Excellent in depth info people. Much appreciated!

Ken: wondered about the install. Thanks. I can see me futzing around with
staples, scaring the neighbours with my sailor talk, so finding the best
"fit" involves installation too. And yes; seals are next.  ;)

Ron: great info. I too have left my top down for short periods wet. In spite
of the Total Fetidness of my original tent, and PO's treatment (holes gouged
via poor folding) it is still not tearing further. I patched it ~ 2 years
ago: http://sites.google.com/site/tubaneil2/poptopcanvasrepair)

Jonathan: salient point on zipper use. This could explain (age/wear tear
aside) why my front zipper was first failed at the upper 1/3.

William: great insights on construction. Obviously from someone who's had
lots of hands on. Re: acrylic abrasion. I didn't know this. IIRC, top up,
the front of pivot portion of push bar may push against the tent.

All I care about is: reasonably water resistant, wears well. Not concerned
about a fancy colour or fading.

Seems a new tent choice falls in line with propane tank re-furb or not,
engine conversion choices ..... tires  .....

heh heh heh.

Neil.

On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 7:54 AM, Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> The side zippers are too small and like to stick if they haven't been used
> for a while.  One of my first tears in the top came from trying to unzip
> one
> of these (carefully, with two hands, one for the top and the other for the
> zipper) a month or so after the top was installed.  Perhaps I should be
> lubricating them?  Also if you leave the top up for a few days with the
> side
> zippers partially down and the wind blows at all etc. the zippers will
> distort and you get a hard spot.  I move the zippers around a lot in those
> cases to avoid this and it hasn't been a big problem fortunately.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines