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correcting mistakes and accidents…..
I must have bumped the zipper with a hot iron at some point. After inflation there is a small leak in the zipper… in the teeth area, not where it is welded into the tube. Is this repairable without replaement? There is a very small (< 1mm long ) divot in the sealing rubber near the middle of the zipper. The leak lets enough air out that a full breath is required every 30 min or so to top off.
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I think it can be fixed, but when pulling my floor back through the installed tube for 3R, I pulled too hard and ripped the floor about 1.5″ where there is a gap cut out for the space between 3R and 2R. I patched the teared area with spare fabric (floor fabric spare on topside, seat fabric spare below), but will this cause any problems structurally? I’m worried about when I put in the reinforcement strips.
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I don’t think it’ll be a problem – if anything, it will probably be stronger than it was originally, now that it’s sandwiched between two layers of fabric. If it happens again though on a different seam, I would wait to patch it until after the adjacent tubes are attached, because you’ll have to work around that bottom patch when you finish off the seam strip – not a big deal though.
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It worked! puffed it up this morning, and no bubbles on the zipper! It remains to be seen if this is a durable repair, but that will have to wait until the water is soft again… Given the time is available the the glue to cure, this technique could be used in a remote situation if seam-grip and zipper lube are in the repair kit.
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I tried to get pics, but it is too small to see well at my cameras closest focus. The divot (melted spot) is directly across the edge of the sealing surface, going about 2/3 of the way down the sealing surface. It is indeed where bubbles form when sprayed with soapy water. I don’t think there is any lip preventing the seal, I suspect it is just missing rubber. I will pull out a magnifier and look more closely.
As I suspect that I will have to replace it, I thought it might provide some experimentation opportunity for repair. I have already ordered the replacement zipper.
First try I coated the other side and the surface of the zipper with lube and ran the slider back and forth a few times to get it well coated. I plan to close it and fill the melted spot with seam grip. I may have to trim some of the hardened seam grip after it sets, but the zipper lube should prevent it from sticking to the parts I don’t want it stuck to…. Has anyone tried this?
will post results.
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Thanks for the picture and more info. I haven’t heard of anyone trying the Seam Grip trick, but I was going to suggest something similar. At this point, I don’t think you have much to lose, unfortunately. If the Seam Grip doesn’t work, you could also try scraping a bunch of TPU off of some scrap fabric and melting it into the divot (after cleaning everything thoroughly), and then cut the TPU with a razor blade in line with the old surface to create a new sealing surface. I have no idea if it would actually work though. I’m pretty sure TIZIP would say to just go ahead and replace the zipper.
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Is the spot you’re describing where bubbles form if you put soapy water on it? I just want to make sure it’s not leaking somewhere else. One full breath every 30 minutes is about 2 ml per second, so the bubbles should be fairly noticeable.
Would you be able to post a picture? You might be able to carefully shave off a bit of the melted plastic if it’s preventing the seal from closing, but it would help if I could see what it looks like.
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