Zipper Repair Kit

Gear Aid Zipper Repair Kit is the repair for the most common zip failure on outdoor gear: a worn slider. When a tent door unzips itself behind the pull, or a jacket zip splits from the bottom up, the teeth are usually fine and it is the slider that has stretched or broken. This kit puts a new slider on, so a favourite tent or pack is back in service in the time it takes to boil the billy, at home or in a hut in the Snowy Mountains.

What it fixes

• Zips that split open behind the slider on tents, packs, jackets and luggage
• Broken, cracked or missing sliders and pulls
• Lost top stops that let the slider run off the end
• Single and double-pull sliders on coil zips, plus a #5 VISLON slider for moulded-tooth zips

A new slider cannot replace missing teeth or a torn zip tape. Those zips need replacing and sewing in.

What's in the kit

• Six sliders: #3 coil single, #5 coil single, #5 coil double, #8 coil double, #10 coil single and #5 VISLON single
• Ten top stops
• Seam ripper
• Two #16 sewing needles and black thread
• Illustrated instructions

How to use it

Find the size number stamped on the nose of the old slider and pick the matching new one. You will also want a pair of pliers or nippers, which are not in the kit.

Jacket and pack zips that separate

1. Run the old slider to the top of the zip and take it off, unpicking a few stitches with the seam ripper and nipping off any top stop if they are in the way.
2. Slide the new slider on from the top, nose pointing up towards the top of the zip.
3. Crimp a new top stop onto the end of the zip with pliers.

Closed-loop tent zips

1. Unpick the stitching at the bottom end of the zip, then lever off the metal stop gently so the fabric does not tear. Remove the old slider.
2. Feed the teeth into the top grooves of the new slider, nose first, and push them through to the bottom.
3. Ease the slider up until it runs evenly and the teeth lock together below it.
4. Sew a new stop across the bottom of the zip with the needle and thread.

On a double-slider tent door, repeat the job at the other end for the second slider.