Stuck Zipper

[sailorboy1]

My bimini zipper is stuck! It is a plastic zipper and I think it is probably frozen up with scale. I have sprayed scale remover on it and tried lubing it and it is still stuck. Any secret tricks?

[Snore]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My bimini zipper is stuck! It is a plastic zipper and I think it is probably frozen up with scale. I have sprayed scale remover on it and tried lubing it and it is still stuck. Any secret tricks?

T-9 Boeshield. Appt liberally, drink one beer and try

[Boatguy30]

Boiling water, pour on it.

[Tsuru]

Vineger then boiling water the following morning. The beer idea sounds good too.
Good luck,

[JPA Cate]

Sometimes they get clogged with salt crystals, so hosing it down could help.

Also, the coil type and the #5's tend to jam more than the #10 YKK's. I think water'll be your friend here, and maybe you, with your chemistry background, might know something other than water that would work better..... You wrote "scale", like CaC03? maybe scale remover????

Ann

[GreenWave]

Saturate a cotton ball in descaler of your choice. Attach or wrap cotton ball around the zipper. Tape or something. Let sit overnight.

[sailorboy1]

I sprayed the zipper with descaler (acid)

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My bimini zipper is stuck! It is a plastic zipper and I think it is probably frozen up with scale. I have sprayed scale remover on it and tried lubing it and it is still stuck. Any secret tricks?

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I sprayed the zipper with descaler (acid)

Hmm...as a chemist, you will know more than me but something doesn't sound right here.

If the zipper is truly plastic (i.e. no metal anywhere), then it is highly unlikely to react with sea water (or air) to produce any sort of scale. Any 'scale' should only be regular salt crystals (NaCl) and thus be easily removed with water. However all bets are off if there is some metal involved (e.g. Al). I dunno what the long term reactions are with Al and O2 or NaCl but I'm sure the Al will pit and this maybe preventing the zipper action. If the scale is difficult to remove, I'm sure some metal is involved somewhere.

What acid was in the scale remover you used?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Hmm...as a chemist, you will know more than me but something doesn't sound right here.

never said I was a chemist!

[Wotname]

^^ That is right, you didn't but nevertheless JPA Cate suggested you have a chemistry background in post #4 and I trust her judgement.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Wotname

^^ That is right, you didn't but nevertheless JPA Cate suggested you have a chemistry background in post #4 and I trust her judgement.

I do, doesn't make me a chemist even if I slept in a Holiday Inn express once

[Zanshin]

Even plastic zippers have a (cheap cast) metal slide; and when this corrodes under the paint layer it expands and causes the zipper to freeze up. So unless the corroded metal is visible and not hidden, using chemical methods might not work.
In the past I've accepted the fact that the slide needs replacing. I use needle-nose pliers and a simple screwdriver to carefully try to expand the slide opening. Insert top while holding the slide with the pliers and then gently, very gently, twist to expand that slot. But because it is cheaply cast inferior metal it is rather brittle and likely to break if you use too much force. So having a spare on hand is necessary before starting this "expansion".

Makes me think back to the cleaning mantra "Both chemical and mechanical".

[VicDoug]

I have had good results using replacement sliders from fixnzip.com

[sailorboy1]

well in the end I had to pry the zipper slide apart. It look to be brass and the tab (which on this zipper long ago corroded off) I think was aluminum

[donradcliffe]

Rule number 1--insist that all your zippers are plastic
Rule number 2--insist that the zippers come with plastic slides.

If you or a PO forgot rule number 1, rip out the sewing on the zipper and replace with plastic.

If you forgot rule number 2

Go online or to your sailmaker and buy YKK plastic sliders of the right color, type, and size(buy extras)

Destroy the metal slides
Get the salt off with boiling water
Install the plastic ones
Sew fabric zipper stops if needed.

https://ykk.meclib.jp/Slider/book/#target/page_no=5