The Zipper on the CVT Tent is Shit (resolved)

End of the road.

TL;DR - The zipper finally failed catastrophically. Both CVT and YKK had amazing customer service and solved the problem in different ways.

While exploring the backroads of Oregon's Hart Mountain, the zipper on the cover of the CVT tent finally failed. This has been an ongoing issue for the last several years, and I've been babying the zipper by cleaning it every time I close the cover.

When the slider finally failed, it was time for a different approach. I started looking for a new slider online. Mine had the marking YKK 10RC cast onto the back of the slider itself, but I couldn't find a 10RC slider from YKK anywhere.

Assuming nothing would come of it, I fired off an email to CVT support:

Hi there,

I’ve been enjoying my Mt. Shasta ever since I picked it up in ... 2016, I guess. I’ve considered other options - most notably, a GFC - but in the end, it’s been a great tent and I’ve spent so many nights in it (about 80/year), that I’ve kept it on the truck.

For the last 2-3 years, I’ve been having issues with the zipper on the cover. I think this is reasonably normal, and I’ve “worked around” the problem (the zipper splitting) by washing/lubricating the entire length of the zipper every time I close up the cover. Until yesterday, that seemed to work. Yesterday, the clasp finally broke into three pieces (photo attached).

I’m wondering a few things:

Do you have any replacement sliders? I’d hate to replace the entire cover if all that is wrong is the little slider. The back of mine says YKK 10RC if that makes any difference.

If you don't have a replacement sliders, can I purchase a replacement cover? I don’t know if it matters, but I have the “old-style” ladder - the 2-piece sliding one - and a black cover with white writing. Shoot, you can see it all over my site, I suppose.

Thanks much, look forward to hearing from you

Sure that I'd only hear back that no sliders or covers were available - sliders aren't listed and covers for my (very old in the scheme of things) tent were listed as "out of stock" on the CVT web site - I also took a shot in the dark and called YKK America.

After a few tries over the course of a couple days, my call finally connected. Toni - who answered the phone - was fantastic. Generally, YKK only sells large quantities of zippers to wholesalers, manufacturers, etc., but after I explained my situation to her - the fact that I couldn't find these sliders anywhere - she asked me to hold on for a few minutes so that she could see if they had any on hand.

Not only did she happen to have one available, but she offered to send it to me completely free of charge. Three business days later I had a tracking number and an ETA of seven more business days until delivery. Way to go YKK!

Coincidentally, as I was waiting on the sider from YKK, I received this email from Amber at CVT:

Thank you for reaching out and apologies for the delayed response. Glad to see you are enjoying your tent to the absolute fullest! That always make us smile and is definitely what we love to hear! ?

Unfortunately we don't have a clasp to send you, but I'm happy to send you out a replacement travel cover for your Shasta that functions properly.

I have an address of ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ . Is that still a good address to ship?

Look forward to hearing from you soon!

Way to go CVT!

At that point, I had both a new cover and replacement slider on the way, and they both arrived a little more than a week later - along with replacement instructions.

In a rush to leave on my next trip, I immediately put the new CVT cover on the tent, knowing that it would be a "sure thing." Figuring that I might as well repair the old cover as well - it does seem to fit my old-style ladder a bit better - I also installed the new slider using Toni's instructions. This took less than five minutes and when I was done, the zipper on my original cover was working better than it has in years!

Talk about great customer service from two companies who stand behind their product.