Packing up a tent: Close zippers or leave them open?

[Glenn MacGrady]

I was cleaning and re-packing my tent today, and began wondering whether I should do so with the doors zipped open or closed. I got inconsistent advice from articles, humans and AI. Some emphasized closing zippers to protect the teeth, some said opening the zippers would make it easier to fold/roll/stuff, and some advised a compromise of leaving zippers partly open so air could escape when folding/rolling/stuffing. I ended up zipping my tent doors closed but leaving my tent fly zippers open.

What do you folks do . . . and why? Perhaps there are different recommendations for different material tents. Mine is a typical fairly light dome with polyester taffeta bottom, nylon mesh, and ripstop nylon rainfly.

 

[Mason]

Zip them up (at least half way). Facilitates pitching, particularly with stakes, as you can't make things too tight for zipping them up after you pitch. Half of the tent door (through the widest part) and the full fly.

Edit: Zip everything in bug country!

 

[Boatman53]

I agree with Mason. But a little more than half way for me.
Jim

 

[recped]

Fully zipped at all times

It's the one refuge that is 100% bug proof, no need to fill it up with bugs while pitching. This habit/policy was established years ago when I only went tripping during peak bug season.

 

[Boatman53]

Yes I should have said screens all the way the fabric panel not so much.
Jim

 

[tketcham]

I always close zippers up, regardless of what the item is. I've had zippers get damaged from being pulled apart if partially zipped or exposed teeth damaged from being pinched or caught on something, especially plastic teeth. With metal teeth the problem tends to be damage to the tape. YMMV

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Zip them up (at least half way). Facilitates pitching, particularly with stakes, as you can't make things too tight for zipping them up after you pitch. Half of the tent door (through the widest part) and the full fly.

Mason, just to clarify, are you saying that if you stake and pitch before zipping the doors, it may be too tight to zip, but that this won't happen if you zip around the widest widest part of the door and leave the rest open. That would make sense to me, but I guess I just figured why not zip all the way. The "catching air" problem when rolling up won't happen on my tent because there is so much mesh.

 

[Mason]

Mason, just to clarify, are you saying that if you stake and pitch before zipping the doors, it may be too tight to zip, but that this won't happen if you zip around the widest widest part of the door and leave the rest open. That would make sense to me, but I guess I just figured why not zip all the way. The "catching air" problem when rolling up won't happen on my tent because there is so much mesh.

Exactly. I don't have mesh tents, so a release is helpful. I always zip up the mesh door, but maybe half of the fabric door.

 

[PaddlingPika]

Zip all the way, to protect the zippers as Tketcham says, although I've sometimes left an inside window covering unzipped. An unzipped door is more likely to end up sticking out in the dirt and not staying on the ground sheet while taking the tent down - more likely to snag the mesh and get dirt in the zipper.