When your out camping, especially long tours or long journeys you can at times get into a spot of bother with your equipment. You will need to take care of your tent, over time wear and tear can occur. A common problem can be the zipper on your tent door, over time it can break.
So, How to fix a zipper on a tent door?
- Tent Zipper Repair Service
- Can You Fix A Broken Zipper
- Replace A Tent Zipper With Velcro
- How To Replace The Zipper With Velcro
- Zipper Repair Kit
- How To Fix A Zipper On A Tent Door
- How Do You Replace A Zipper Slider
While camping weather conditions can also take a toll on your tent, as you will be in and out of your tent, so the zippers will tend to be in use alot, it may seem like it won’t ever happen, but just like a jacket or coat or even a bag, the zippers on the tent can eventually give way. You usually find that when you go for long periods of time while camping eventually the zipper might break or a tooth or teeth from the zipper will give in.
It’s only because of the fact that you zipping up and down the tent as you come in and out that it can eventually add stress and either break off or just simply lose the teeth of the zipper itself.
The zipper breaking is a common problem on tents as the excessive force can be used that can then cause strain on the zipper itself. Even during high winds when your trying to zip up your tent the strengths of the wind can cause a sudden jerk that could potentially break the zip.
Trying to find a way to repair the zipper on the tent can be a bit of a pain that’s why I decided to put together this guide for you to hopefully solve that problem. I know when I was stuck I had to watch my cousin show me how to repair it with his old tent but that was when I was alot younger. I’m going to help you by making your life easier with this guide.
Tent Zipper Repair Service
There are places that are local to you that can repair your zipper tents for you if you are not too confident in doing it yourself. Usually, you will find that either where you brought your camping tent from would provide that service or some other store that deals with fabric stitching.
The other option would be to contact the producer of the tent and return it back to them for a substitute, but to be honest it will cost you money that you may not want to spend, especially with transportation costs. Then they will charge you for repairing the tent zipper, costs on the zipper itself and labour costs and time it will take depending on how bad the damage is.
If you were to go down that route of sending the tent back to the producer to have it repaired then I would recommend you to do it while you’re not using the tent at the time or you’re not going to have your tent for a while depending on how far the producer is located. So if you do have any intentions on going camping for the weekend and you only notice that the zipper has broken or is not working correctly then I do suggest the quicker you send it to the producer the better it will be for yourself.
Can You Fix A Broken Zipper
You might be thinking is there a way to actually fix a broken zipper, it all depends on how badly damaged the zipper is. With most tents you’ll find that the zipper will begin to miss some of the teeth on the slider itself, once that begins it means that there could be dust or muck stuck within the teeth to get it to grip or it could just be worn over time under duress.
Can you fix the broken zipper, there are many ways to fix the zipper you can do it yourself which is easily done you will just need some time and patience that’s all. The other way is to find a place that can repair it for you it will be time-consuming and a little costly but you know the job will be done correctly and to a high standard.
Another way you could simply replace a zipper is with a velcro that could possibly make it more easier to come in and out of the tent.
Replace A Tent Zipper With Velcro
When your zipper does break on your tent, you can easily repair it but some people have used velcro as an alternative, it’s a good idea only if your camping for a short period of time. If you are camping for longer times I personally would suggest repairing it with an actual zipper as its alot sturdier and stronger.
But that’s just my own opinion I know of people who replaced their broken zipper with velcro and it still worked just aswell as a zipper for the door. I would say it is down to personal preference but either way would work and velcro is just as affected as using a zipper.
How To Replace The Zipper With Velcro
If you want to replace the zipper with velcro it’s not that difficult but a little time consuming and you just need some patience. There will be certain tools that you will need to replace the zipper.
Tools Needed:
A sewing machine or
Needle and thread
6-foot long velcro fabric
A pair of scissors
- Take the Velcro strip and measure out how long you need it for if it is the front of the tent make sure it is measured to the right amount including going from the top directly to the bottom of the tent.
- Usually, you can place the sewing machine in your garage or somewhere so you can stitch the velcro into place. There are many ways that you can stitch the velcro into place.
- Some people like to cut them into 4 pieces and stitch them along the door front usually two at the top and two at the bottom of the tent that way its evenly centered and will keep the tent door closed in place.
- The reason why some people stitch in the velcro this way is simply that sometimes incase the wind could be a little strong it might just pull the door open because of the weight of the tent incase the velcro begins to lose its stickiness.
- Once you’re happy with how you wish to place the velcro just simply pin them into position, just to hold them in place while you begin to stitch the velcro in place with the sewing machine. If you don’t have a sewing machine you can sew it by hand if you know how to but know that it will take some time and you will need some patience.
- I would sew along the velcro then I would also sew at a zig-zag only to hold the velcro in place and the stitching alot stronger and sturdy.
You might see a significant difference than using the zipper as it seems to be a common problem with the first thing that breaks on a tent. If the velcro option does not appeal to you then you can always try the using the zippered kit.
Zipper Repair Kit
The zipper repair kit would be an ideal kit to use especially for outdoor gear if you do have a broken zipper on either a jacket, sleeping bag, or a tent door. Most kits would come with different size zipper’s so you can pick the right one for your need.
Most zipper kits would come with easy to follow instructions on how to install the zippers on the tent, you will have different sizes and level of toughness depending on what you’re trying to repair.
Most zipper’s in a repair kit will be either designed from metal or plastic, it does take into account that you are spending time outdoors, so it does offer different elements for the type of situation you may be stuck in, for example, a jacket would sometimes use a plastic zipper depending on the brand that you are using. Otherwise, in general, the standard zipper is usually metal. On tent doors sleeping bags they tend to use a metal zipper and slider.
When repairing the zipper you will need some of your own tools such that as of a pair of pliers, so that you can grip the zipper and bend it or even help it onto the slider and grip it back into place. You basically can repair the zipper yourself, you can see the zipper rescue repair kit and the zipper pliers that I use on this article.
How To Fix A Zipper On A Tent Door
Now that you have a zipper repair kit you will have all the tools you will need, but just incase here is a list of tools you will need,
Tools You Will Need:
Zipper repair kit which consists of
zipper sliders
sewing needles and thread
Seam ripper
10 top stops
pair of pliers
Once you do have the tools above just simply grab hold of your tent and place it on the table or on the ground or wherever you are sitting. The zipper repair kit will have a manual on how to repair your zipper but below I have broken it down into steps for you to follow:
- Find the right slider from the zipper repair kit and make sure that it is the same size.
- Start by removing the zipper from the slider by simply sliding it to the top of the zipper.
- You will need to use the seam ripper in order to remove the stitching from the fabric so that the zipper slider can come off
- If the zipper has a stop on there you might have to remove it using a pair of pliers, just be a little careful so that you don’t tear the fabric at all, then remove the old zipper.
- Take the new zip slider and guide the teeth of the zipper through the slider until it catches the teeth if you need to just work the teeth through using a pin if you need to or use the sewing needle to help the teeth through.
- Just gently pull the zipper slider until it’s sitting evenly on the teeth, just make sure that the zipper slider is installed with the nose first never the other way around.
- Just begin to pull the zipper slider until the teeth begin to lock together as you zip of the zipper, it should begin to lock in together at the bottom.
- Lastly, at the bottom of the zipper teeth sew a new stopper with the needle and thread.
If you follow the steps you will have replaced the broken zipper slider and your tent will be back to being brand new again, it will take a little time and some patience.
How Do You Replace A Zipper Slider
If you find that the zipper slider just needs to be replaced without taking the zipper off aswell, it can be done in a few steps. Sometimes you won’t need to replace the entire zipper and won’t need to be using the sewing needle to place back into position at all. Once you have decided that it is just the zipper slider that needs replacing you will need the following tools,
- Vise Grip
- Nose Pliers
- Long needle tweezers
You will need these tools in order to carry out the steps below in order to replace the zipper slider, simply have the new slider ready and the stopper aswell let’s go ahead and start with the first step and just carry on from there,
- You will first need to remove the stoppers from the top of the zipper itself it would be the last tooth like stopper this is there to prevent the slider from coming off the zipper tape.
- To remove the stopper, depending on the type of zipper slider it is if it’s metal or nylon it will be slightly different in removing the stopper itself.
- For a nylon zipper slider just simply take your vise gripper and simply place it to the end of the zipper tape itself, gently press the nipper halfway through the zipper to cut the stopper, and tear away the bottom part, and just remove the remaining top part with a pair of the long tweezers or the pliers. If it is a plastic tooth simply place the zipper along the edge of the zipper tape, and just squeeze the nippers and this will cut the stop in half, then be using pliers just simply remove the remaining part of the plastic stop. If the stops are metal just pull back the prongs using a pair of pliers, and pull the stop out.
- once the top stop is removed, just remove the damaged slider from the zipper, it depends on the zipper itself you might need to remove it with a little bit of force, but don’t through the slider away just yet, as you will use it to use the new slider to make sure its the right size.
- once you have the new zipper slider, replace it back on the zipper tape you might need to use a bit of force just to get it on there.
- Before you add the new top stop, test that the zipper actually works, and zips up the whole way without any problems, if it works fine then you just need to replace the new top stop.
- The top stop just make sure that you do have the right one, as they do come in different sizes and materials vislon and nylon stoppers, vislon is shaped like the letter c and you can quite easily use a nose pliers to pick them up, and place it next to the last tooth on the zipper tape, just simply squeeze down on the stop which grips into the tape and squeeze from the side aswell to make sure it is fitted into place.
- when you replace the nylon stopper, just simply place the stopper at the last tooth, and make sure the single prong of the stop is positioned on the outer side of the zipper tape, then using a pair of pliers gently bend the single prong to the zipper tape and the other two prongs bend them to the outer side of the tape.
To replace the zipper slider it will take probably about 30 minutes not to long, just be patient and you will have a brand new zipper slider replaced in quick time. But you can see even to repair the zipper on a tent door won’t take that long, just need some patience and a bit of time. Otherwise, you can easily find a place that will repair the zipper for you for a price of course.