Horizontal Cellular Blinds.

[Biggles607]

If you're looking for something to do next weekend and have some money set aside for your RV burning a hole in your pocket I've got an idea you might like.

First, the backstory.

My wife and I travel with our beloved 'Whoodle', 'Ziva' (yes we're NCIS fans) a 20lb bundle of joy, a cross between a Wheaten Terrier, a Toy Poodle and I suspect a smidgen of Cat too...

She has no issue being left in the trailer when we dine out or visit places where fur babies are not allowed, but like most terriers, she likes to see out. To facilitate this, and prevent damage, we habitually retract the stock metal Venetian blinds before we go out, but this leaves at all windows a nylon cord hanging, which to say the least is hazardous.

At night, these metal blinds are not the most efficient at blocking outside light, and my luck is to always be allocated the site next to the campground 1000w arc floodlight array.

They needed to go.

I searched the net and found 'Select Blinds' who offer custom 1" cellular cordless fabric blinds.

After exercising my tape measure and recording the dimensions, I placed an order to replace all 10 of the factory originals in my 2017 Zinger 291RL.

In little over a week the new blinds arrived, each one labelled by the factory with their intended location per my order. They fitted perfectly and went up under the existing valances without any fuss, I did have to use their proprietary mounting brackets which necessitated removing the valances first, nothing anyone with modest handyman skills would find difficult.

The result is very pleasing. The blinds lift and deploy with the lightest touch, and stay exactly where you place them, up, down or anywhere in between. No dangling cords.

The filtered light in the main cabin is very welcoming during the day with the blinds at half mast, and at night with them fully down there is no leakage from the outside in or vise versa.

In our bedroom I opted for the blackout material on the back, and when those are down it's now suitable to develop 'film' and photographs the old fashioned way if any of you remember that.

An added and unexpected bonus we found is the thermal insulation characteristics of these cellular blinds. The cells between the welded synthetic fabric we chose traps a pocket of air which certainly reduces the radiated heat from the window getting in, and presumably the precious cool air we cherish in Florida from escaping.

'Select Bliinds' run perpetual special offers so look out for those if your interested. I am very satisfied with my purchase and the new sophisticated look of the cabin adds to our level of comfort and above all the safety of our pooch.

If you choose to do this modest upgrade from the standard window coverings, I doubt you'll be disappointed and if you time it right, certainly not too much out of pocket.

[Stan]

Nice write-up. Thanks for taking the time to post your experience.

[willshawna]

Thank you Biggles, I am very interested and really appreciate this information. Do you have a couple of pictures you can share? Thank you.

[catdaddy1rt]

We have same metal blinds that are not that great. Thanks for the post, we have serious sun out here in West Texas and those blinds you bought would really help. Looks like I have another rv project.(which are the best projects and I don't ever mind doing)