Pleated shades on conversion van need repair/replacement

Reno · Feb 4, 2015

I've asked about it at various RV dealers with no luck. Anyone had experience getting these things re-strung or replaced in Florida?

I'm open to alternative suggestions

GrantRobertson · Feb 4, 2015

There are actually videos about that on YouTube that have been posted recently. Just search do "RV pleated shade."

Reno · Feb 5, 2015

GrantRobertson said:
There are actually videos about that on YouTube that have been posted recently. Just search do "RV pleated shade."

Thank-you, Grant.

compassrose · Feb 5, 2015

You can replace the pleated shades with ones from Home Depot/Lowes. The ones in RVs are not anything special. Except for the higher prices because they are "RV".

LeeRevell · Feb 5, 2015

I have been looking at those at Lowes myself. Measure what you need and they custom cut them. My conversion van has those crappy aluminum mini blinds. Noisy and cumbersome!

compassrose · Feb 5, 2015

When you measure, allow for 1/2" for the mounting hardware (1/4" each side of the opening) if mounting inside a frame.

The ones you buy also allow 1/2" so a 36" blind is actually 35-1/2" wide. You can shorten the mini blind length easily by removing the plugs on the bottom rail and pulling the bottom rail out, remove as many slats as needed, snip off the excess stringin material then reinstall the bottom rail. You may want to keep a few of the slats to replace damaged ones. I have two plastic mini blinds and hate them. They were a test. So the test did not work out. I prefer something I can wash in the washing machine.