My tent zipper failed at 3am in a downpour at Big Sur

I woke up soaked when the main zipper on my three-season tent split open during a storm last August, and I ended up patching it with duct tape and a trash bag until morning, has anyone else had a zipper fail on them in the middle of the night?

2 comments

2 Comments

patel.leo24d ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who thought "eh, zipper's fine, it'll hold" until my own tent did the exact same thing at Yosemite last year. It was just a little sticky at first, then bam, middle of the night the whole thing gave out and water was just pouring in. That night changed everything for me about gear maintenance. Now I'm super paranoid about checking zippers before any trip, especially on older tents I've had for a few seasons. Duct tape is a lifesaver but man, never want to have to do that again.

mark61124d ago

Four seasons on my current tent and I've never had a zipper fail, so I'm not convinced it's as common as people make it out to be. I do a quick visual check before trips but I'm not spending hours waxing tracks or replacing pulls unless something's actually broken. Maybe I've just been lucky, but how many times have you actually had a zipper go bad on you?