diff --git a/lib/zclient.c b/lib/zclient.c
index ce4886efdc..6d6d44fb12 100644
--- a/lib/zclient.c
+++ b/lib/zclient.c
@@ -901,7 +901,7 @@ int zapi_route_encode(u_char cmd, struct stream *s, struct zapi_route *api)
 	stream_putw(s, api->instance);
 	stream_putl(s, api->flags);
 	stream_putc(s, api->message);
-	stream_putw(s, api->safi);
+	stream_putc(s, api->safi);
 
 	/* Put prefix information. */
 	stream_putc(s, api->prefix.family);
@@ -1021,7 +1021,7 @@ int zapi_route_decode(struct stream *s, struct zapi_route *api)
 	STREAM_GETW(s, api->instance);
 	STREAM_GETL(s, api->flags);
 	STREAM_GETC(s, api->message);
-	STREAM_GETW(s, api->safi);
+	STREAM_GETC(s, api->safi);
 
 	/* Prefix. */
 	STREAM_GETC(s, api->prefix.family);
diff --git a/lib/zclient.h b/lib/zclient.h
index 23fe0e41f4..e9b2cb8956 100644
--- a/lib/zclient.h
+++ b/lib/zclient.h
@@ -235,6 +235,13 @@ struct zapi_nexthop {
 	mpls_label_t labels[MPLS_MAX_LABELS];
 };
 
+/*
+ * Some of these data structures do not map easily to
+ * a actual data structure size giving different compilers
+ * and systems.  For those data structures we need
+ * to use the smallest available stream_getX/putX functions
+ * to encode/decode.
+ */
 struct zapi_route {
 	u_char type;
 	u_short instance;
@@ -243,6 +250,10 @@ struct zapi_route {
 
 	u_char message;
 
+	/*
+	 * This is an enum but we are going to treat it as a uint8_t
+	 * for purpose of encoding/decoding
+	 */
 	safi_t safi;
 
 	struct prefix prefix;