My tent zipper broke at 2am in a rainstorm near Lake Tahoe

I was camping up near Lake Tahoe last June, middle of the night and a big storm rolled in. My tent zipper got jammed halfway closed and I couldn't get it fixed in the dark. Water started seeping in through the gap and I ended up shoving my rain jacket in the opening to block it. I spent the next 3 hours sitting up holding everything in place, getting dripped on. Next morning I saw the fabric was caught in the zipper track, just a tiny fold I missed when I closed up. I got it free with some pliers but the damage was done. Now I always check my zippers before bed and carry a small tube of zipper wax. Has anyone else had a tent fail on them in bad weather?

3 comments

3 Comments

knight.felix24d ago

That little zipper fold is like so many small problems in life that turn into big ones because we don't catch them early enough. Most of the time bad things happen because of one tiny thing we missed, not some huge mistake. It's the same with car maintenance or even checking your mail - you ignore the small stuff and suddenly you've got a flooded tent or a blown engine. We all learn the hard way that prevention beats panic every single time.

karen_sanchez4924d ago

Ngl, I actually disagree with that. Sometimes trying to catch every single tiny thing just makes you paranoid and wastes time that could be spent on bigger issues. You can't prevent everything, and learning to deal with problems as they come builds way more character than trying to be perfect about every little detail.

sage_green24d ago

Had a buddy who got caught same way up in the Sierras. His rainfly ripped clean down the middle during a hailstorm, sounded like someone was throwing golf balls at us. He tried duct taping it but the wind kept peeling it off. Ended up crawling into my truck with me at 4am, both of us smelling like wet dog and regret. His tent was trashed after that, the rip just kept getting bigger every time he tried to patch it.