New shades

[gmillerok1]

My 2011 Interstate has one thing I've always hated more than anything else-the accordion day/night shades. One broke almost immediately, and I had to send it to the manufacturer to restring it. The one next to the stove loves taking splatters of spaghetti sauce, and is impossible to clean. The others are so almost impossible to close all the way because of Airstream's lack of understanding their customers actually use these things, and you can't close it below the boxed in frame, at least not easily. Even worse, trying to open it is even harder.

Enough is enough, so I ordered new shades from MCD Innovations.See http://mcdinnovations.com/. After carefully measuring, I order five windows, the streetside front, the curb and streetside rear, and the two rear windows. Because of space limitations, I only orderded night shades for the two rear, but the other three have both the day and night shades.

If you don't mind traveling to near Dallas, TX, MCD will install them. But I like a challenge, so I did it myself.

The first step is to remove the old shades.



They are held in with snap in clamps:



and on either side on the lower side you simply unscrew the screw inside the round plug that holds the springs on the three larger windows. On the rear two, Airstream put them in upside down for some unknown reason. Here's a picture of what you need to remove:



Then, just remove them by lowering one side:



Next, attach the new spring clamps for the MCD shades. The trick here is to put them so they are aligned and with plenty of room away from the side of the closeout, or they won't "spring" enough to allow the shade to snap into place:



shows the streetside windows.

shows the rear windows.

Next, maneuver the new shades in place, and hang them on the clamps opposite side of the spring clamp. For the side windows, three clamps are used-one in the middle and two that are two inches from the end. After struggling with it, I finally figured out that I had placed the clamps too close to the closeout and moved them farther away. But it still was hard to get the two end clamps to snap into place. So I found a large crescent wrench, placed the round end against the plate next to the spring clamp so it wouldn't mar the surface, and gave it a good whack on the other end with my hand. It snapped into place quite easily. A small block of wood would do the same thing. You just can't get enough leverage to do it by simply using your fingers.

The end result:









The one thing I didn't foresee was the rear windows do not have enough top valance to hide the roller, and there's a small gap above it. So, my wife is going to make a small valance that will cover this area to hide the roller and closeout the window.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with them. I cannot say enough about the quality of MCD Innovations shades. Very well made, and they were extremely well packed, with thorough instructions.

Highly recommended.

GM

[jmh2015]

I like this idea. 😳

[Lily&Me]

Those are pretty slick looking, and thanks for sharing.

I need to replace mine in the two rear windows, and this is now another option.


Maggie

[InterBlog]

That's a beautiful job. Personally I love our pleated shades, and I fret over the fact that they're getting old. But that's a really nice looking alternative.

[Boxster1971]

I'm also replacing my shades - tired of replacing the broken strings, twice now on some shades. I looked at those roller shades, but decided to use cellular shades like those I installed in my home. Haven't got them yet, but will post after I get them installed.
https://cellularwindowshades.com/hom...ng-shades.html

[gmillerok1]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

I'm also replacing my shades - tired of replacing the broken strings, twice now on some shades. I looked at those roller shades, but decided to use cellular shades like those I installed in my home. Haven't got them yet, but will post after I get them installed.
https://cellularwindowshades.com/hom...ng-shades.html

Thanks. The Cellular shades are not light proof though, only light blocking. So be aware of that issue. I am really impressed with the MCD shades-they are very well made and seem to be very durable, with great customer support.

GM

[InterBlog]

I wonder if maybe Airstream did a material substitution at some point on the strings. KNOCK WOOD, our rig is 6 years older than Boxster's and we've never had a single string break. And other owners have complained about breakage too.

And I'm obsessive about lowering or raising (back door) all shades EVERY time I park, so that people cannot peer in and maybe start thinking about getting a 5-finger discount on something that they see inside.

In other words, there's a lot of wear and tear on our strings, and so far, so good.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I wonder if maybe Airstream did a material substitution at some point on the strings. KNOCK WOOD, our rig is 6 years older than Boxster's and we've never had a single string break. And other owners have complained about breakage too.

The blinds come to Airstream already strung with standard blind cord. I doubt that has changed over the years.

I never in 15 years have had a string break except when our 15# cat attempted to go between the end of blind and got tangled up. The blind looked like a hammock for a while until the strings finally broke and dumped the cat.

Restringing is easy. Just have to have the string handy.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I wonder if maybe Airstream did a material substitution at some point on the strings. KNOCK WOOD, our rig is 6 years older than Boxster's and we've never had a single string break. And other owners have complained about breakage too.



And I'm obsessive about lowering or raising (back door) all shades EVERY time I park, so that people cannot peer in and maybe start thinking about getting a 5-finger discount on something that they see inside.



In other words, there's a lot of wear and tear on our strings, and so far, so good.

Probably a different source or variations in quality of construction. When I've repaired mine I found sharp edges around the grommets that the strings pass through. I tries to smooth the edges but to no avail. The sharp edges eventually cut through the strings on my shades.

[Rig Rat]

Thanks for posting. It's a great alternative to the pleated blinds. We bought our AI used and it has lots of previous owners kids greasy fingerprints on several of the shades.
Not sure if I want to try cleaning them but if I do I might use a small steam cleaner to remove the stains. Has anyone else had success in cleaning their pleated shades?

[Lily&Me]

My rear window blinds have been replaced once in our 11 year old rig, and need to be replaced again....both are dirty, one is broken and held up with Joe's Sticky Stuff.

I decided not to go again to the expense of replacing the day/night shades , but instead do something that better exposes the windows during daytime but covers them properly at night.

These are 40% off right now at JC Penney, and come in a wide range of colors...I chose "Steel", to blend with the interior and the day/night shades remaining on the long windows.

18" deep, they will be just enough.

Going to put them up with an extension rod across the back....draw for night, and open for day.

I'll post a picture when they're up.

I have these in my windows, already, http://www.dutchbydesign.com/accessories/flat-flowers/ so curtains open will look like flowers on a windowsill.

I notice in googling these "flat flowers", originally only Dutch made and sold, but now also by Amazon. There used to be at least two dozen different "floral arrangements" in this series, but less than half that available now.

I also notice Amazon sells a nice variety of opaque window products, which might be a nice option for our cargo door window.

[itsmeok]

Hmm, can't see the pics, maybe blocked at work. I will try at home but are there side pieces that block light from escaping? I like to have it so no one can see me in there watching tv, etc. at night.

[Lily&Me]

The rear windows are small, so this valance will easily extend beyond them to the corners of the rear doors, so privacy wouldn't be an issue.

I think they will work just fine.

[SilverPal2]

Thank you for starting this thread it was very helpful for repairs of the shade on 2017 30' Classic

[toskeysam]

I had the pleated shades removed and replaced them with MCD Shades. One shade for daytime and the second shade for total blackout at night. They work great and do not rattle.

[Pez Vela]

The shades that come on the Tommy Bahama are wooden with thicker string. This could be another alternative.

[Hawk-ination]

Nice change out. Good information to know when the time comes!

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by Pez Vela

The shades that come on the Tommy Bahama are wooden with thicker string. This could be another alternative.

Yeah... that is what we have, but they provide no blackout... as nice as they look, I am looking to see what I can add (to keep them) to provide for complete blackout.

[Rig Rat]

Originally Posted by Rig Rat

Thanks for posting. It's a great alternative to the pleated blinds. We bought our AI used and it has lots of previous owners kids greasy fingerprints on several of the shades.
Not sure if I want to try cleaning them but if I do I might use a small steam cleaner to remove the stains. Has anyone else had success in cleaning their pleated shades?

************************************************** ******

Removed the soiled/stained shades and bought a small kids pool to use to soak them in with a dose of Oxy_lean. They turned out great with all of the stains gone!

[k9jackie]

I don't mind my current ones but would like to find some that are better thermal insulators.