Camperback zipper question

S

Sunbeam

Active member
I have a quick zipper question for those of you with camperback type canvas. The area I am asking about would be the vertical zippers (such as between the various major window panels) that when they are zipped down the part of the zipper you pull on is down by the gunwales. By this I mean not just the "handle" but also the slider (the "hump" part that does the business of actually bringing the zipper teeth together).

So, on this canvas I just had made, when those zippers are closed, the slider goes down in between the canvas and the outer gelcoat of my gunwale. This seems like it is going to scratch and/or wear away my gelcoat in that area (on the outside of the gunwale, just above the level of the snaps). I can leave the zipper not fully zipped (by an inch or two) and the slider will not be in there, but that seems somewhat unsatisfactory, and plus the zipper teeth themselves will still be there.

I tried to look at some of the photos of other camperbacks in the albums, but it is hard to see this detail.

How does this work on your camperbacks? Does the zipper stop short of going down into that area? Or is there some sort of padding or something? Or does the gelcoat just scratch/wear away there and that is part of having a camperback (if so, I don't see myself using it, as I like my gelcoat).

Thanks,
Sunbeam
 
I can't remember how they were done on my 22 but I know some canvas makers sew in a flap of extra canvas in areas like that so you have the canvas between the gel coat and the zipper (or other hard item). That would be an easy thing to add.
 
ghone":2paviyul said:
Hi Sunbeam. Ours has the zip stopping above the deck so it won't mar the surface.
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Hi George, thanks for responding. This seems like it would make the most sense. the way it is now, not only does the zipper head (slider) go down in and get tightly trapped between the canvas and the gelcoat, but the pull is either partially in there too, or it flips down and sits horizontally on the deck gelcoat where it looks like it will bounce around.

rogerbum":2paviyul said:
I can't remember how they were done on my 22 but I know some canvas makers sew in a flap of extra canvas in areas like that so you have the canvas between the gel coat and the zipper (or other hard item). That would be an easy thing to add.
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Thanks, Roger. I think that would be a really tight fit (it's already a bit hard to get the zipper into that crevice) but it would be preferable to having the slider just grinding away on my gelcoat (it hasn't done this yet, as I took the top down right away). A question related to that would be then what happens to the "handle" part which is sitting on the deck/non-skid? You may not remember how that was done, but maybe someone else does. I know there are many ways to handle the various details. This one kind of caught me by surprise as I didn't zip the panels in until the very end (prior to that the canvas maker wanted to do it because it was part of his job and he liked to do it). I hadn't thought of requesting exactly how the zippers end.
 
There's a couple places on our camper back where zippers lay up against the gel coat. There's one place that's particularly bad and it's where the canvas top meets the cabin roof. Our camper back has a zipper on each side so you can open it up to make getting into/out of the boat easier at the dock. The zipper there is ALWAYS between the canvas and gel coat.

It's been a couple years now and - so far - there is just some black smudges but no real gel coat damage. Our zippers are the large YKK black plastic ones that I think are common. Not ideal but it is what it is.

On a related but different note, I also have a concern about the bazillion snaps the installer riveted to the fiberglass but that may be a different thread. :sad
 
williwaw":1sdhhpuq said:
On a related but different note, I also have a concern about the bazillion snaps the installer riveted to the fiberglass but that may be a different thread. :sad
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Thanks, williwaw. It seems like some of these detail questions can vary to us as individual customers (each going in separately with our own boat). On the one hand, it's good to specify what you want; but on the other hand, I can't imagine walking in with the ten thousand specifications it would take to cover everything, and in order to let the process unfold you almost have to assume some basic functional desires will be covered as a part of their normal routine. Also, each canvas maker no doubt has some (acceptable) variations in style for how they do things, so there isn't only one right way, and all of our respective canvas jobs will have some varying details. So in that way it's not like say, repairing an engine, in which there is basically one correct way/result.

Personally, I think it would be interesting if you started a thread on the snaps -- I would have enjoyed reading it when I was researching, and I imagine others would get something out of it in future (plus you). Luckily for me, the canvas maker was short on time and thus it was a win/win for me to install the snaps on the boat myself (he marked the spots on tape strips I had put there, then went back to sewing while I kept ahead of him in drilling/installing).
 
Sunbeam, I just checked Wild Blue after getting here to Nanaimo and it looks like the zippers do contact the gelcoat but I see no ill effect. Perhaps Jim can chime in as to whether he made a point of not zipping all the way, but I have been.
 
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