windscreen

[Nick Kirby]

Hi, I'm new to the world that is motor homes and have a question on Windscreen shades. i purchased a internal shade for our camper, fabric one side, reflective the other. In the summer not a problem, but in colder months we reverse to put the reflective side inwards and suffer with a lot of moisture from condensation. Would the external type of shade be better? Any suggestions

[silverback]

hi Nick,

we have the internal screens, and suffered the condensation, then we got some external screens and suffer no more, infact we put both on now and it makes it warmer inside

jonathan

[Mel B]

Hi Nick, welcome to the mad house! :-D

 

With internal ones you will suffer condensation as, really, they are only meant as sun shades or night blinds in the summer. The external ones are what you want to prevent most condensation, there are various manufacturers around but the most common ones are Silver Screens and Taylormade, personally I have found the Taylormade ones cheaper, but no less quality, than the Silver Screens ones.

 

You can get various types, some where you can fold down the front windscreen bit without having to take them off to let light in during the day, some are longer and cover a bit of the bonnet too (useful if you have air intakes that let in cold air), others can be turned down and also have some 'mesh' too which lets light in but still gives privacy. We just have the standard turn down ones by Taylormade (no mesh) and they do the job nicely.

 

We do still have internal screens too though as they are useful in the summer to use when it's really hot to keep the van cool for our dogs during the day. They are easier to put on and take off as a general rule, especially useful if you use aires etc rather than campsites abroad. If you can keep both with you, you'll have the best of both worlds - weight isn't a problem but as they can be rather bulky, storing 2 sets may be problematic depending on what van you've got.

 

As Jonathan mentioned, in very cold weather using both the internal and external screens improves the insulation value greatly.

[silverback]

blimey mel! (lol)

i wanted to say all that (!)

but as i type with 1 finger it would take me all night (!)

nice 1 tho, 60 words a minute against my 6 no contest :D i will refer all my corespondance to you! (i think thats spelt wrong (!) but it toke me 30 secs!)

jonathan

[Guest Tracker]

In over 30 years of motor homing we have never used screens either internal or external and have never been cold.

 

I do however carry a decent microfibre cloth and a very good chamois leather for morning use and these simply drop into the door pocket to store - plus they don't have to be fitted, or removed or stored - even worse when wet.

 

You pays yer money and takes yer choice and those who do like screens seem to prefer the external sort for efficiency which is fine as long as you don't mind going out in the cold and wet and sometimes dark to fit and remove them and then wrestle with folding them up and finding a suitable storage place - and drying them indoors when you get home to prevent mildew and deterioration.

 

Personally I can't be bothered with all that palaver - I'm on holiday after all!

[Nick Kirby]

Thanks Everyone, thnk that just about answers every view point with regards to Screens .

 

Nick