Caravan curtains
Has anyone else ever removed caravan curtains for washing? I have just spent nearly three hours refitting a total of 10 small curtains. NEVER AGAIN ! Whoever designed the caravan (a Lunar 524) never had the pleasure of removing or refitting the curtains. It is not a user friendly job. First of all the hooks wouldn't come off the runners very easily whilst taking them down and trying to work in a very confined space between the curtain rail and the pelmet. Refitting them was a worse nightmare, again because of lack of space and the force needed to get the hooks back onto the runners. The hooks are so small and fiddly that unhooking them off the curtain header tape would have been just as big a problem.
I only took the curtains down as I'd noticed a very small amount of mildew on the front curtains and thought after five years they could perhaps do with a freshen up. If they get mildew again it can stay there!! If you've never tried taking the curtains down my very strong advice is DON'T.
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We've never tried to remove our current ones but, on an older model some years ago, I did make my own replacement ones which wasn't too difficult a job.
I regularly 'hoover' the curtains when doing the upholstery but I don't think I'd bother washing them as I don't think they'd ever hang right afterwards. Life's too short.
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I cleaned mould off curtain linings once with diluted Milton - very carefully.
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We had one curtain which had a small streak of black mildew on it, we thought about washing the curtains in the machine but wasn't sure if this would remove the mildew or if the curtains would shrink, our caravan manual said to dry clean only so in the end as we had never removed any of the curtains since buying the 'van we opted to remove them all & get them dry cleaned, it wasn't cheap considering the amount & size of the curtains but they cleaned them well, removal & refitting of the curtains in the rails was no problem.
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Are the curtains full size and functional or just decorative. Our van has the usual reflective binds, nets and decorative curtains. As with our previous 3 vans the curtains are left clipped back and the nets are in storage. If I could be bothered the curtains would join them as they serve no function.
Colin
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Like Eriba we never close our curtains and consider them decorative only. At night we pull the blinds down. A few years ago my son and family stayed a night in the caravan and next morning he complained (how could he!) that the curtains were a fad to join. I then pointed out the blinds - for the second time! Must check them for mildew next week when I bring the caravan out of storage for a clean and service. A few years ago we had a little mildew on the net blinds. We cleaned them brushing them with warm soapy water with one of us holding a dust pan against on the blind to give a firm base for the brush; worked fine and amused us one sunny afternoon.
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As far as we are concerned, the curtains are for decoration only even though they would completely cover the windows. It seemed very bare in the 'van when they weren't there. Why the tracks were put in with the 'open' side facing the caravan wall and with a minimum of clearance to get ones hand in or why such tiny hooks were used is something we will never know.
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Have a look, John, at videos of caravan building. They are built "inside to out" so curtains go on before the outside walls.
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Yes, Navigateur, I have seen how caravans are built but they are supposedly built to a 'design' (I use that word very lightly) of some sort. Obviously no forethought was given to any practicalities that the end user would encounter. It would have been so easy to leave a space at the end of the curtain rails and have a cheap, quick release, end stop to allow the curtains to be more easily removed.
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the runners in the front window of my Coachman, both top & bottom, should be prevented from sliding out of the track by a clipped in stopper .... I've re-fitted these stoppers umpteen times now as it's all too easy to open the curtains & slide the stopper out of the track. So it seems that some curtains are a bu66er to remover while others are a bu66er to make stay where they should be.
We use all curtains fitted in the caravan ... makes for a cosier feel when all closed at night. I have blinds at home as well as the curtains .. but draw the curtains at night.
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Glad its not just me then, we also have a coachman and I'm always refitting the stops.
We (me) close the curtains and blinds at night, in the summer months to keep the light out, I like it dark to sleep. In winter to give it a cozy feel.
I also close the curtains when its not in use to protect the upholstery from fading.
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I wish I'd seen this post before I attempted to take the curtains down in my 2014 lunar. Needless to say I gave up. They'll stay exactly where they are and have a good vacuuming and a spray with Fabrese.
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