cockpit curtains to shades

[DJK]

We have a 2013 Itasca Sunstar and want to change the cloth curtains out to day/night shades. Has anyone done this, did you do it yourself? What was the cost?
MCD wants $800 just for the windshield, plus they said about $1000 for the install. If I want the 2 sides done it would be about $3500 total.
What do y'all think?
Thank you!
Dennis

[NLOVNIT]

We had motorized MCD Duos installed in the windshield & manual Duos for the pilot & co-pilot. Approx $2.5k for parts & labor. Due to the size of the windshield shade (ours is 1 piece) & the extremely tight quarters behind the upper cabinets to work in, it was WELL worth it to have them professionally installed.

Lori-

[Andyfarmer]

We have a 2013 Newmar Baystar and just last year we had this done. Of course if you are planning on keeping the RV the cost is not as critical. We had both shade and night shades installed. Full auto up and down for both for the windshield. Side windows are both manual. Really nice to have the shade partially down when driving and the sides all the way down to reduce glare.

We paid $2500 in Junction City Oregon for all. We also had a trim piece added to the side cockpit windows for added privacy at night. Well worth the price just to take down the original ones.

Good Luck,
Andy

[tkcas01]

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

We had motorized MCD Duos installed in the windshield & manual Duos for the pilot & co-pilot. Approx $2.5k for parts & labor. Due to the size of the windshield shade (ours is 1 piece) & the extremely tight quarters behind the upper cabinets to work in, it was WELL worth it to have them professionally installed.

Lori-

Ditto. Have never regretted this upgrade. Had mine done at the factory. A couple of years later I got around to having custom valances made to cover the rollers.

[JohnRR]

I have yet to regret my decision to install MCD DUO shades on all my windows, electric for the winshield and manuals for all the rest.

[MandG-Fun]

I installed the full cockpit with MCD just before leaving for the winter. One of the best upgrades and got rid of those darn curtains. The windshield is electric for the day and night. They work fantastic for cutting down on glare when driving and I sure wouldn't want to try to use a Home Depot shade for that purpose. Also really like the day/night combo on one rail, makes for a much easier and cleaner install. The screen door day shade is a great design and allows the day shade to be used and not have to duck under a shade to go in and out of the door.
People talk negatively about the cost. If you are just having a short term fling with your coach then you may want to look at alternative cheaper options. Otherwise, I think the quality is excellent, the design is purpose-built for a motorhome and I have no regrets in the investment.

[DJK]

Thank you all, we were sold on them just needed that little extra push. Will make contact this week to find out how long to get it done.

[belanga]

We had ours done this summer. Ours is a 2004 Gulfstream so they had to take down the TV cabinet and cut it down because we have the 1 piece power shade on the windshield. Cost a little extra because of this, but we had it installed with the manual side shades. Cost around $3000, wish we would have done it years ago. The drape was ready for replacement anyway. That did not include the cover of the shades. I do wood working so I made my own from oak and happy how it came out.
You will love them.

[NLOVNIT]

MCD used to offer a Gold Series shades that was 75% the price of the Americans. Same day shade but with a differently hemmed bottom & less fabric choices for the night shades again with a different hem. But I can't find them on MCD's site anymore & the link to the Golds from a search engine brings up an error. Wonder what happened to those? It was a few years between when we had the cockpit done with Americans & then did the rest of the coach in Golds. Unless you looked closely at the hem, you couldn't tell the difference & the lower price saved us quite a bit of $$.

Lori-

[lwasouth]

2005 Itasca Horizon - Removed the front curtains, removed the doghouse behind the TV (New TV is 32" Samsung LED LCD) Installed a 95 inch wide room darkening pull down shade custom made from a company on line called "Shades Direct" for $178.00 including shipping. Installation took about 2 hours. All looks like a factory install

[tkcas01]

Originally Posted by lwasouth

2005 Itasca Horizon - Removed the front curtains, removed the doghouse behind the TV (New TV is 32" Samsung LED LCD) Installed a 95 inch wide room darkening pull down shade custom made from a company on line called "Shades Direct" for $178.00 including shipping. Installation took about 2 hours. All looks like a factory install

That's pretty nice! Good work!

[DJK]

Looks good!

[larryjeans]

Hi, where in Junction City? Guarantee? Thanks, we live in Eugene.