Door Shade

[educator]

This is my first posting in a long time. I have tried a number of times to remove the shade in the door of my 1990 345. I can’t seem to be able to remove it. I hope I don't have to take the door apart! It has to be cleaned or replaced for it is in bad shape.

[davidz71]

If I remember correctly from a previous thread, you have to drill out the rivets holding the inner skin at the top of the door to get to the shade.

[educator]

Sounds like a lot of work for something you can see but can't touch. I had hoped be able to reach up say the magic words and remove the shade.

[davidz71]

Originally Posted by educator

Sounds like a lot of work for something you can see but can't touch. I had hoped be able to reach up say the magic words and remove the shade.

If only it were that easy. I have a few threads that have come undone on the bottom of the shade so I have contemplated drilling out the rivets to reach the shade. Someone posted on the forum years ago that it was fairly easy. Drilling out the rivets is no problem and every Airstream owner should have a rivet gun because they will need it sooner or later.

[educator]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a rivet gun and a drill, however once you start something like drilling out rivets the job sometimes takes on a life of its own.

[str8strm]

He has replaced 2 and the last one he did by feel, there is a post in here somewhere about it. We bought the shade from the dealer and could not "get" the feel so had them do it.

[BillTex]

This is one of those little AS idiosyncracies...it is not easy, but with enough fiddling around, it can be done.
Pull out on the door skin a bit, find someone with a "skinny" hand to sneak up inside and it can be done.
Pay attention to which end has the little "tab" when it comes out, so you you put the new shade back in palce correctly.

Not fun, but we did it last year (with a little sweat, and a lot of cussin').

Bill

[Utahgoldrup]

I am so glad to have stumbled across this thread. We just bought a 1991 25ft. Classic and the blind is missing from the door... you can see and feel the rod up in the door, it's a bit sticky and we are wondering how to get a new blind (where... from an Airstream dealer?) and then how to replace it, would it require taking out the rivets in the door and removing the inside panel to replace it properly? How does the blind work.. that may sound like an odd question but we haven't seen one in-tact in order to under stand if it is just a pull down or if there might be something missing from our door. Can anyone help with info/pictures of theirs?

[BillTex]

Welcome!

As noted we were able to replace ours without popping any rivets...not easy, but it was done.
Standard shade, purchased at home goods store...can't remember exact size (and I aint' takin' it out to measure it!).

You need to remove the old rod anyway (sounds like PO just ripped out the vinyl part).

Good luck...and lots o' patience,

Bill

[Utahgoldrup]

Thanks Bill! I'll try and get that thing out of there and replaced without having to take the door apart. When you pull the shade down, do you clip the bottom to anything or just let it hang and are you ever worried when you open it that the blind will roll up inside and get stuck?

[vswingfield]

The one in my Excella is 18½” wide. I could never budge it, so as a stopgap, I have been sliding a piece of poster board between the screen and its guard. There was no bar at the bottom, just vinyl. I just got curious and gave it a couple of tugs and it retracted all the way with a furious buzz, releasing the tension on the spring. I finally fished out the end and gave it a couple more tugs and the vinyl came out with the staples. The PO had cut it off at 9” At least I was able to measure it (the vinyl itself) this way.

[BillTex]

Originally Posted by Utahgoldrup

Thanks Bill! I'll try and get that thing out of there and replaced without having to take the door apart. When you pull the shade down, do you clip the bottom to anything or just let it hang and are you ever worried when you open it that the blind will roll up inside and get stuck?

On our Excella, the shade is "captured" inside the interior panel so no need to clip it down.
Once you have a functioning shade, no need to worry about it getting stuck if it "snaps" up...

Bill

[vswingfield]

You guys got me inspired. Today I wrapped up another project early, so I removed the old roller. After trying to finesse the old roller by feel, I realized that even if I could get it out, getting the new one in with the correct tension would be highly unlikely. Besides, I hadn’t had the inside skin off the Excella’s door, unlike the Trade Wind. Besides, I have a brand new set of quality drill bits and I just found a big package of white pop rivets.

The girl at Home Depot measured by tip-to-tip, or overall length. It is 19½”. There was a machine to cut down pre-made roller shades. I chose the heavy weight premium grade. It was $10.97.

I also ponyed up and spent about $46 for a 3’ x 15’ box of top grade heat control window film and an installation kit. I have been meaning to do the windows for some time, and while the shade and door skin were off looked like the perfect time. I’ll admit, I have done a better job in the past. Just as I was applying the film, the wind kicked up a big blast of dust & debris. I got most of it off, but you know how that goes. At least it’s not the window I look out most of the time.

[Utahgoldrup]

Hey, what you have done has inspired me!! I like that you tinted the window, we have been thinking of that as well. I think we will try and replace the blind without taking the inside skin off but if we need to, I think we can do it. Can you send a picture showing what you did?

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by Utahgoldrup

Hey, what you have done has inspired me!! I like that you tinted the window, we have been thinking of that as well. I think we will try and replace the blind without taking the inside skin off but if we need to, I think we can do it. Can you send a picture showing what you did?

You have returned the inspiration. I couldn’t think of much to show in the photos, since I didn’t take any with the skin off and now it just looks the same except the tint is darker and the shade works. Well, the door is much cleaner.

First I shot the photos looking through the door window and the front side window from the inside out so you can see the difference it makes in the color. Then I went outside and shot the two together. Then the inspiration struck. I got ambitious and did the front side window for before and after shots. I also included a shot of all four windows in the living and galley area. (Yes, I’ll admit it, the line from the handle is holding my old Braund Skyliner antenna up. I have new gears, just one more thing on the list. )

I also ran into a couple of gotchas. The bolt that holds the screen door to the outer door was secured with oversize pop rivets. As you can see in the photo, I got one to kind of hold, but the other simply falls out. A trip to the hardware store will solve that. The other is especially important. When the inner skin is installed, the friction makes it need much more tension to roll up the shade. That is as far as I have been able to retract the shade so far. It seems to go up a little further as I use it, so I’m hoping with a little more use it will improve. Use a lot more tension than you think is necessary!

There is a noticeable difference in temperatures you can feel between windows and the mini blinds from the window in front of the door to the one behind the door that hasn’t been done yet. They are identical nonopening windows so they make a good comparison. When I get my IR thermometer back from my brother I will shoot the temps on these two windows and post an update.

I used Gila titanium window film from Home Depot. They claim it rejects 72% of the sun’s heat. It really is a two person job, though. I could have really used an extra pair of hands. These Airstream windows are especially tough.

I really like the look from the outside a lot.

[Utahgoldrup]

Thanks for posting pictures! I like the way it turned out. I am going to pick up some window tint tonight and take it with me this weekend while camping, hopefully it turns out as nice as what you have done!!

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by Utahgoldrup

Thanks for posting pictures! I like the way it turned out. I am going to pick up some window tint tonight and take it with me this weekend while camping, hopefully it turns out as nice as what you have done!!

Yeah, the bluish cast from the outside goes well with the Excella stripes. Now to get the rest of them done.

[str8strm]

Originally Posted by Utahgoldrup

Thanks Bill! I'll try and get that thing out of there and replaced without having to take the door apart. When you pull the shade down, do you clip the bottom to anything or just let it hang and are you ever worried when you open it that the blind will roll up inside and get stuck?

Our new shade has about a 2-3 inch tab on the botton, with a snap in it. The male part of the snap is in the door below the window. When we pull it down, we snap it to keep it down and close to the glass. The original shade had the same snap in it. Ron