Rooflight blinds fault ? Forums

Grizzly

We have a 2004 model Elddis Avantgarde 200 ( dealer badged) fitted with what I think is a Seitz blind and flyscreen to the rooflight.

The mesh of the flyscreen and the silvered material of the blind are not secured in the sliding sides of the blinds. This means that when the rooflight is open the slightest wind causes whichever is over the rooflight at the time, to come out of the edges which are supposed to hold it taut, and sag. Thus insects or light /sunshine can get through. We have to constantly feed the cloth back into the slit supposed to hold it. I am also concerned that the edges of both blind and flyscreen mesh will become damaged over the years and require replacement.

Is this a fault or a feature ? If I glue the edges of the material to the inside of the slit will the blind still work ? Does anyone else have this problem ?

Thanks

G.

BarryandSue

I know what you mean, Grizzly. I've noticed the same trait.

Probably what the blinds need is a very thin, flexible 'stiffener' on their edges - a very thin smear of a resin (possibly too thick when the blinds are rolled), but what I favour trying is 'Fabric Stiffener'. It's a liquid (a bit like thinned-down Copydex, I suppose). If that was painted onto the edges for about a quarter-of-an-inch all along the length, that may give it the resistance to stay in the runners. Worth trying I suppose.

If you glued the edges into the slit, then the blind would most certainly NOT work!

Yes the edges will get damaged over time, particularly the open-weave fly-screen mesh.

hymmi

Hi grizzly,

Our's does exactly the same,it is a bad design,every time to try to open or close it, it catches and creases.

Dave has done what Barry has suggested ,he has used clear half inch edgeing,the sort they use round pictures from a plastic's shop,run some glue along and put in place,full length each side,perfect.

takeaflight

We have a 4 year old Hymer and the same problems occur with the blinds but what is worse is the quality of the plastic that makes up the roof vents over the beds and bathroom both are broken and seem very brittle. I thought may be just old age if 4 years is old, however while if France one of the vents must have been ripped off (I forgor to close them when we moved) so we purchased a new one from, a Hymer dealer by St Omer nice guy very helpfull and spoke excellent English, cost 160 euros anyway the point is the plastic is very brittle and I cant see it lasting very long. I am going to look at other makes and probably replace the lot.

Grizzly

Thanks all. It's reassuring if a bit depressing to find we are not the only ones with this problem. We'll be taking the wearwithall to stiffen the edges of the fabrics with us at the weekend and hope this will postpone the inevitable replacement of the whole thing for a few years.

I'll also write to the manufacturer and point out that this is a design fault and I'm not happy. We are rapidly learning that replacing anything on a MH does not come cheap -or even reasonable.

Many years ago, on our original ancient caravan, I made fly screens from stiff net and velcro and they worked like a charm and lasted longer than the van. They had no mechanism to jam up either.

G.