Goodbye pleated blinds, hello MCD American Duo shades!

Page 1: - introduction to the problem, a few words about MCD, a Lat/Long for the MCD factory

Page 2: - measuring and preparation for the MCD product, idea of costs

Page 3: - installation of the product, Part I

Page 4: - this page - installation of the product, Part II - a few movies of shade movement (or lack of) and how effective the day shade really is!

Disclaimer: this project write-up is based on my best recollection of the events and the product. Contact MCD Innovations before you make any decisions about their products

Salon with old broken pleated blind

We're moving aft for this picture. This is the salon (living room for you landlubbers) on the passenger side. We lived with the broken center blind for several months. Ugly!

The new MCD shade in the salon

And here we are with the American Duo night shade deployed. What a clean appearance! Notice we went from three pleated blinds to one MCD shade. We saw no advantage with the three blinds - one MCD shade is perfect!

The salon day shade half-way down

And the same vantage point with the new day shade partially down. It really whacks the glare!

Every man's dream - push a button and watch things happen!! The top remote will operate every night shade in the cockpit, salon, and galley area except for the windshield shades (for safety reasons as previously mentioned.) It also operates the day shades in the cockpit area (again, except for the windshield shade.)

The day shades in the coach (except for the cockpit) are manual. The night shades in the bedroom and toilet are also manual. (Why, oh why didn't I get powered shades for that!!)

The two button remote in the bottom picture is used in the cockpit area - we have three of them, one for the driver's side, one for the passenger's side, and one for use at night when I need to raise/lower the night shade for the door (Sassy the Corgi needs to go on walkies!)

When I took this picture, the remotes weren't completely labeled.

Here are a couple of pictures of our bedroom with the new MCD shades - very slick!

Movie Time! Ride along with Jane and John as John demonstrates the MCD shades!

Note: you will notice in these movies (or you might not) a 'psychedelic' effect where the day shades seem to have a moving pattern. This is called a Moire effect. It is not noticeable in person unless you have two screens pulled down you are looking through. At any rate, the effect has nothing to do with the MCD day shade - it would happen with any screening material and is an effect dramatized by photography. Just want to be clear about this.

These movies are very short (about 30 seconds each) and really demonstrate the American Duo shades better than still pictures and text. Choose either dial-up or broadband depending on the speed of your Internet connection (they are the same movies.)

This first series give you an idea of what the dash shades look like on the road and in motion:

Movie #1 (dial-up) Movie #2 (dial-up) Movie #3 (dial-up)

Movie #1 (broadband) Movie #2 (broadband) Movie #3 (broadband)

An in-motion look at the little galley shade

Dial-up Broadband

John discusses the remote controls

Dial-up Broadband

For the next series, John plays with the remote control - this is really neat!:

Shades all go up (dial-up) Shades all go down (dial-up)

Shades all go up (broadband) Shades all go down (broadband)

We saved the best for last! We darken the coach with the push of a button - demonstrates the effectiveness of the night shades.

Check it out (dial-up)!

Check it out (broadband)!

Thanks for hanging in there with us to the very end! Please feel free to contact me at webmaster@janeandjohn.org if you have any questions about our experience. Here is MCD's website: MCD Innovations. This really is a terrific product - I can't wait to get our coach out again to play with my MCD shades :-)

End of Page 4 --> Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 |