Tag Archive for: RV Sunshade Co

We Have Shades

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I did not expect so much feedback on shades for our coach. And it was pretty evenly split. About half of our friends argued convincingly for Magne Shades, and about half for a snap-on style of shade.

I wanted to get Magne Shades. If we hadn’t been stranded due to awning issues back in Canada, then we would have ordered the Magne Shades and had them ready for when we started down for Florida. But that didn’t happen.

The front of our coach faces the sun all day. The heat gain is significant and we had little choice but to keep all of the interior shades down in an attempt to keep the coach at a reasonable temperature.

When I first touched base with Magne Shade, they told me that it would take a couple of months for the order to ship. We were expecting to be moving from site to site every month which made the timing difficult for us.

One of my friends made contact with Magne Shade and they reached back to me with an offer of an expedited shipment for a nominal cost.

Lorraine and I both decided that we needed to get a product up and running earlier. I thanked Magne Shade for trying to help. A very professional and customer oriented firm. I will definitely keep them in mind for our next coach.

We contacted RV Sun Shade and Gordon and Sheila were out to our site the following day.

The product is custom made for the coach. They spent roughly three hours measuring, cutting, fabricating and fitting the product for our coach.

And yes, they made a few holes. Five on the front. Four on the driver’s side and nine on the passenger’s side (we had two windows on the passenger side to cover).

We also ordered mirror and windshield protective covers.

We’ve had the shades up for the past week and they work as expected. The snaps are black and quite discrete when the shades are removed. The shades are very taut against the windows when fitted.

We can now keep all of the night shades up and there is no issue in keeping the coach cool. It affords us the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful views out our front window during the day.

Shades

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Shades or no shades?

Our coach is equipped with interior MCD shades, day and night. They are all motorized and controlled by this old-style remote control.

With the sun and heat, we have had little choice but to keep both night and day shades closed from about 9am until roughly 5pm. Even then, our air conditioners have been working overtime to keep the interior of the coach comfortable.

I have been looking into exterior shades for the outside front of the coach. Sunglasses, if you like, for our motorhome.

There are two models: one that is magnetic and one that clips on.

The magnetic ones look like this (although I think my friend forgot to link one of the magnets at the top right side of his windshield):

Magnets on the inside of the windshield connect with the magnets on the shades. Easy to install and no holes in the coach.

The shades that snap on look like this.

And like this.

Snaps are drilled into the outside of the coach and the shades are more challenging to install. You need a ladder and you have to snap them into place.

Both types of shades work well. They reduce the heat gain by trapping the light before it has entered the coach.

Magna Shade is the leader for magnetic sunshades. They are currently backlogged and it would take about two months to get the product making it challenging for us as we are on the move every month.

There is a local provider for snap-on sunshades that will come directly to our coach and custom manufacture the shades on our site. The company is called RV Sunshade. They could put it on our coach this week.

The cost is about the same for both. The online forums almost universally support magnetic shades. One of our friends here at Myakka just installed the snap-on sunshades. He prefers them as they provide a better fit and they do not add clutter to his windshield. And another of our friends here at Myakka has a Magna Shade sunshade. He would never put holes into his coach and prefers the ease of putting them up on his coach.

Decisions, decisions.