Day/Night Shade Woes

Canyon Lake, Texas

Weather: low 45 degrees, high 75 degrees, clear skies

We woke to clear blue skies this morning, which was quite a difference from yesterday morning. I like this kind of weather, and it energizes me. When I finished my morning walk, we talked about what we would do to take advantage of the beautiful day. Carolyn suggested we repair a day/night shade that had been causing us some problems.

"Uhhh", I said, "I don't know If I want to get into that, Dear".

Needless to say, the repair became the priority for the day. We didn't have the material to do the repair, so that meant a drive to San Marcos to the Hobby Lobby. We looked high and low for the string we needed, with little success. Finally, I asked a clerk where to look. He said if they had any, it would be in one of three places. The last place we looked had what we were looking for, so we bought enough for several shade repairs. Nothing like looking ahead.

On the way home, we stopped at HEB and picked up a few groceries. By the time we were back to the RV, it was time for a little meditation. Then, on to the great day/night shade repair.

Several days ago, I had contacted the shade manufacturer about directions on how to repair them, and directions were sent via e-mail. The directions looked fairly easy to follow, so how hard could this be? Famous last words.

I removed the valance over the shade, then the shade itself. Following the directions, we discovered we didn't have all the parts needed for the repair. I jumped in the truck and drove to an Ace Hardware about 10 miles away. No luck there. Then on down to the local NAPA store, looking for some crimps to hold the string in place at the top of the shade. The NAPA store had something that would work, so I bought the amount needed.

Back at the RV, we measured out two pieces of string about five feet longer than the directions said we needed. Remember the old adage measure twice, cut once? Well, it worked, and we had the two pieces of string needed. Then we used the crimps I had to go buy to connect the string to a spring at the top of the shade. Worked perfectly. Then the directions really came in handy, as we had to run the string through the shade. We used a big needle to run everything through the holes. Without the directions, we would not have known to cross the string at a certain point.

Holding the shade together so it would not unfold, we reinstalled the shade over the window. It took two of us to hold the shade and install it to keep it from unfolding. Once the top was installed, we had to set the tension of the strings, and then tie them off at the bottom. We think the biggest problem with these shades is that the RV factory sets the tension too high when installing the shades, resulting in breaking the strings. The manufacturer said to set the tension just high enough to hold the shade in place.

At this time, the shade seems to be working well, and is easier to raise and lower than the others in the RV. We've decided to adjust the tension on the others to lessen the chance that they will break.

Was this a frustrating job at times? Yes, it was. We couldn't have done the repair without the directions, but we had to figure out some of the steps ourselves. Do we want to do it again? NO! But, the odds are that we will have to eventually. The consolation is that we know how to do this repair now, and any future ones will be faster and easier.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Savannah, Georgia: Most Mannerly City

Not all who wander are lost.