Our week at MCD for new American Duo Shades

We arrived a while ago at MCD Innovations in preparation to have all of our day/night blinds replaced with the American Duo shades this coming week.  I'm especially looking forward to getting rid of the front curtains in the windshield area and replacing them with electric shades.  (Actually I'm looking forward to getting all of the blinds yanked out!)

Tomorrow (Monday) I expect we will discuss options, fabric (material) selections, and of course the cost.  Once we get all of that figured out, I think the next step will be to get measured.

I'll be posting an update every day that something is happening, so stay tuned.

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One picture below is the entrance, the other are the customer's RVs - we are the coach with the two dishes on the roof and the Jeep in front.  BTW - we have full hookups and 50 amps - whoo-hoo!

Be sure to take photos John, and good luck with the installation.

Will do Tom!  It is interesting to see that a couple of the coaches here look fairly new.

I went with light tan opaque/black net.
Go with mostly automatic. Only the kitchen and bath windows are manual as they are rarely opened.

We are going to order shades for the living area this week and do the installation ourselves. The front ones are more of a challenge to install according to MCD and we may go there to have them done.

I heard or read one report that said they had some rattling noise on the front ones. I will be very interested to read your comments about that.

Russ - yes - ka-ching $$ We are going with electric in the cockpit (dash) area and in the salon (living room), but only for the night shades.  Dave Townsley (principal of MCD) recommended we stick with manual sun shades (except for the dash) since they stay mostly in the down position all of the time.  When we get ready for bed, we will push one button and all of the night shades will lower.

Clay - I was wondering the same thing.  I'll let you know.
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The morning started out with a couple of MCD techs delivering a welcome goodie bag at about 8:15 am with places to eat, shop, sightsee, etc., and they introduced themselves.  BTW, MCD has free WiFi and the security code was included in the information.  A little later in the morning, our coach looked like a BBQ joint on nickle beer night.  We had three techs, Dave, Jane, me, Sassy and Trekkie the cat all vying for space.

The techs were busy measuring (and removing the "A" pillars, and removed a cornice board on one of the windows), and Dave was discussing possibilities with Jane and me.  The cockpit area of our Horizon will be fairly simple to convert to American Duo shades (fortunately.)

While I was interested in electric shades for the cockpit area, Dave gave Jane and me a tour of his Monaco (I was surprised to find out Dave and spouse are long-term fulltimers) and demonstrated his electric blinds.  When Dave pushed a button on the remote control to lower all of the night shades, I was completely hooked - I had to have them.  Ooh baby!

We chose a material, B34 which wasn't real difficult since there weren't a zillion choices.  Having a limited number of selections might be better since we didn't stress over a color or shade of color - all of the selections were pretty close in color (to me at least, but as a guy, there are only about five or six colors - total  )

Even though I have a fairly good woodworking shop, I decided to let MCD have some trim pieces made for the dash area and for the little window by our lounge chair on the LR slide.  It will be nice to pull out of here knowing the job is completely finished and I don't have to mess with it when we return home (I have lots of other stuff to do.)

Speaking of ka-ching $$ - we really didn't sit down and approve a firm price quote, but I suspect we will easily be over a couple of kilobucks.  We are steering a course and know what we want, so we aren't going to stress over the cost of the project.  The new shades will dramatically  improve the enjoyability and functionality of the coach and will considerably update it (even though it isn't quite five years old.)
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Pictures:

MCD welcome goodie bag

Measuring and planning in the cockpit area

Dave and Jane talking about choices

Sassy and Jane staying out of the way

Three more coaches rolled in since the other parking lot picture was taken - this is one busy place!

Not much going on yesterday. 

Dave showed me close-up samples or demo units of the shade mechanism and it seemed to me to be very well designed, engineered, and produced.  The difference between these shades and what you would buy at a DIY store is magnitudes different  - the MCD product is a serious  and robust piece of equipment.

My cost estimate is way off thanks to me being enthralled with, and wanting remotely operated day shades for the dash area and salon.  Roughly figure $1500 to do a dash area (the windshield shades need to me motorized since they double as a sun visor), and a couple of hundred on average per window.  Once you start adding motors ($165 per shade), remotes, labor, etc., the cost adds up quickly.  We are also having some custom trim done, so that's a few more bucks.

Even with my cost estimate being way off, still zero regrets about the project.  If the quality of the product wasn't as high I have observed, I would probably pull the plug on the entire idea.  But the quality (and functionality) is there, so forward we go.

Today the plan is to have some more measurements made for the custom trim that will be jobbed out.  Looks like we will be here until next Tuesday thanks to that trim work.

Whoo-hoo - things happening late today!

The guys have our three American Duo shades ready for the aft cabin (the bedroom for you landlubbers.)  This was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.  They took down our aft cabin window treatments (the cornice board and legs) to modify earlier today, and we didn't expect any progress until tomorrow, so we put up aluminum foil to cover the opening.

I think we'll have more things going on tomorrow - stay tuned...

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Pictures:

- This day/night blind has been broken for months - say goodbye!! You're headed for the dumpster  ;D

- Tyler removing the old blind

- American Duo installed.  Waiting on the vertical trim pieces

- One of the little aft cabin windows - all done!

- What the product looks like uninstalled

So far, so good, John. Did the workers cover your carpeting with paper rugs to keep the dirt out?

Regards,
Liz

Jackliz said:

So far, so good, John. Did the workers cover your carpeting with paper rugs to keep the dirt out?

Click to expand...

Liz - no, but it doesn't bug me too much since this isn't a garage situation with greasy hands, feet, etc.  The area is pretty clean, so no issues.

Hi John, the shades look good!!  Are the "day" part of the shade a form of net like material?  I've wondered with them if the cat would "snag" the material or if is it hard plastic that the cats couldn't get their claws into?

Marsha~

Marsha - hard to say.  My guess is a cat could get a claw (fingernail as Jane calls it  ) in the weave.  PM me your address and I'll mail you a sample.

Looks like we will get the salon and dash area done today - the tech has been working on the dash area first since it is the most complicated.

John,

Do these shades have a guide they connect to, or do they flop around like the DIY's do?
They sure look nice !

Kenneth

John,  Thanks for the offer to send me a sample; but hold off for the moment.  We actually really like our day/night shades and have not had one of them break yet. <knock on wood> Our coach is a 2003, which we got in late 2002.

No offense meant here; but we looked at a new 2009 Allegro Bus big diesel pusher, and they had something like the MCD blinds installed, all automatic and duo. They reminded me of the old "roll-up" blinds that I remember from the good old days.  I wasn't as enamored of them as I thought I would be.  But perhaps the Allegro ones weren't the quality of the MCD shades.   I'll just keep an eye on how "ya-all" like yours over time.  

I'm wondering on the day/night shades if it makes a difference on how much you use them.  We rarely, if ever, have the day part of the shade down.  We just leave the window uncovered.  At night we pull both down, but not until it's really late.  In the bedroom I have black curtains on a tension rod, so more times than not, I just slide those closed to get ready for bed.  Then when we are all tucked in for the night, we slide the curtains back for the breeze; unless there is a bright street light close by.

Marsha~

Kenneth - the shades are free swinging (and they are nice), however the large windshield shade apparently will be guided somewhat (it will be installed tomorrow.)  Dave (Mr. MCD) says free-swinging is not a problem since you will never hear them. If there is an issue, a little felt or Velcro solves the problem.

Marsha/CA said:

we looked at a new 2009 Allegro Bus big diesel pusher, and they had something like the MCD blinds installed, all automatic and duo. They reminded me of the old "roll-up" blinds that I remember from the good old days.  I wasn't as enamored of them as I thought I would be.  But perhaps the Allegro ones weren't the quality of the MCD shades.  

Click to expand...

Marsha - those were probably the MCD product, and yes, they look like the old fashioned roll-up blinds, but I think that's where the similarity ends.  One MCD advantage I believe is the UV & sun blocking effectiveness of their day shade.  I got to experience the the sunblock efficacy of our dash shade this afternoon  ;D.  The quality of the hardware is first-class and the new blinds are much cleaner looking than the pleated shades.

Thanks John,

I like the clean look of your new shades and I am getting real tired of restringing my pleated ones.


Kenneth

Kenneth - yup - you're where we were a few months ago!
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Here are a few more pictures of today's activities.  Not a whole bunch of progress today, but some.

The dash area is complicated and I was very thankful to have Andrew of MCD doing it and not me.  The other complicating factor (actually more time-consuming than complicated) are the powered shades.  Running the wiring to each shade motor will take more time than mounting the shade I suspect.

Andrew removed all of the shades and the curtains from the dash area (it certainly made quite a pile on the ground) and then spent quite a bit of time prepping the for the side shades in the dash area.  The shades are recessed somewhat like the factory versions, but on the driver's side the new one is a bit wider.  We also found out the driver's side window is not square (wider at the bottom than the top), so he had to lower the aft end of the shade bracket so the shade would adequately cover the forward part of the window.  This is just one of those things and I don't think it is a big deal ascetically.

I didn't realize how much more effective the MCD day shades were compared to my windshield shades I bought at the Winnie factory store a couple of years ago.  The Winnie shades (a vendor's product made from Phifertex) helped the sun and glare quite a bit and they always went in the windshield when we stopped for more than a night.  The difference was really obvious when I looked at the photos I was preparing to upload.  See for yourself. I was amazed.

Tomorrow I anticipate Andrew will get the dash area completed (except for the trim pieces being fabricated), and hopefully they will finish the salon as well.  I got a chance to play with our two powered shades in the dash area and that was really cool  8).
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Pictures:

- Leftover picture from yesterday - Jane's new window

- Andrew removing stuff from the cockpit (dash) area

- Old pleated blinds and curtain from cockpit - RIP  ;D

- The new driver's shade.  What a difference in the sunblock effectiveness compared to our windshield product!

- Here's another view of the new side day shade and the old windshield shade.. WOW!

Hard to believe we have now been here a full seven days - where does the time go?

Looking back on our week, quite a bit was accomplished and we now have all of the shades installed except for the long one over the counter in the salon on the passenger side.  I was extremely curious about the entire operation and tried to keep a close eye on the progress while staying politely out of the way.

After having a weekend to use and enjoy our new shades, I am completely surprised at how much I really like them and the new look it has given our interior.  I was expecting a lot considering the amount of money involved, but my expectations have been far surpassed.  Pushing two buttons on the remote to close up the shades for night-time (okay - three buttons - the dash shade is only a manual switch and not remote for safety reasons) is just an amazing rush  ;D ;D

Monday and Tuesday the guys should be finishing us up.  We are waiting on trim to hide the shades in the dash area and they need to tweak some of the shades.  The remotes are not yet fully programmed yet, but the hard work should be behind them.  The small remotes aren't fully labeled yet and I invariably pushed the wrong button to operate a shade, but it was still fun making the wrong one go up and down  .

A fairly new Itasca Meridian rolled in here yesterday and he is getting a dash shade installed.  He was really anxious to see ours and I had fun showing it off.

Pictures:
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- our settee day shade

- one hoinkin' big shade going over the dash

- testing the dash shade.  The A-pillar trim was previously removed

- dash shade detail with the now modified A-pillar trim

- longer view of dash pillar area

- our large remote.  More shades need to be assigned to this

- and the little remote.  One button will make one shade motor go up, the other button will make it go down.  If you have power day and night shades, then this remote will operate both shades for one window (you can have a powered day shade and/or a powered night shade, or only manual which means no remote.)

Those certainly add even more class to an already classy motorhome.  A truly beautiful and functional addition to it.  Enjoy