How to: Fix and flip your blinds

[John E Davies]

The blind are not secure and you may find one lying on the bed or floor, and it is due to improper installation of the steel brackets. On my trailer, in many cases the bracket did not sit flush and parallel with the others. This is due to the hole in the hard spacer being drilled too small. The hole must be bigger than the screw diameter, so that the screw will pull everything into position. You need to remove all the brackets and open up the spacer holes.

 

Removing the blind frame is simple, grab at the top and bottom and pull hard toward you. When reinstalling, center the frame in the window (left to right), align the bottom brackets with the slot in the plastic, and smack the area at each bracket with your fist. Then do the top side. When the brackets are parallel and aligned, the frame will go on easily and it should stay in place. You can tweek a bracket by bending the two ears, if you find a loose one.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

SAFETY NOTE: when removing a bracket with a power driver, keep your fingers away from the part since it will spin and might slice your fingers!

 

If you want to make your blinds more functional, flip them 180 degrees, so that the dark section is on the bottom.

 

As postioned by the factory:

 

 

Rotated, now you can tow with the blinds down and the lighter shades will let lots of light into the interior:

 

 

And you can raise the lower section a few inches for privacy when camping:

 

 

It's easy to try this configuration and switch back if you don't like it. Now we can talk about the ugly frame color.....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

 

 

[KarenLukens]

Honestly, I would pull gently from one corner to remove the blinds and feel them come out. Even going slow, we found that some of the screws had been stripped at the factory and left dangling... Like many other screws in our trailer... If we would have just pulled from the middle, half of the mounts would have finished ripping out after being stripped forward when installed...

 

Reed

[Overland]

If your Ollie is an early 2017 (or earlier), and the off-white color bothers you, you might check with Oliver on how much it would cost to get a set of their new, pure white ones.  They do look 1000% better, imo.

[John E Davies]

If your Ollie is an early 2017 (or earlier), and the off-white color bothers you, you might check with Oliver on how much it would cost to get a set of their new, pure white ones. They do look 1000% better, imo.

That is depressing news. I bet they are not cheap, for a full set. OTH the yellow ones will not show the dust and fingerprints like snow white ones. LOL.

 

I can live with mine. I would rather spend the money on something really cool like mudflaps or a Stone Stomper.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[bradbev]

Who makes the blinds?  My bud would like info for his Bigfoot.

 

I've reversed mine and like it. A couple seem to be loose so i may need to figure out how to tighten the cords.

 

We were lucky in that i expected to paint the frames but we received the white.

 

Anita said they'd requested white for some time without success from the supplier,  then recently without advance notice, they opened a new shipment and there they were, white ones.

[ScubaRx]

Brad, I sent you a text with all the contact info for the folks that make the blinds.

[Mainiac]

Thanks. You would almost think OTT would have sent out a note. "After years of asking, we have pure white blinds". "For a limited time a special $$$$ package, with clear INSTRUCTIONS, are now available".  I know I would sign up to change mine. I would not mind a little mark up on their part for handling. When we show a trailer to a curious or prospective customer, we are kind of representing the Oliver brand. The color of the blinds has come up EVERY time. Don't you think it would be in OTTs best interest, to let us know that if a customer buys, their unit will have these new "upgrades"? As loyal dedicated owners, who for the most part keep their unit shipshape, might also want to buy the upgrades? Maybe they need to add a store; blinds, water bags, tee shirts, vest and other branded items?

[John E Davies]

Brad, I sent you a text with all the contact info for the folks that make the blinds.

Hey, the rest of us need this info, please!

 

Why not start a new thread with “Blinds Manufacturer Information” in the header, so the lame search engine might be able to find it?

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

[topgun2]

Canoe12 -

 

While I don't mind the "off-white" color of my blinds (it helps offset the abundance of pure white I think), I really like your idea of a Company Store.  Unfortunately, with the growing pains that have received much discussion on this Forum, I doubt that this would be a high priority item for OTT at this time.  I could see a bunch of "branded" items that I would have an interest in - t-shirts, coffee mugs, chairs, fleece, etc.

 

Bill

[rideandfly]

Here's another shade thread about replacing shade cords with manufacturer information.

 

http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/daynight-window-shade-questions/page/2/#post-49155

 

 

 

 

[Mainiac]

Talked with Kelly at OTT about the idea of a store. She thought it might be time and a good idea. At least some stuff in the showroom? She was going to mention to Scott. We will see. Let's see, I'll take a hat, a coffee cup, some blinds, a water accumulator, and do you have that fleece in black?

[SeaDawg]

I would love a big coffee mug like this, handle big enough for several fingers... With the Oliver logo on it...

And that black Columbia fleece, canoe12...

????????

Sherry

 

[MrBig1]

Do y'all think Oliver would be willing to flip the functionality of the blinds if you haven't taken delivery of your unit? I noticed how they were installed at the factory and wondered why they were made that way. Didn't think to ask.

[topgun2]

Don't see why not.  Use the old proverb, "always give the man a chance to say no".

 

Bill

[bradbev]

Flipping the blinds just takes a minute or two each.  I flipped the two by the twin beds and the one by the dinette table.  I've got the swing down TV mounted in the center of the trailer so I haven't done that blind yet.

 

I prefer them flipped however the blackout material may be a little heaver than the see through, so they may tend to drop down a little, but not enough to bother me.

 

Brad in Santa Fe

 

 

[John E Davies]

Do y’all think Oliver would be willing to flip the functionality of the blinds if you haven’t taken delivery of your unit? I noticed how they were installed at the factory and wondered why they were made that way. Didn’t think to ask.

Ray, itwill take about a minute to flip one blind, if the clips are installed correctly. I suggest that you add inspecting ALL the clips personally, with your own eyeballs, to your delivery checklist. You or your Oliver delivery representative can take them off and look at the clips, then flip the blinds when reinstalling.

 

If even one clip is cocked (outwards at an angle), tell them you need ALL of the plastic spacers to be drilled out and installed correctly and in alignment with the frame... Taking down the blinds should not worry you, it is so easy and you need to know how to do it anyway for cleaning and possible service. If your blind installation has a problem, then delivery day is the perfect time to have it corrected.

 

Good luck and enjoy your new Ollie. And please report here what happens.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[Bshaffer]

We have a 2008 but our blinds are bright white. Lol

[SeaDawg]

Our 2008 is kind of grey white. I would call the original color putty...

Never bothered me.

 

Sherry

[Rumline]

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere but according to Anita all new builds are using the pure white shades and frames vs. the almond / ivory ones that appear in nearly every interior photo I've seen.

 

Does anybody know when this change happened?  Has anybody with a recent build received the off-white ones?

[Overland]

Don't know for certain, but I think it was the early mid 200's.  Mine is #256 - went through the line in the Aug/Sept timeframe, and has the white blinds.  At least a few months production ahead of mine had them.

 

Getting time we started an Ollie registry to keep track of model changes.

 

On ours the solid shade is heavy enough that not all of them want to stay closed when flipped.  It takes a few tries on a couple of them to get the blinds to stick closed, and occasionally even when we do get them to stick, the bottom shade will pop loose later and drop an inch or two.  Not a huge deal, but I wish there was a way to adjust the tension.

[bradbev]

Overland is right on track.  We ordered in April, expecting the yellowish ones when we picked up in July.  Pleasantly surprised they were white.  Our hull number is 241.

 

Anita said they'd been requesting white for some time without success, then one day a shipment came in white with no advanced notice.

 

Experienced same issue with the heavy dark shade wanting to drop slightly due to the extra weight, but it's not a deal breaker, we still like them that way.  We only flipped the sides, not the back shade.

[John E Davies]

Thread bumped at Spike’s request.

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

[rich.dev]

On 9/25/2017 at 6:25 PM, John E Davies said:

If you want to make your blinds more functional, flip them 180 degrees, so that the dark section is on the bottom.

Thanks John, so glad I found this thread, was hoping I could flip the blinds so the blackout is on the bottom! 🙂 Hope this function will still be possible on the newer 2023 LEII!