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Super Insulated Window Covers!

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#21 ·
Ravenwood6 said:
Hello everyone! We've been doing van life now for a little under a year and absolutely loving it. Towards the beginning we were looking online for some window covers but couldn't find anything that had the high insulation factor we needed since we Ski and spend a lot of time in the mountains. I decided to try make some of our own since I sew and over the course of the last year made prototypes to test various insulation. I landed on the 3M Thinsulate apposed to low-e that I've seen the other window covers online have been using.

Personally I feel the Thinsulate works great due to its high thermal insulation, hydrophobic and sound absorbing properties. I added some blackout fabric on the window side to help with blocking out light, offers some thermal and acoustical benefits. On the outsides I use ripstop nylon as an easy to clean water resistant layer. Luckily with the ford transit it has a small metal edge on the outside of the window, so where we've added some Neodymium magnets in the edging, making it super easy to put up.

I've made the window covers for the rear windows, Passenger sliding door window and front two windows so far and going to be developing one for the main front window.

For us these have been working really well, they're super easy to take on and off and offer a ton of insulation. I made a set for a friend of ours and they're loving them as well, so I've made an additional set to sell with the grey and white. I will be making a listing for these on ebay soon and will post a link on this thread later.

Back doors for $275
Sliding door (passenger side) $200
Front two windows $200

I wanted to get some feedback on how they look or if there's anything anyone would do differently? What's everyone's thoughts on these? What would you change about these?

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These look great! I don't think there's anyone else making High R-value window covers like these???

Perfect for anyone looking for some extra warmth and privacy this winter.
 
#23 ·
I wonder if the windshield cover can be made so it’s reversible easily? so one side
will be white and other side be black, that way one can have summer hot weather
insulation and can flip over for nite use to black side for a bit more stealth,
nice looking covers (y)
 
#25 ·
For comparison, check out the insulated covers made by Stelletek.
The windshield shade we ordered is not insulated, but the other window covers have the optional Polartec Powerfill 200 insulation.
We have only been out camping in our van once in the month since we got it - and the rest of the cargo space is not yet insulated - so I can't really say how effective the insulation is at this time.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Rolf said:
I wonder if the windshield cover can be made so it’s reversible easily? so one side
will be white and other side be black, that way one can have summer hot weather
insulation and can flip over for nite use to black side for a bit more stealth,
nice looking covers (y)
Click to expand...
The windshield could definitely work as reversible, good idea!
 
#27 ·
I would have gladly purchased a set if I had seen them before a huge roll of warmwindow was sitting in my living room. I did read or see somewhere to leave a insulation gap on the top of driver and passenger window covers, if you have the aero overhangs installed and plan leave the windows open a bit, so I will give that a go. I have some Carhartt fabric and may give that a try with warmwindow.
As it is a passenger van with no insulation mods, used for a chalet de van for few ski trips, I may make a full rear curtain and a floor covering.
 
#28 · (Edited)
I made the same for our van about 3 years ago - one side is light gray ripstop, other side is black ripstop, then SM400 Thinsulate in the middle. Strong magnets on the edges. You can reverse them - as you wish. They work really well in cold weather (we camped multiple times in 0F temperatures) - they make a huge difference. The combination of such a thick window covers with a gasoline heater is a game changer - you can camp in almost any conditions very comfortably. Ours are holding pretty good so far. No real concerns, except they are very bulky and take a lot of space when not in use. I did another set of covers - just thick ripstop, which we use when not cold. In my opinion everybody with average skills can build a set for their van - it takes a bit of time, but it is not a complex task. I bought a heavy duty SINGER sewing machine for about $180 (new from JoAnn), and used it for a lot of stuff for our van - 2 sets of window covers ("winter" and "summer"), mattress covers and bunch of other stuff. And yes, it is easy to learn to sew - as any other thing - just watch Youtube :) . Just another good skill to have :cool::cool:.
 
#29 ·
NoBadDays said:
And yes, it is easy to learn to sew - as any other thing - just watch Youtube. Just another good skill to have.
Click to expand...
Sewing is no harder than driving. You push the pedal to go, you watch where you are going, and you slow down going into the corners.

Older Singer machines are almost indestructible. Will probably need new needle and a tune up.
 
#30 ·
Good on you Ravenwood6 for taking the initiative to start your business. Below is a rather wordy opine made last month and since then, myself and the three product evaluators have had in hand Stelletek privacy/insulative curtains to compare to VanmadeGear and Down by the River curtains. Our opinions have not been altered. Stelletek and VanmadeGear are clearly superior products and Down by the River curtains should be avoided, unfortunately. Quality materials, ease of use, superior fitment and USA fabrication warrant consideration for many years of functional utility and esthetics. Now the diatribe:

Oct 28, 2022
Belated followup: Received Down By The River front windshield and passenger side fixed pane Ford window curtains as ordered approximately/within six weeks of order and payment made. Multiple emails to this business were made to anticipate delivery prior to travels and not one received a response. In one, I made note of funds already having been received by Down By The River business and thus would appreciate an update of having received the order. Silence only... The two curtains purchased arrived packaged well and were compared with two other USA fabricated brands and hands down, Down By The River product was grossly inferior, albeit, less costly. The primary problem was poor fitment. Front windshield curtain is so sloppy that only significant mounting adaptation could make it even fairly beneficial for cold weather or even an adequate privacy barrier. The passenger side window outer basting material has 1/2 inch white "stuff" (unknown substance) every few inches. We are unable to determine if this cosmetic flaw occurred during fabrication or we were sent a returned item from a previous sale that had been tainted. Additionally, both curtains were ordered with the additional insulation at a reasonable expense but three people evaluating the Down By The River curtains vs the other two products argued about whether the curtains acutually had ANY insulative material. Without any customer invoice data to suggest what was placed inside during fabrication, the evaluation became quite comically non-sensical as really now, if three semi-intelligent people could not discern the presense of any padding, thickness... that would indicate insulating being present, there surely was a significant deficiency in the product.

Again, glad Down By The River exists as a reasonably cost-effective option to products made in totalitarian, commie nation states. Fitment for use was found to be significantly compromised, and the cold weather insulated option could only be deemed satisfactory for winter use in the Florida Keys or thereabouts. We really wanted their products to be better.

As an addemdum, the products were not returned due to no notification of receipt date from the vendor even after multiple concise communications prior to delivery. The party ordering the curtains were out of the USA for 2.5 months in Romania working gratis in support of USA military that are now stationed in Romania. (The curtains sat unopened during this time). The USA troops are part of the larger NATO forces being assembled to mitigate the crazy killing of 10's of thousands of people inside the country of Ukraine by Adolf Putin and Russian military leaders who think that an idependent, democratic country should not share an international border with the motherland. Some mother __ I say... No returns after 30 days from Down By The River... now, what to do with them?
 
#32 ·
bizeebawdy said:
Good on you Ravenwood6 for taking the initiative to start your business. Below is a rather wordy opine made last month and since then, myself and the three product evaluators have had in hand Stelletek privacy/insulative curtains to compare to VanmadeGear and Down by the River curtains. Our opinions have not been altered. Stelletek and VanmadeGear are clearly superior products and Down by the River curtains should be avoided, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Skipping the politics in the middle of this, is Ravenwood6 one of the three vendors mentioned above, or is this a fourth option?

1) Stelletek
2) VanmadeGear
3) Down by the River
4) Ravenwood (?)
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
cycle61 said:
Skipping the politics in the middle of this, is Ravenwood6 one of the three vendors mentioned above, or is this a fourth option?

1) Stelletek
2) VanmadeGear
3) Down by the River
4) Ravenwood (?)
Click to expand...
Yes I’m a fourth option, I use different higher thermal insulation to the options above (3M Thinsulate). Stelletek and VanmadeGear use Low-e insulation which is more of a radiant barrier
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
me&z said:
@Ravenwood6

Those are some nice looking covers. I've made sets for a Pontiac Montana, a Chevy Traverse, a Subaru Outback, and our Transit. I can honestly say that with the quality materials you've used, your pricing is reasonable. Sewing those things take a good bit of time.
Click to expand...
Thank you @me&z. What type of insulation did you use on yours?
 
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