Replacement zip for stack-pak?

Q

Quandary

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 Mar 2008
Messages
8,214
Location
Argyll
Visit site
The cloth tape on the zip on our stack pack is starting to split, perhaps I need to take more care with folding the sail. A local upholsterer is happy to do the stitching if I bring it in but has suggested I buy the new zip so I have been looking on line. A 3.5m. long 10mm. YKK with nylon teeth in a choice of colours from Brian Park (Camping) is £9.29 while one from respected boat canopy makers C J Marine is £28, I can not tell the difference? Is it just the difference between caravan and boat prices?
My questions
The existing zip seems to be a continuous nylon line bent to interlock, is this what is referred to as a 'chain zip'? is it better or worse than the type with individual teeth?
Are nylon toggles, like they use on sail bags, better than stainless or will they eventually wear and fail to close the teeth?
Tape colours generally available are white, black, navy and biege, which has most uv resistance?
Is there a particular spec. of sewing thread I should specify?

Grateful for any feedback.
 
Quandary said:
The cloth tape on the zip on our stack pack is starting to split, perhaps I need to take more care with folding the sail. A local upholsterer is happy to do the stitching if I bring it in but has suggested I buy the new zip so I have been looking on line. A 3.5m. long 10mm. YKK with nylon teeth in a choice of colours from Brian Park (Camping) is £9.29 while one from respected boat canopy makers C J Marine is £28, I can not tell the difference? Is it just the difference between caravan and boat prices?
My questions
The existing zip seems to be a continuous nylon line bent to interlock, is this what is referred to as a 'chain zip'? is it better or worse than the type with individual teeth?
Are nylon toggles, like they use on sail bags, better than stainless or will they eventually wear and fail to close the teeth?
Tape colours generally available are white, black, navy and biege, which has most uv resistance?
Is there a particular spec. of sewing thread I should specify?
Grateful for any feedback.
Click to expand...
We have just changed ours, similar deterioration. We bought a YKK number 10 type which was what was on. As far as i know a YKK zip is a YKK zip. We bought off https://snuggs.me.uk/en/ he makes boat stuff. I was nearly 5mtrs long. It was under £20! Swmbo did the biz with a Singer 201k that we have on the boat. She made sure that the edges of the Stack pack touched each other when the zip was shut so ensuring the zip was shielded from UV. We used V92 thread. I suspect a bit of marine pricing in your quote!
Stud
 
Last edited:
Stu (or is it really Stud?) I tried to open the Snuggs site using your link, it comes up with a red Google Chrome warning, if you are a satisfied customer you might want to warn them that this is happening?
Thanks for the response, my wife (I could not get away with SWMBO, she watched Rumpole) has a sewing machine but I am not sure if it can cope with canvas, the flaps on this cover are inside so covering the zip tape without making it very tight is not an option, hence my questions about UV resistance.
 
We recently had our zips re-done due to UV degradation in the Med. AFAIK colour is not that important it's the zip fabric that carries the UV resistance. As TQA says, pay a bit more and it will last much longer!
 
Quandary said:
Stu (or is it really Stud?) I tried to open the Snuggs site using your link, it comes up with a red Google Chrome warning, if you are a satisfied customer you might want to warn them that this is happening?
Thanks for the response, my wife (I could not get away with SWMBO, she watched Rumpole) has a sewing machine but I am not sure if it can cope with canvas, the flaps on this cover are inside so covering the zip tape without making it very tight is not an option, hence my questions about UV resistance.
Click to expand...
Stu, fat Ipad finger syndrome.
 
TQA said:
You may be paying extra to get a zip with better UV resistance.

If I specify the cheapest zip my canvas worker tells me it will last about a year. The best ones will usually do 7 to 10 years.

Mind you I am in the Carib and the sun is brutal.
Click to expand...
Snuggtopz, boat canvas and upholsterers is what they say, YKK aint a back street outfit!
Stu
 
seumask said:
We recently replaced ours with one of these from Pro fabrics and it is working very well, cant tell you how long it will last but it looks very similar to the previous one which lasted 7 years. Clearly I'm biased as I often get canvas and thread etc. from Pro fabrics.

https://www.profabrics.co.uk/pages/zipping-velcro
Click to expand...

+1 for Pro Fabrics aka Point North. The guy that runs it originally worked for sailmakers/boat cover makers on Anglesey but set up a supply business a good few years back. One of our projects was making a replacement sail pack and we bought the zip and fabric from him. No sign of uv degradation in the zip after three years on the boat in the Med and that's for one of his standard long zips.
 
duncan99210 said:
+1 for Pro Fabrics aka Point North. The guy that runs it originally worked for sailmakers/boat cover makers on Anglesey but set up a supply business a good few years back. One of our projects was making a replacement sail pack and we bought the zip and fabric from him. No sign of uv degradation in the zip after three years on the boat in the Med and that's for one of his standard long zips.
Click to expand...

Yet another vote for Pro Fabrics, Our oldest size 10 zips are still going strong after around 8 years. I did cover the stack pack zip with a flap so no direct UV on that one and it keeps bird sh1t out of the teeth.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top