Ameristep Pop up blinds.

[alleyyooper]

I have not been over joyed with the two I have this year. I sent the following E mail to the customer service dept.

Not very happy with my dog house blinds this season. The
zippers have been frozen solid shut several mornings starting on Nov.
16th.
Now I was froze our of both on the morning of the tenth of Dec. I went
around and worked all the zippers to free them up in the  after noon but
once again they were froze solid shut this morning the 11Th.
Tell me what to do to stop this freezing shut zipper trouble.
I already have coated them with BEES WAX. I don't think Sno Seal would
work any better.

Why has a flap not been sowen on to protect the zippers? I would like
that better than those little leafy things.



I got this reply.

AL ,THERE IS NOTHING THAT WILL KEEP THEM FROM FREEZING IN OUR MICHIGAN
WEATHER THERE ARE NO ZIPPERS MADE THAT WILL NOT FREEZE THE ONLY THING
WOULD BE TO BRING THEM IN AT NIGHT I KNOW THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE OPTION
BUT MAY BE THE ONLY SOLUTION AT THIS TIME
THANK YOU AMERISTEP

I do have a different brand of blind and the zipper has never froze on it. It has course teeth and a flap that goes over the zipper to protect it some from driving rain or wet snow.
It was made in the USA when I bought it but is now made in Shri Lanka.

What Ameristep Is saying really is you only need one since you have to pack it into a warm dry place at night. Maybe a better bet is to buy one other than Ameristep where they protect the zippers from the driect water and wet snow.

I think I have a fix worked out my self with some rubber type fabric and those stick on velcro fastners.

  Al

[teddy12b]

I used two ameristep ground blinds this season with outstanding results in northeast indiana.  They were pounded by heavy winds, snow, ice, rain all that good junk we get in the midwest.  We never had a problem with our blinds.  For the price these sell for, it's not really fair to expect a cadillac.  For the price, I honestly expected mine to be blown over and ripped apart after some of the winds we had, but they didn't.

Just an idea, but maybe if you're having trouble with ice on the zippers have you thought about putting some kind of masking, painting, or duct tape over the zipper to cover it up when you're done for the day?  It's not a perfect solution but it may help.

[alleyyooper]

I have a fix worked out my self with some rubber type fabric and those stick on velcro fastners.

But that could be done at the factory for very little really. they sew on those flutter leafy things instead.

  Al