day/night shades

[gator67]

We recently got an Alpine Coach after owning an Alpenlite 5th wheel for about a year. In the 5th wheel the most frustrating thing was the day/night shades. The strings would shred, they'd go catywampus and slide out in the middle. Well... we're having similar problems in the coach. The shade on the window on the slide behind the driver went awry and now it won't function properly. Has anyone found an alternative to the shades provided as original equipment? Also, to make matters worse, they put a bottom on the valence and that makes it even more difficult to try to work with the shades. Has anyone taken the valences off to work on the shades? Can anyone offer some advice on dealing with the shade frustrations? Thanks!

[gator67]

We recently got an Alpine Coach after owning an Alpenlite 5th wheel for about a year. In the 5th wheel the most frustrating thing was the day/night shades. The strings would shred, they'd go catywampus and slide out in the middle. Well... we're having similar problems in the coach. The shade on the window on the slide behind the driver went awry and now it won't function properly. Has anyone found an alternative to the shades provided as original equipment? Also, to make matters worse, they put a bottom on the valence and that makes it even more difficult to try to work with the shades. Has anyone taken the valences off to work on the shades? Can anyone offer some advice on dealing with the shade frustrations? Thanks!

[Stretch]

He Jerry:
I have had the same problems with our 03 Alpine.
I think what your problem is, is that the strings are too tight or too loose. Follow the strings that are located on the left and right of the curtain, down to a plastic button like appendage. That button is where you adjust the tension on the strings. If the strings are too tight you can hardly pull the curtain down for privacy. If the strings are too loose the curtain will sag or even worse fall down. Let me know.

[chris cross]

Jerry & Shirley:
We had the same shade problem to the extent that we ordered wooden replacements.(rattles waiting to happen) Luckily, when they arrived they were rather poorly constructed,so they were sent back. I said "luckily" because we've sinced solved the problem and are very happy with the shades.
Our situation was that there was an end cap on the shade arm that had fallen off and unless the shade was pulled down exactly in the center with two hands it also went awry. A dab of adhesive and a very difficult reinsertion of the end cap proved to be our fix. However we still need to pull down from the center.
The bottom valence just means that we can't pull the shade down below its lip.
Hope this helps

[Cedar41]

Selicone the cords. We also used our grandkids blocks, wedged in, to keep the bottom of the shade from going all the way down. Gives you room to get your fingers under it. Also, always pull up from the middle. Alpine replaced our shade that tore. Might ask.

[dkgreene]

We have had the same problem of the string shredding with our shades in our 04. It has been the shade next to the lounge chair and the one behind the couch. The first time we had The Dirty Blind Man come take the shade off and fix the string. He said then that he had seen various manufactuers change the plastic gromet the string goes through in on the metal handle. This plastic gromet does not cover the sharp metal edge and shreads the string. He worked on it and got the gromet above the metal edge and restrung the shade.

The second time we just called The Dirty Blind Man and he sent us a kit to repair it our selves. Mike needed help getting the shade back up, it was the big one behind the couch but did it.

If anyone is interested The Dirty Blind Man has a web site http://www.dirtyblindman.com and 1-877-715-8800.