I was just standing outside our tent, after taking what felt like forever to get the tent zipper open, and I heard a soft movement behind me. Turning I saw I had been joined by our little sleepwalker. She shuffled over to the (now extinguished) campfire and sat down where I joined her. I spoke quietly to her but received no response. She slowly started to slump and tip over as she drifted off. Catching her in my arms I gathered her up and took her off to bed. Diaper pin zipper locks only work when you remember to refasten them.

 

[Guest]

If its your gear. Check it before it is stored.
Always.
Though I have done that, I know its me and to get mad at me,

I am pretty anal about zipper use and care, to the point that I carry a little piece of sponge to wipe off blown dust and sand on coastal and desert trips.

It would be rare for me to pack a tent with the zippers not fully closed, and rarer to leave one open flapping in the wind. If I notice that my wife or one of my sons has left a vestibule zipper half way open I will say something like Uh, that flapping in the breeze is really bad for zippers and hope they take the hint. But they put their own tents away, I am not supervising that business.

And I am sure not scolding friends and companions about their gear use and abuse. Even though an open zipper flapping about in the wind is like nails on chalkboard to me I am not taking it upon myself to go zip up their tent.

 

[lowangle al]

A good insurance policy is to buy a tent with two doors. If the zipper fails on one you can duct tape it shut and use the other door.

 

[Guest]

A good insurance policy is to buy a tent with two doors. If the zipper fails on one you can duct tape it shut and use the other door.

I believe all of our tents are two door models.

Some of that is a vestige of sharing tent and vestibule space on backpacking trips. This is your end and your vestibule, do with it as you wish. This is my end and my vestibule.

There is nothing like standing outside a one door tent in the rain waiting for someone to unzip, crawl in, slowly take their boots off and make everything just so. Christ on a crutch, lemme in, its pouring out here.

Even solo I needs me two doors, and two vestibules; one for gear storage, which I may want to access from inside the tent, and one for easy entrance without a lot of stuff in the way.

 

[Paddlinhal]

I was thrilled to find out my REI tent has a self healing zipper. I snagged it pulling my gear out through a small opening to keep the skeeters out. Zipped it all the way to one end, evened the two sides, zipped it back, and all better.