Window Coverings

[Safari Tim]

Today I replaced all the window coverings in the trailer for the third time in four years.

The first ones I used were roller shades purchased from JC Penny's. After about 6 months they cracked and fell apart from Sun rot.

Next I replaced them with cheapie plastic Home Depot mini-blinds. These lasted about three years. But they too finaly gave up from Sun rot. The turned yellow and fell apart.

So today, I replaced with 2" vinyl fux wood blinds I purchased from bestblinds.com. These are very nice quality blinds and are supposed to hold up to Sun damage.

I was thinking of cutting some pieces of cardboard the size of each window and cover them with aluminum (of course ) foil. The plan would be to place these in the windows during storage.

What do you guys do?

[InsideOut]

We cut the silver bubble insulation to fit our windows, for use while in storage. Works great, easy to put in place and keeps the sun out saving the upholstry and the temps lower...

Shari

[SilverToy]

Hello all -

When SilverToy joined the family, she was as some of you know, a first edition AS for us. The original owners (we are owner #3) had the rig in Florida year round and seemingly full timed in her. They put Window Tint ( like Limos and cars) on every single window. Not the really dark stuff, but certainly the medium variety. It works GREAT! Looks kinda like the smoke colored rock guard - all the way round. Actually, didn't even notice it was there until I saw a '22 CCD that had 'normal' clear side windows, and it looked odd to me. Then it dawned on me, there was a mod done.

Cuts down on the amount of direct sunlight entering the living space ( important in NM!), looks good and allows for additional privacy. The Privacy part is esspecially nice since there are always poeple wanting to get a look inside her her! Always wiping the smudges off the windows ;>)

You mentioned about the blinds getting ruined by the sun, and while I am not positive, the blinds that are mounted in SilverToy seem to be of a vintage that is in keeping with '92, when the coach built. They are all in excellent condition. Not sure, but seems like the OO's were not AS newbies, so I am guessing that the Window Tint was a "first thing to add to the new coach" agenda item for them.

In any case, it works really well and looks good - I don't see a downside. Guess I need some 3M stock right about now, huh?

BTW, was out in and around SilverToy today and noticed that the WBCCI numbers were starting to peel in the front ( not members yet!) - are these available anywhere ( officemax, etc) or are they "custom" for AS's?? Mine are 6 1/4 inches tall - seems an odd size to me. If I pull them off ( did pull one) they leave a nice clear coat/oxidation outline, is there a way to remove/ erase that outline wihtout a full endcap or entire trailer polish?? Since I am unlikely to get the same WBCCI number again how do I make it look OK, and not like one number over the other?

Axel

[C Johnson]

Axel, When you join the WBCCI you can see if those numbers are available. If they are you can put the new numbers right over the old shadows of the old ones, unless the PO had custom numbers made.. They supply you with numbers I am told. This is what I plan to do when I finally join. Although, my Caravel had two different sets on numbers in two different places, argh.

[driftwood]

Safari Tim,

Do the silver bubble that InsideOut refers to!

I find it at Lowes. It comes in rolls of 24" & 48 " widths. One roll of 24" will do your unit with some to spare. Its great. Insert between the glass & screens.

S. Fla summer temps of 95+ I find it lowers the inside temp by at least 10 degrees.

When you take a trip, just remove it & leave at home, and replace upon return. There is nothing better ... IMO.

[wahoonc]

The "silver bubble" stuff is called Reflectix great stuff, we use if for everything, I made some insulative window covers for the bunkends on my popup and they do a fantastic job. I made some covers for the Vista Views on the AS and will be making full window covers in the near future.

Aaron

[LuminumTraila]

.... Oh how I wish I lived in a place where I needed to shade my Safari from the sun.

[fireflyinva]

Originally Posted by SilverToy

BTW, was out in and around SilverToy today and noticed that the WBCCI numbers were starting to peel in the front ( not members yet!) - are these available anywhere ( officemax, etc) or are they "custom" for AS's?? Mine are 6 1/4 inches tall - seems an odd size to me. If I pull them off ( did pull one) they leave a nice clear coat/oxidation outline, is there a way to remove/ erase that outline wihtout a full endcap or entire trailer polish?? Since I am unlikely to get the same WBCCI number again how do I make it look OK, and not like one number over the other?

FWIW, I got new numbers by calling WBCCI and they just mailed them to me.

Mary

[Safari Tim]

Great. I like this idea.

Thanks everyone!

Originally Posted by driftwood

Safari Tim,

Do the silver bubble that InsideOut refers to!

I find it at Lowes. It comes in rolls of 24" & 48 " widths. One roll of 24" will do your unit with some to spare. Its great. Insert between the glass & screens.

S. Fla summer temps of 95+ I find it lowers the inside temp by at least 10 degrees.

When you take a trip, just remove it & leave at home, and replace upon return. There is nothing better ... IMO.

[SilverToy]

Just to rephrase -

Is there a practical and easy way to remove the oxidation around the shadow of the numbers so it doesn't look 2nd rate? Didn't see a reply to this question.

Thanks!

Axel

[InsideOut]

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Is there a practical and easy way to remove the oxidation around the shadow of the numbers so it doesn't look 2nd rate?

Nope...there is no easy way. If you join WBCCI you can sometimes get a similar membership number issued (or if you're lucky...the same number) to put over it. Otherwise the oxidation needs to be removed. There are lots of discussion threads about polishing, if you use the search tool you'll be able to find them easily. Try the keywords 'polishing' ghost numbers' red numbers' for starters...

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Didn't see a reply to this question.

As far as getting a response...you may have better luck next time if you post a new question in a new thread rather than ask an off-topic question in an existing thread, which is easily overlooked if the subject is different.

Shari

[SilverToy]

Shari -

Thanks for the reply to my 2 part-er question on this thread.

Couldn't get a 'new thread' as per lots of other posts.... and I figured I didn't want to get a whole new thread going on what I thought was a fairly basic ( as per your answer) question. Will look into the WBCCI membership but I am fairly sure that that number is spoken for by the PO's. Wait, now that I think about it, do the membership numbers go with the PO's or with the coach? Meaning, if they got another coach do they then get another number even if it is on the same membership? Following the logical conclusion, if someone has 2 coaches they have 2 numbers so it would seem to follow the coach, but perhaps not is they replace the one with another... Sigh. I think I confused myself.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Axel

[InsideOut]

...do the membership numbers go with the PO's or with the coach?

The numbers stay with the members...if a member has more than one coach, they all have the same number as long as the member maintains their membership.

Shari

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Shari -

Thanks for the reply to my 2 part-er question on this thread.

Couldn't get a 'new thread' as per lots of other posts.... and I figured I didn't want to get a whole new thread going on what I thought was a fairly basic ( as per your answer) question. Will look into the WBCCI membership but I am fairly sure that that number is spoken for by the PO's. Wait, now that I think about it, do the membership numbers go with the PO's or with the coach? Meaning, if they got another coach do they then get another number even if it is on the same membership? Following the logical conclusion, if someone has 2 coaches they have 2 numbers so it would seem to follow the coach, but perhaps not is they replace the one with another... Sigh. I think I confused myself.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Axel

Axel, the WBCCI numbers go with the people, not the trailer. If the previous owners bought another coach, they would most likely have kept the same numbers. If, however, they bought a used trailer, that already had numbers on it, they may have had their number changed to the ones on the trailer. Also, if they no longer own an Airstream product, their number may be available after their membership expires.

[overlander64]

Greetings Axel!

Originally Posted by SilverToy

Will look into the WBCCI membership but I am fairly sure that that number is spoken for by the PO's. Wait, now that I think about it, do the membership numbers go with the PO's or with the coach? Meaning, if they got another coach do they then get another number even if it is on the same membership? Following the logical conclusion, if someone has 2 coaches they have 2 numbers so it would seem to follow the coach, but perhaps not is they replace the one with another... Sigh. I think I confused myself.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Axel

Once you acquire your WBCCI membership numbers, additional sets of the same number are then purchased from WBCCI headquarters for each additional coach that the member owns (I have two sets, one for the Minuet and one for the Overlander and both are the same number -- 6359). Originally, I had thought that I would like to apply for the original numbers that my Overlander had in 1964 when it was owned by friends of my family, but have since decided that I like the random number that I was assigned better.

Kevin