Panorama Window Curtains - An Improvement

[field & stream]

I completed the curtain project in our double panorama window 16’ and it looks and works great. It’s a really nice improvement, and I encourage people considering this to do it.

If Airstream is paying attention to this, another improvement would be to extend the curtain tracks (and curtains) a few inches on each end. This would make it much easier to get to the screws for the end caps (not just for this but for tasks like cleaning and repairs) and allow the curtains when open to completely clear the windows.

Thanks again to the OP for the idea and the how-to help. This is borderline brilliant!

[afk314]

Ok.. one more (one last?) question:

Do you feel like the curtains are held fast enough that taking the Airstream over a dirt road with washboards would cause the curtains to fall? I do a lot of dirt road driving albeit very slowly. I'm talking 5-10mph slowly if the washboards are bad enough.

Otherwise, I'm about to do this upgrade this weekend!

[RFP]

Originally Posted by afk314

Ok.. one more (one last?) question:

Do you feel like the curtains are held fast enough that taking the Airstream over a dirt road with washboards would cause the curtains to fall? I do a lot of dirt road driving albeit very slowly. I'm talking 5-10mph slowly if the washboards are bad enough.

Otherwise, I'm about to do this upgrade this weekend!

You ask really good questions, thanks!

As for today's question, I'll have to say I don't really know (!)

I do know we have around 10,000 miles towed with this mod with not a single problem.

Of course, if you do have issues, you can pull the rods out, shrten them a bit, and use longer magnets.

And remember anything's better than that Velcro

[KelloggKid]

UralJohn when you put an Ocenair shade in the center section did you get one narrow enough to fit between the two levels that are used to open the window or did you go wider and cover the levers?

[GotTaGo]

Originally Posted by KelloggKid

UralJohn when you put an Ocenair shade in the center section did you get one narrow enough to fit between the two levels that are used to open the window or did you go wider and cover the levers?

I’m not UralJohn, but I ordered my Oceanair blinds for the pano front and back windows for the fabric to completely cover the glass width. There are no window gaps and the shade material fits between the closing arms.

The bottom rail of the blind pulls down and out to clear the arms, then the fabric is between the arms. We love these blinds in the pano windows.

[KelloggKid]

Originally Posted by GotTaGo

I’m not UralJohn, but I ordered my Oceanair blinds for the pano front and back windows for the fabric to completely cover the glass width. There are no window gaps and the shade material fits between the closing arms.

The bottom rail of the blind pulls down and out to clear the arms, then the fabric is between the arms. We love these blinds in the pano windows.

Perfect and thanks for the followup. There is a standard size that will fit between the arms on our front window perfectly. Just ordered it.

[mefly2]

Very innovative. Thanks for preparing the video.

[afk314]

Completed the front windows on our 25RB and am mostly ready to do the rear. I always hated the velcro, frankly without even realizing how inelegant of a solutions it was. The idea of separating every curtain and bunching them up was just an impossible thought, instead I would just push half to one side and half to the other, and probably eat 1/3 of our windows doing this.

Some notes:

I sewed in pull tabs into the curtains. One side got one at the top and one side at the bottom. I did this because the tabs can be easily hidden behind the curtains (they are sewn into the back) and if I did them both at the same height it was often the case that I misjudged which tab went to which side. So I split the difference. Mostly the tabs are there because I hate touching the white curtains with grimy hands and I'm often too lazy to wash my hands just to open them up.

In order to speed up the process of building the pairs of rods, I would submerge the newly shrunk plastic into ice cold water. It instantly hardened everything up and I had no accidents where magnets were pulling out, etc. Saved some time and annoyance.

I washed my curtains in cold water in our front loader. I hung them to dry. They shrunk. Not so much that they were unusable, but they definitely did shrink. Heads up.

Bob, it really is an innovative and original solution. Thank you for sharing! Please keep your ideas coming!

Adam

[wulfraat]

Finally got around to doing this upgrade today. It’s awesome. Top 10 must do improvements.

Thank you RFP for leading the way and for providing fantastic guidance on this one.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by wulfraat

Finally got around to doing this upgrade today. It’s awesome. Top 10 must do improvements.

Thank you RFP for leading the way and for providing fantastic guidance on this one.

Glad you like the results! It really makes a world of difference. Have a great week!

Robert

[WaLee]

Finished this mod today. It’s a small thing but a big difference! Thanks for the detailed instructions.

[gblackburn]

Bob,

I know you posted this a while back but I wanted to say what great ideas you have. I am with you all the way, the velcro is a real pain.

I am going to do this mod before our trip next month.

Also, I have a really nice piece of Walnut that I am going to make my second attempt at for the dinette table, using your design.

Thanks for your posts and video! Very helpful.

[2012FB]

Originally Posted by uraljohn

The 2019 FC 25 RBT took an existing stock shade.

I would like to do the same on our 2022 FC 25 RBT. What was the stock size you used? Thank you in advance.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by gblackburn

Bob,

I know you posted this a while back but I wanted to say what great ideas you have. I am with you all the way, the velcro is a real pain.

I am going to do this mod before our trip next month.

Also, I have a really nice piece of Walnut that I am going to make my second attempt at for the dinette table, using your design.

Thanks for your posts and video! Very helpful.

Thank you, Gil, for your generous compliments! Yes, the magnet closure is just SO much better than the factory Velcro!

If I can be of assistance on your table project, jyst send me a PM and I'll give you my email and phone number.

Regards,

Robert

[Hittenstiehl]

This is a fantastic solution to a small but recurring annoyance.

I never cease to be amazed at all the ingenious fixes everyone comes up with. Nice clear instructions, good follow up answers and a great video for visual impact.

PS I saw an articulate, creative, trim, agile, mature man, (with a small steak of independence called a ponytail) give a concise video. You must have replaced the old geezer with a stand in actor.

Well done on all accounts.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

This is a fantastic solution to a small but recurring annoyance.

I never cease to be amazed at all the ingenious fixes everyone comes up with. Nice clear instructions, good follow up answers and a great video for visual impact.

PS I saw an articulate, creative, trim, agile, mature man, (with a small steak of independence called a ponytail) give a concise video. You must have replaced the old geezer with a stand in actor.

Well done on all accounts.

Well, the ponytail is long gone ... one day, after getting out of the shower, I noticed that there were only three hairs in that stupid thing ... how embarrassing! So, off it went!

As for 'agile,' that old geezer is getting two knees next month; one on the 4th and the other on the 18th. Just in time, I might add.

Looks like our annual four-weeks-in-the-Rockies just won't be happening this year. Dang ol' knees.

Anyway, thanks a g'zillion for the kind words.

[field & stream]

Originally Posted by RFP

Well, the ponytail is long gone ... one day, after getting out of the shower, I noticed that there were only three hairs in that stupid thing ... how embarrassing! So, off it went!

As for 'agile,' that old geezer is getting two knees next month; one on the 4th and the other on the 18th. Just in time, I might add.

Looks like our annual four-weeks-in-the-Rockies just won't be happening this year. Dang ol' knees.

Anyway, thanks a g'zillion for the kind words.

You will be missed out here in the Rockies — best wishes for the new knees. Maybe you can have them replace the ponytail too! Attach it with Velcro or, even better, magnets.

[Bambisafari]

Originally Posted by RFP

We love the front panorama windows in our little 23D, but the curtains not so much. From day one, we found the flimsy, floppy edges of the curtains unsatisfactory and closing the curtains was frequently too fiddly.

My first improvement was to put 1/4" fiberglass 'rods' into the sewn-in pockets on each of the meeting edges of the curtains. I bought six of the 'driveway markers' at Home Depot and cut off the red reflector. These rods slid fairly easily into the edge of each of the curtain panels.

So far, so good!





Now, about those Velcro closures: I despised those things. There are a lot of great uses for Velcro, but holding my curtains closed isn't one of them... well at least that's my opinion.

Magnets! It seemed to me that magnets just might do the trick. I did some research at K & G Magnetics and selected these: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D48DIA I thought these would be perfect since they are the same diameter (1/4") as my rods, and they are diametrically magnetized (best for side-to-side attraction).

My plan was to affix a magnet to each end of each rod (total of 12) using white heat-shrink. The magnets would just become an extension of the rods.

When the magnets arrived, I put the rods and magnets together and re-inserted the rods into the curtains. I was delighted at how well the magnets worked... quick and easy closure, easy to open, and NO Velcro.

My idea's success meant that I could remove the Velcro from each of the curtain panels. That took some time! I used my stitch cutter that I had bought from Joann's Fabrics and stitch-by-stitch removed the Velcro. Now, it'd as if they were never on the curtains at all. Yay!

A couple of 'tips' for anyone who might be interested in doing this to their curtains: I shortened the rods so that the magnets do not have to "pull" through the several folds of curtain fabric. Also, the rod/magnets should be assembled in pairs to ensure twist-free closure.

If anybody is interested in dong this, just PM me and I'll send you my contact info and we can chat about it.

Happy camping, ya'll...

PS: The photos really don't do justice the the improvement in appearance.

We did this to our brand new 23’ international. It is amazing. We used your method exactly. They look better and open easier! Thank you