Fitting a Zipper to a Tent

Getting a replacement zipper fitted to a small tent by a repair shop can cost almost as much as the tent itself, which leads some people to throw away an otherwise good tent, not great for the environment.
Replacing a tent zipper yourself can be done quite economical if you follow a couple of tips:

1. Buy a zipper on line by the meter. I purchased 3 meters for $10, including local postage.
2. Learn how to fit the slider to the zipper, as when you buy by the meter you will need to fit the slider yourself.
3. Use superglue and Baking Soda to make slider stops on the zipper.
4. Pin the zipper on top of the existing zip (no real need to remove it) and get a garment altering place to sew it on for as cheap as possible. My local laundry had a sewing service and did the machine sewing for $20

Fitting the slider can take a bit of effort.

• Cutting off some off the zips teeth helps to get the slider started.
• As the existing inner tent zip had two sliders on it, I placed 2 on the new zip. I removed one of the old sliders by pinching it with a pair of wire cutters.

To stop the slider(s) I had just put on from accidently coming off I made a slider stop using some superglue and then sprinkling some Baking Soda on top. This turned the superglue into hard plastic and made a good slider stop.

The new zip was pinned on top of the existing one. A little gap was left from the old zip's teeth line. While doing this, the new zip was closed to made for easier pinning. The old zip was left open.

If you have your own sewing machine you can probably sew the new zip on yourself. I don't own a sewing machine, so I took it to my local laundry, which also has a garment altering service and they agreed to sew it on for me.