Instead of basting and then ripping, you could baste with water soluble thread and then just spritz it away. I did that (with velcro instead of zippers) until I got the Red Snappers. I use Superior Thread's Vanish brand of thread for that and often for stabilizing the quilt.

Thank you for all the comments about the Red Snappers - I am relatively new to longarm quilting and have been looking at them - I absolutely hate the pinning process - I keep sticking my fingers with the pins and it's hard to get them into the canvas leaders.

Now, I am going to look at the side clamps too - I don't really like the ones that came with my machine.

For the side clamps I like the long ones...it keeps more of the quilt stabilized at the same time...or you could buy two sets of the smaller size for each side. I have 12's which I purchased first and then moved to 18's which I now use all the time.

I bought my red snappers before my machine even got here. I love them - it is the only system I ever learned, but I knew I hated pinning and going thru that stiff leader!!!!? I love the side clamps that Renae carries. It makes more sense to have a wider piece of the side held firm evenly.

I have Leadergrips, and love them! I have a 14 ft. table, too.

What I notice different between the two
 

I own and use the Regina lead grips, but I've looked at the Red Snapper in quilt shops in use and comparing them both; this is what I noticed: Regina connects the tubing together with heat shrink "tube tape", Red Snapper uses a double ended screw. I thought that the heat shrink would cause bulk or be an issue, but it really isn't. Here's a pro for the Regina. Should you need to remove the tubing (On occasion there has been times that I wanted to use the leader without the grips) you can separate it and they go easily back together without damaging your connections. Red Snapper tubing is very flexible, Regina is very rigid. Not sure there are pro or cons to that. I've used Regina for years and never had them break. The actual snaps of both brands are pretty much identical. With that being said; when you used leader grips you will need about 2" more than normal backing fabric, especially when using a ruler base and ruler foot. If your leader system is lower than your leveler bar the ruler plate can catch the ridge of the snaps and keep you from quilting all the way to the top edge of your quilt, so having that extra 2" (total of 6") longer backing fabric eliminates that problem.

umm...I have red snappers now for manybe 10 years? anyway, I don't even know where they are. My leaders did not come with a casing to insert the rod....I was going to have to put one there myself....and before I got "round" to that.....my leaders softened up a bit and now I just pin. It doesn't take long now and I have learned not to poke myself as often and just keep a box of band aides close by just in case. One of the professionals around here says she likes pinning as she feels that it is easier to get everything on nice and straight. I sort of agree with that.