Michael Sharman - Blinds in Knaus Sun Ti

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

While in France recently I visited the leisure-vehicle show at Angers Expo. The Knaus display included a 2005 model-year Sun Ti and, recalling your posting about roof-window blinds, I took the opportunity to inspect the blinds fitted to that vehicle. The opening roof-light above the kitchen is a REMIstar unit and I found that opening or closing the pleated blind could easily be achieved via 'single finger' pressure. This is what I would have anticipated as my own motorhome has Remis roof-windows (albeit smaller than the one used by Knaus) and the blinds similarly require minimal effort to deploy or retract. I had not remembered that your blind's ease of operation fluctuated with the weather. It's not that uncommon for roller-blinds to have weather-sensitive tendencies but I've never heard of a roof-light's pleated blind having them. I think you will need to investigate what's causing the problem - whether the blind is too tight-fitting in its enclosure, whether the roof-light is properly square, whether there is a manufacturing fault with your roof-light, etc. All I can confirm is that the blind operated very smoothly on the Sun Ti I looked at. The concertina blind for the over-cab window also closed smoothly and retracted OK. However, recalling your 'sagging' criticism, it was apparent that the blind's design had inherent flaws. The shallow depth to the pleats meant that, when drawn, the blind's cross sectional profile became very flattened thus losing rigidity. Couple this to the window's large width and I could see that the blind's material would naturally want to droop in the centre. (It's worth saying perhaps that, if I had been a potential buyer of a new Sun Ti, it's most unlikely that I would have noticed this. Having read your posting, the tendency to sag was very clear and it was predictable that problems could develop with usage.) The convenient arrival of a Knaus salesman allowed me to pass on your criticism. He didn't argue, just nodded and said that a redesigned blind was being fitted to 2006 model-year vehicles to counter this failing. I asked if current Sun Ti owners could expect to have their 'old style' over-cab blinds automatically replaced under warranty, but the salesman was unable to say what Knaus's policy would be in this respect. Anyway, it seems that a droopy blind is not unique to your particular Sun Ti and that this deficiency has been recognised by Knaus.

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

Michael: I now have to revise my statement that I've never heard of a roof-light's pleated blind being weather sensitive as the blind on my own REMItop 50cm x 50cm window is currently showing symptoms that appear to be weather related. When you said your Knaus had "a concertina blind that works better in certain weather conditions" I had assumed you meant that sliding it back and forth sometimes became difficult (ie. the action was sticky), but I now think you were probably referring to the pleated material failing to 'concertina' back properly when the blind was being retracted, as this is what's happening with mine at the moment. I've not noticed this tendency before and it's possibly due to the damp weather over the last couple of days during which time the vehicle was static and I had the blind in the extended position. As you say it's a bit of a pain, but I suspect it's a characteristic of the material Remis use and there's not much one can do to improve matters. The pleated blind on my smaller 40 x 40 REMItop (I think your Knaus has one of these above the bed) still retracts OK, so it's likely that the bigger the roof-light the bigger the potential problem. Happy days - bring back the good old roller-blind!!

[Guest Brian Kirby]

Don't know if this will help, but I suspect my Remis front blinds are of similar material. I have noticed with these that they are notably more difficult to re-pleat when warm. Ours are used for night time black out but if the morning sun gets to them before they are closed back, they provide lots of entertainment for breakfast. A large rooflight may be blacked out to prevent excessive heat build up inside the van, and that could get the fabric quite hot. As this appears to soften the material, so causing the re-pleating problem, I wonder if it is what is causing the drooping. Brian