Sail bags cord vs zippers

Ive found that sail bag zips and any other metal zip to do with windsurfing have a limited life span due to corrosion breakages whereas the cord bags are not only easier to manoeuvre, they are also more reliable over time






Happy all my sailworks bags come with the cord



All my board bags are busted due to zip corrosion. wish the manufactures would come up with a system similar to the cord sail bags.

or a fully plastic zip...

Yep, im a cord closure advocate (Ezzy bandit).All zips die eventually.
Tardy is on to it. Use velcro. Maybe a double layer in sections around edge of bag? Like two overlapping flaps.

I usually spray stuck metal zips with white vinegar, cleans them up pretty well, but eventually all my metal zips have failed. I picked up a custom board bag from Whatzup board bags 5 years ago, it has a chunky plastic zip and it's still going strong. I fixed a few metal zips with something called zipnfix, works pretty well.

www.fixnzip.com/

Select to expand quote

jamieferg said..
Homemade board socks are the solution im using for my "day to day use ".
Draw string , carry handle, you can throw the board in wet with zero worries.

Saved me $450+ on quotes for a custom bag for the new foil board .

Sounds good. Photo?

It is possible to make zippers that last. I have a 15 yo board bag I bought In Maui. It's has an oversized plastic zip that still works flawlessly, and the bag is super tough as well.
The earlier NP sail bag zippers and JP boards bags gave zippers a bad rep as they were usually corroded and clogged in a few weeks of use.

Select to expand quote

segler said..
Even plastic zippers corrode or fill up with salt and stop working. If possible, I always opt for cord. Sailworks switched from zipper to cord years ago. My mast bags are all velcro, but velcro gets full of weeds and stuff.

Actually, it is quite impossible for plastic zips to corrode.

But yes, they can still get jammed up with sand or mud,, although I live in a very sany place and don't have an issue with it and zips.

And yes. Velcro has it's own issues, especially around weedy lakes and seedy or cut grass.

Even simple draw chords can have issues, but at least they can almost always very easily be just replaced with another bit of chord. Plastic chord spring stoppers are notoriously fragile but can be replaced for a few cents and one can even tie a slip knot.

Zips: Pretty well all zips teeth these days are some form of plastic and are usually very durable. Its the metal sliders that are the problem. If you are going to use fully plastic zips on sports goods, they are best to be large teeth and sliders, which may not be so good for fashion items, but are perfectly good for sports goods.

But zip sliders can be had in stainless steel as well. I have them on (plastic teeth) zips on a couple of my board bags used for travelling. No signs of deterioration now after 7 years of use.

Zips, and sliders can be replaced as well. Sliders can often just be threaded on the existing, perfectly good teeth.

My local upholster has replaced zips or sliders in quite a few windsurfing and surfboard bags for me over the years, and it is always a LOT cheaper, and far better for the environment, than binning them and buying a new one.

I have seen some poorer quality plastic sliders as well as many excellent ones. The sub standard ones are usually to small (fine) for the job. Plastic zips need to be larger for the same strength.

Select to expand quote

jamieferg said..
Homemade board socks are the solution im using for my "day to day use ".
Draw string , carry handle, you can throw the board in wet with zero worries.

Saved me $450+ on quotes for a custom bag for the new foil board .

There are two basic styles of home made board socks I have made.

The first are the stretchy thin type. Easy to make for narrower boards and surfboards. Go to Spotlight and buy windcheater stretchy 'waist band ribbing', Sew one end over in appropriate shape and put a draw chord in the other end. Done. If you can't sew, you can always just tie a knot in the end of the tube!
These are very light protection, really just for scratch protection and to keep board wax off other stuff,

The second type is more conventional and more protective. I just sewed up a sheet of large cell bubble wrap in the correct shape and shoved the board in the end. On some, I sewed up an outer bag skin from cheap tarp material. No zips. Fine for transporting inside trailers and vans. I have thought about using closed cell sheet foam with tarp. material inside and out which is basically pretty much how commercial bags are made. If you can't sew, use glue or an Ultrasonic plastic bag welder.

Select to expand quote

Sea Lotus said..
Any idea how to fix this?
Fully plastic.

Find a way to slide the sider off the (normal done up) end of the teeth track. Sometimes you can unstitch the track at one end and just slide it off. Sometimes I have just broken off a couple of teeth right at the end of the zip to get it off.

Then put it back on at the start end again. Same two ways. If you break teeth off, once you have got it on again you can use a thin cable tie to block it from getting back to the broken teeth and coming off.

Or get a new slider of the correct size in better plastic or stainless steel if you think the slider is worn so much it may open up again.

Third option is to go to local tent maker or upholster and get a quote on simply replacing the entire zip with better quality one with larger teeth.

Select to expand quote

forceten said..

jamieferg said..

Stretchy said..

jamieferg said..
Homemade board socks are the solution im using for my "day to day use ".
Draw string , carry handle, you can throw the board in wet with zero worries.

Saved me $450+ on quotes for a custom bag for the new foil board .

Sounds good. Photo?

For Day to Day
$22.00 it cost me
inside a JP 135L

Did you sew it yourself, wife or other friend ?

All me brother, I did get the missus to show me some tips & tricks of her new sewing machine and discuss how to attach certain pieces.

All of my Flying Objects board bags have plastic zippers, don't have any problems with them.

Gorgo- beach towels from kmart
Kazza- I made it

A couple of tips for that video.

When you pin fabric you pin across the line you're going to sew with the head of the pin outside of where the sewing machine foot goes. You sew straight over the pins. In the unlikely event of a direct hit on a pin the needle just pushes the pin out of the way because the pins are round.

For my recent sewing projects (recutting a 9' board bag down to stubby 7'8" and putting a new zip in a surfboard bag), I used staples instead of pins. It's much easier to get a flat surface. I align the pins next to my sewing line. The staples go under the foot ok but it's good to avoid sewing straight over them. Because the staples are flat the sewing machine doesn't like direct hits as well. Just pull them out after sewing. A normal desk stapler is ok. A plier stapler is easier to use.

Commercial board bags are usually held together with staples under all the binding. I remove them because the staples can rust.

Have a couple F/O and Ion board bags with plastic zippers. Still going strong with no problems after many years.
No sticking, no falling apart and hassle free. You get what you pay for

I have 5 surviving board bags, while many others have corroded and been trashed. They all have plastic zippers except the draw cord one which is least easy / convenient to use. The bags are between 10-15 years old

the silver one in the middle was branded Dakine (bought in Maui) super tough 10mm travel bag that still looks great after 15 yrs. Other are from Maui Sails, Ezzy and Naish.

It proves it is possible to make bags that last, and they're probably made by a third party and branded.

Id be happy to pay a premium for quality.

Mark , are u drinking as well as me ?
I've never thought of a foreskin clamping a sail bag , few words I never thought go together .
Ps : that was five attempts of correcting spellcheck to accept foreskin .
What was I saying ?
.......
Sail bags should have strings not zips.