My tent zipper gave out in a thunderstorm at Lake Tahoe

I was camping near Emerald Bay last month when a huge storm rolled in around midnight. The wind was crazy and my two year old tent's main door zipper just broke, leaving a six inch gap. Rain started blowing straight in, soaking my sleeping bag. I had to get creative fast. I used a carabiner and some paracord from my pack to tie the door shut from the inside, but water still got in. Spent the rest of the night huddled in the corner trying to stay dry. It was a long, cold night. Has anyone else had a tent fail like that, and what's a good brand that won't fall apart after a couple seasons?

3 comments

3 Comments

seanperez2mo ago

Watched my buddy's tent basically explode at Joshua Tree. A gust caught it just right, snapped two poles like twigs, and the rain fly tore clean off. He spent the whole night wrapped in a tarp under a picnic table, listening to the fabric whip around in the dark. Makes you wonder why some tents cost so much but can't handle a little wind, you know?

the_charlie14d ago

@dylan_rodriguez nailed it with that Half Dome lasting eight seasons... that's the kind of reliability you want. For my Tahoe trip last year I had the same thing happen with a cheap Coleman tent, zipper split right down the middle during a freak hailstorm. Ended up using zip ties through the zipper teeth and a folded up rain jacket stuffed in the gap to slow the water down. Not pretty but it got me through the night. After that I grabbed a Big Agnes tent and so far the zippers feel way heavier duty... the whole thing just seems built to take a beating. Sometimes you gotta pay a bit more to avoid spending the night hugging your backpack in a wet corner.

dylan_rodriguez2mo ago

My old REI Half Dome lasted eight seasons before the zipper finally gave up. I used to think all mid-range tents were basically the same until that happened during a downpour in the Adirondacks. Seanperez's story about Joshua Tree is a good reminder that cheap poles are a real problem in bad weather. Now I just accept that good materials cost more, and a broken tent in a storm isn't the place to save a hundred bucks.