Well, just come back from a few days in Dorset in the van, doing some cycling, and what a lovely time we had! Stayed at Lytchett Manor campsite which is great, and booked a cheap grass pitch but got upgraded to a fully serviced pitch. Pointless lol – the solar was putting batteries back at 100% by 10am!
Anyway, this weekend was the first live test of our new silver screens. The legit taylor made versions are around £165 and far too expensive. So we took a punt at a cheaper set, and opted for theVW T5 set as shown in picture.
So for <£50 a really very good set which aren’t as thick as taylor made, but thick enough and pack small. Well worth it. The centre zips down for daytime light etc
They don’t fit perfectly out of the packet (as expected) – so we made a few modifications. I say “we” – but I mean my mother did the work and did as asked 🙂 The zipped version shown seemed fairly easy to modify,.
- The top centre (above the zip) was pinched in about 5cm at the top, in a V to the top of the zip. This was then sewn and the “flap” just glued flat. (The actual pinch was tested with the screens fitten.
- We cut off the mirror flap and put tew 2″ elastic from the windscreen bottom to the side window bottom – so this just stretches under the mirror. Again, doing in situ gets the size/tension right. You cannot use their Velcro under-mirror bit as the angles are all wrong.
- Finally, we put 2″ elastic from the mirror area, (pokes through to the cab above the door hinge) and the door handle area. These go inside where they velcro together. This isn’t essential, but stop the bottom of the side window flapping around. You could design this in other ways depending what you have to hand!
Overall, on a couple of chilly April evenings, worked a treat with no condensation inside, and blacked the light out so no internal curtains needed. So thanks mum!
I would say the screens aren’t as well made as Taylor Made, but knowing how all screens wear – I’m more than happy!