Zipper help!

It's happened to everyone. The zipper zips along, but the two sides quickly separate. And it happened on our beloved tarptent after only about six years and more than sixty nights of backpacking. And yeah, we use that zipper a lot.

So we wrote Henry Shires of Tarptent for advice. Here's what we said:

Back in 2018 or late 2017 we bought a three-man  Tarptent Rainshadow III and have used it more than 60 nights in the intervening years. We love it.

But on our last trip into Yosemite, the zipper on my wife's side of the tent began to give us problem. It slides along just fine, but doesn't actually zip closed. It will, if we carefully slide it along and pray fervently, but usually just leaves a gap. Any solutions? 

It's not surprising that this happened on her side—-she gets up in the middle of the night and I don't, so you can assume her side has been used more often.  And yes, we can continue to use the tent, only using the zipper on the left-hand side.

But can this zipper be repaired? 

By the way, I bought a one-man Pro-Trail that I've used extensively over the past couple of years as I volunteer for USFS trail crews. It, too, is a great tent! 

Henry wrote back the next day:

The issue is dust/dirt in the zipper coil (and likely spreading apart of the sliders in response). Have a look here and let us know —>

https://www.tarptent.com/zipper-repair/

And sure enough, a gentle squeeze on one side of the slider with some pliers was enough to restore functionality to the zipper. That's great customer service---and a good tip to know for anyone who has a zipper!