My tent zipper blew out in a windstorm at Joshua Tree

Robin Wilson · 2026-04-07T20:25:06.941195+00:00

I was camping near the Jumbo Rocks last spring when a sudden gust hit around midnight... the main door zipper on my 3-person tent just split open, letting in a ton of sand and cold air. I had to use a bunch of mini carabiners from my pack to clip the door shut for the rest of the night, which worked but was noisy. That tent was only about 2 years old, so I was pretty bummed. Has anyone else had a zipper fail like that, and did you find a good way to fix it for good?

lopez.brooke6mo ago

Actually, that's a zipper slider failure.

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jasonp306mo ago

My old REI Half Dome had the same thing happen at Big Bend. I ended up sewing on a new #5 YKK coil zipper from a repair kit, which took about an hour. The key was using a heavy-duty needle and waxed thread. It's held up for three seasons now.

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charles_coleman5mo ago

And yeah, @lopez.brooke is right on the money with that slider call. I had a buddy who spent a whole afternoon replacing his zipper on an old Kelty only to find out it was just the slider that was worn out. He swapped in a new one from a $5 repair kit and the tent worked fine for another few years.

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