Tip for organizing zippered boat tops

I love this tip from Doug Dawson of Boating with Dawsons for organizing the zippered pieces of a boat’s canvas top. It‘s particularly helpful if you have a larger boat with lots of pieces and so an even bigger challenge figuring out which ones zip together.

“Put red and green colored tabs on the zipper pulls when the canvas is still on…red on the left (port) zipper pulls and green on the right (starboard) zipper pulls,” Doug suggests.

“The simplest and cheapest method that I’ve used for years is telephone wire. Most houses and businesses have a few feet of spare telephone wire. Strip off the outside casing and inside are four coloured wires—red, green, yellow, and black. Cut the red and green into 3” pieces. Thread them through the zipper pulls and twist. Voila! Now, your puzzle challenge has been reduced by 50%.”