Price of Caravan spares

[inca]

We have a Seitz Midi Heki vent over our rear kitchen area. After 8 or more years of constant use the sliding concertina blind system has begun to show its age and could do with some attention.   Boy, did I get a fright when I priced the "internal frame with blind and screen"!  One of the leading caravan parts outlets known for their great stock and reliable delivery service quoted $339 plus P&P. This was almost 50% of the retail cost of a complete new unit.

Well it looks as though we might get another couple of years use from the unit if we handle it carefully.

Cheers Ian.

[legendts]

You wonder where the cost is on some of the “spares” particularly when they are mass produced. Maybe it’s to do with storage costs and keeping spares for items as they age?

[nsgnomad]

I do think that the deterioration of these types of vents is due to the UV radiation. On my previous van I had a clear dome over the shower area. Fixed not opening and it let in a lot of light and heat. I ended up giving it a light coat of silver from a spray paint can. Reduced the light and heat quite a bit but still enough of light got through. It would also have reduced the amount of UV which would be good. Did not affect the acrylic dome.

[inca]

I really think this one has deteriorated through use..wear and tear. There are two inbuilt concertina screens, one fly wire and the other a stout material that could be a synthetic and it is this one that has worn on the folds. If the manufacturer supplied the concertina fly wire and the sunshade screen I guess it would be reasonably easy to replace but like everything else these days there is built in obselence.

I had a similar problem with the starter motor on my old 4.8L Patrol. The brushes wore out and when I pulled it down there was no provision to fit new ones. Yes a throw away item and a replacement being just over $400. A visit to the local auto elec for a set of suitable adaptable brushes cost me $10. A further hour to resize the brushes to fit and a soldering job saw the old girl back on the road fairly smartly.

In the case of the Seitz vent however,I will eventually have to fork out the dollars to effect a satisfactory repair.

[legendts]

A friend of mine put an aluminium cover over his large skylight more to protect it from weather (hail) as well as sun which seems to work without losing too much light.

[Frank and Brenda]

Oct 7, 2019 8:07:28 GMT 10 legendts said:

A friend of mine put an aluminium cover over his large skylight more to protect it from weather (hail) as well as sun which seems to work without losing too much light.

I think the skylight in question has the blind on the inside and if it's the same as most I've seen the inherent weak point is the fold of the blind, just the same as anything that has a plastic folding hinge
Covering the skylight wouldn't help the deterioration, it's the building doing it, 
Ian, maybe if you have a caravan wreckers in the area,  you could give them a try and see if they have any worthwhile


The old roller blinds never had such a problem but even they have changed they are no longer available with the spring loading to retract
We've just had to change the 6 in our van which finally failed and started tearing,  I can only assume they were the originals in our 1994 van so 25 years isn't bad,  but I looked everywhere to get the same to no avail
We ended up getting new ones that are "chain" operated and way to long made for house windows from Spotlight
I cut them down (length and width) and also the plastic bead "chain" to fit the windows and put some larger beads on the ends of the chain to stop them coming off


Edit
Hey,  I wonder if spotlight would have the material you're looking for

[inca]

That's a very good suggestion Frank.I will investigate.It shouldn't be too difficult to separate the inside module from the unit. Next time we are in town for shopping a visit to the blind department in Spotlight is on the agenda