Velcro or Zipper???

[Graybeard]

Just finished sewing up a Speer kit and giving it the first series of test flights. No unhappy landings. I do find, however, that sealing up the velcro closure of the bugnet is a bit tedious in daylight and I can imagine it being frustrating in the dark. By dumb luck I happen to have three 8-ft. long YKK separating zippers that we bought forty years ago from REI. (That's when REI was still a bunch of climbers having trouble finding sources for climbing hardware.) So I'm toying with the idea of replacing the velcro on one side of the hammock and bugnet with a single 8-ft. long zipper.

My question is: Will I discover a down side to the zipper that is just as big a nuisance as the velcro??? I don't need a remedy worse than the ailment!

What say you who have experience with both?

[GrizzlyAdams]

if you have one pull tab, placement is critical. When the zipper is closed you want the tab up by your head so that it is easy to reach. Having it down by your feet makes it a real pain to sit up, lean way over, and find that tab.

That's the only one I think of off-hand.

Grizz

[Mule]

Suggestion: Don't "replace" the velcro, but rather just install a zipper right next to it so that the whole thing is completely removable. That's what I did to my Bear Mountain Bridge. Mule

[Graybeard]

Suggestion: Don't "replace" the velcro, but rather just install a zipper right next to it so that the whole thing is completely removable. That's what I did to my Bear Mountain Bridge. Mule

Excellent thought, with further benefits that you didn't mention. Since the black velcro is currently sewn on with black thread and would be a bear to remove, I was thinking of just cutting it off, which is obviously a one-way modification. If I play this right I can add the zipper with a contrasting thread, try it out, and if I don't like it I can remove it and still have the velcro intact.

[Redtail]

Excellent thought, with further benefits that you didn't mention. Since the black velcro is currently sewn on with black thread and would be a bear to remove, I was thinking of just cutting it off, which is obviously a one-way modification. If I play this right I can add the zipper with a contrasting thread, try it out, and if I don't like it I can remove it and still have the velcro intact.

Also, in that scenario wouldn't the velcro function as a backup should the zipper fail?

[Graybeard]

Also, in that scenario wouldn't the velcro function as a backup should the zipper fail?

Yup!!!!!!! Like guys who wear both a belt and suspenders!

[Redtail]

Yup!!!!!!! Like guys who wear both a belt and suspenders!

I'm a Hennessy user so my shirt is sewn to my pants (I get dressed via a velcro slit in the crotch).

[Mule]

Excellent thought, with further benefits that you didn't mention. Since the black velcro is currently sewn on with black thread and would be a bear to remove, I was thinking of just cutting it off, which is obviously a one-way modification. If I play this right I can add the zipper with a contrasting thread, try it out, and if I don't like it I can remove it and still have the velcro intact.

You needn't cut it out then add a zipper. The easy way to add a zipper is simply to lay the bugnet out flat, mark where you want the zipper to be and sew each side with one seam each, then cut the bugnet right in the middle, right over the actual zipper. Unzip it and fold a hem under and sew it again going through the doubled over bugnet fabric and the zipper will be, or at least seem to be perfect. Mule

[Graybeard]

Mule,
That's so obvious that I never would have thought of it!!! Thanks.
b

[headchange4u]

Zippers are really great...unless they screw up while on the trail. Velcro can be a pain to get lined up and closed and is really noisy, but it is lighter than a zipper and there's like a 0% that it can screw up on you.

I was a big proponent of zippers until the one on my HH clone messed up recently. Got me thinking Velcro has it's merits...