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#8 Overkill?
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Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Make Your Own Gear › #8 Overkill?
- This topic has 10 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 1 month ago by
Sam C.
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Mar 1, 2017 at 2:18 pm #3453710
Bought a TarpTent Contrail off a gent on WhiteBlaze and after 2 nights testing in the backyard that velcro closing fly has GOT TO GO. I’m seam ripping off all of the velcro (save the last 6″ to stop the zipper while closing and also to save weight) and I just ordered three feet of #8 uretek zipper and a double zipper pull. Is that overkill? I’ve heard of #3 failing constantly, and #5 not as much, but from what I’ve gathered the thicker the zip the longer it takes for the slider to wear out. I’m cool with rucking an extra 2 ounces if it means that I don’t need to seam rip and replace the zipper sliders every season. Bought the thing to last after all. Upstate NY ADK camper here and in summer the soil can get pretty dry and sandy depending on location (no shame, I enjoy sleeping outside so much during warm months I crash in my backyard 3 nights a week on average, the soil on the flatest part of my yard gets exceptionally dusty, even in wet weather it stays gritty and airborn).
Mar 1, 2017 at 2:25 pm #3453715I had a #3. Â After a while it failed to zip up, but I used it a long time
I put in a #5 and it’s been okay since
Maybe have some drawstrings just in case? Â If the zipper failed you could still close the door with draw strings? Â even if it let in some air/water
Mar 1, 2017 at 3:50 pm #3453723I remember in 1980-1981, after the Mount Saint Helens eruption, REI tested a bunch of zippers (jackets? tents?) by smearing them with a slurry of water and MSH ash. Â Some failed in just a couple of cycles. Â Others lasted a long time. Â Point being: some zippers are more tolerant of grit than others. Â And that some testing of that sort has been done.
I like Jerry’s idea of drawstrings, but how about some closely spaced tiny loops? Â Then lacing it up with 100-pound test braided line in pinch if the zipper failed. Â Like a football is laced up, or a shoe.
Is there some lace trim or piping that has frequent loops in it that could be stitched in when the zipper is installed as a “belt&suspenders” contingency?
Mar 1, 2017 at 3:54 pm #3453725I always have a blade on my person when I backpack along with duct tape. Push comes to shove patch duct tape and stab holes in the material to run my bootlace through as an absolute emergency and worry about sewing in patches later. I think I’m going to stick with the #8 zips (YKK Uretek) that I’ve got ordered up just to be sure that they will be durable and have as good a chance of lasting as possible. I’m not an ultralight backpacker in my own eyes. I’m just lighter than old school strap 50 pounds on your back backpacking
Mar 1, 2017 at 4:47 pm #3453731failing tent zippers are my pet peeve.** for two ounces I’d upgrade for sure. Because zips always fail just as the storm is coming in.
**which is why I always liked the idea of a velcro system,although I’ve never had one.
Mar 1, 2017 at 5:08 pm #3453735“I always liked the idea of a velcro system”
Until your dewy tent goes through a freezing night.
First tent I ever camped in had buttons.
Mar 1, 2017 at 6:32 pm #3453759Amish?
Mar 1, 2017 at 7:40 pm #3453767Night like tonight? Velcro is the devil. Rain right now at 53° by  the time six hours pass it’ll be below freezing. That water freezes and renders Velcro useless. Plus it’s annoying as hell to close from the inside. Get all wet just closing the vestibule. Inherently not a problem, but when your vestibule space is as small as it is on a tent like the Contrail your inner tent will get wet too. Gotta make opening and closing as easy and foolproof as possible. Either do zips or maybe a buckle that you can fasten at a corner out to a stake. My tarp that I use for my hammock I tie two slippery half hitches to my corner stakes (one per door) and it leaves a small gap at the tops for my hammock suspension to slide through. Works great for that…Not so much for this tent.
Mar 1, 2017 at 11:41 pm #3453829#8 is pretty massive – I haven’t used one of those in about 30 years, even on a pack. I’d go with #5 and do a little silicone spray now and then to clean and lube. Should last as long as the tent.
Mar 2, 2017 at 6:31 am #3453852MLD Duomid has #5 zippers and works fine.
Clean ’em if in a dusty/gritty environment, and perhaps even more important is to eliminate stress on them. Trying to zip closed when there is 20 lbs of force pulling from either side is going to kill them in a hurry.
from MLD: • ONLY zip the zipper up OR down when the bottom buckle is fastened to relieve stress on the zipper. Clean and Lube the Zipper as needed.
Really not much more to it than that. ;^)
Mar 3, 2017 at 2:36 pm #3454188For what it is worth, 3 feet of #8 YKK–if that is what you are using–plus the slider weighs ~0.7 oz. Â Depending on how much velcro (erm, hook and loop) that you are removing, it might even be lighter with the #8.
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