Kuiu Horse Shoe Zipper Fix

[nphunter]

I bought a Kuiu Icon Pro 5200 to put on my Kifaru frame, it arrived yesterday and the horse shoe zipper was awesome other than the fact that you have to unzip it from the bottom of the pack up??? Pretty stupid design IMO, i want to be able to access the items in my pack without opening it all the way up and unclipping the compression straps. So after a little studying of the pack i whipped out the havalon on my brand new pack 10 minutes after opening the package.

Here is what i did to make zipper top opening:

Remove one zipper;
1. Unzip both zippers to one side
2. Flip lower half of pack inside out
3. Cut stitching from piping where it goes across the zipper



4. Cut stitching between teeth of zipper and on under size of zipper so it opens up
5. Pull out loose stitches
6. Tuck zipper cord under zipper and pull zipper all the way off of pack.
7. Zipper will be fully zipped at this point, use hot glue to glue zipper together, re-cover and glue piping back over




Re-Install zipper on other side;
1.Cut stitching from piping where it goes across other size zipper (opposite from where you just worked)
2. Cut stitching between teeth of zipper and on under size of zipper so it opens up
3. Pull out loose stitches
4. Straighten zipper sides and slowly slide into loose zipper
5. Once ends are all the way up inside zipper pull zipper to engage teeth. (zipper will be upside down and only goes on one way)
6. Zip the zipper up a couple inches to move it out of the way
7. Use hot glue to glue zipper together, re-cover and glue piping back over



8. Flip pack back right side in and enjoy a better functioning pack




This only took a few minutes and was a great improvement to the function of this bag, you could re-sew the zipper instead of hot glue but due to the way the zippers are turned in at the bottom and the fabric is acting as a barrier there is little to no risk of them ever coming apart.

 

[R_burg]

I bought a Kuiu Icon Pro 5200 to put on my Kifaru frame, it arrived yesterday and the horse shoe zipper was awesome other than the fact that you have to unzip it from the bottom of the pack up??? Pretty stupid design IMO, i want to be able to access the items in my pack without opening it all the way up and unclipping the compression straps.

I also thought that design was stupid, it isnt like that on the 3200 (Kuiu's best pack IMO).

Nice DIY!

 

[nphunter]

I also thought that design was stupid, it isnt like that on the 3200 (Kuiu's best pack IMO).

Nice DIY!

Thanks, I was going to do the 3200 but I'm afraid it wouldn't be big enough for me, right now i am taking a Nomad with a 50 liter dry bag between the wings which is closer to 5K than 3K when taking my kids for overnight trips. I really hope the 5200 works out well, it compresses down pretty well.

 

[nphunter]

View attachment 51235

 

[4ptarmigan]

Thx nphunter. I thought the same, saw your post and spent an hour gettin' er' done. Now can access the top to stick a jacket in without undoing half the pack.

DYI Tip - whenever I cut seams or have seams vulnerable to wear I dab them with crazy glue. I do it on boots, bags, gloves,... wherever. Make them almost indestructible and keeps them from running or pulling out of the material. Great to keep in repair kit along with tenacious tape.