DIY SIDE WINDOW SUN VISOR FOR THE AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE

Like every other T1N Sprinter, the vehicle that was upfitted to become our 2007 Airstream Interstate was not built with the option of pivoting the sun visors over to the cab door windows to block the sun when it comes from one side or the other.  The T1N aftermarket did offer some modified brackets (e.g., see this Sprinter Forum thread), but (a) I never did like the quality and (b) swiveling the visors would not have solved one of my essential challenges, which I call "Texas white sky".  Sometimes it gets so hot here and there's so much haze and glare that the entire sky turns blindingly white.  On those days, I need both a front and a side visor regardless of sun angle.  So I could not simply pivot the existing visor even if I wanted to.

It would work well for some people, but not for me as a person with sensitive green geriatric eyeballs who lives at 29 degrees north latitude with all of its brilliant sunshine (it is true that people with light-colored eyes are more sensitive to bright light).  Photo screengrabbed from Sprinter Forum. 

I tried a pull-down shade that I got for about five bucks at a big box auto store, and that gave some relief but was not ideal.  Furthermore it had to clip onto the top of the window, so every time I'd roll the window down, it tended to pop off and go flying into the foot well of the cab.  For that reason, it was time to try another approach.

Most of my DIY approaches begin with a paper or cardboard template.  This project was no different.  

I made a butcher paper tracing of the side of the window and used that to form a pattern.  I layered together two remnants of fabric that I had leftover from previous projects - the "Interstate gray" nylon that I used to create tubes for storing our sleeping bags under the jack-knife couches of our Interstate, and the metallic fabric I used to overlay the side window shroud.

In the pic above, you will see that the paper pattern is reversed relative to the shape of the driver's side window.  I wanted the reflective fabric facing outward and I wanted to roll up the gray hems over the metallic so that they could receive tiny neodymium magnets to hold this creation on the upper portion of the door frame.

This is how it looked when pinned, prior to sewing.  

I must admit, every time I tackle a new project that uses neodymium magnets, I start to get into a black mood.

They are just soooo, sewwww, hard to work with that I am tired of fighting them!!  This is a good way to store them, though - on one of the sewing machine spindles (that stack of different sizes to photo right).    

It's hotter than blazes in Houston right now, and here's a funny aspect of this project.

I didn't actually fit the project to the Interstate in real time.  We have done a large number of projects in a short period of time, and I'm starting to feel burned out, literally and figuratively.  All I needed to work with was a metal surface, and so I squatted in front of our back patio door and fitted the project there in air conditioned comfort, all the while thinking that I probably had a snowball's chance in Houston summer hell of having this thing turn out with a good fit, because I was not reality-checking it as I progressed. 

Lo and behold, it actually worked.

Good God, it fit!

There is no steel trim on the left hand side of the door - that's covered by plastic molding, so no magnet on the bottom left corner.  That's the only place where this device is a little bit loose.  If that proves to be a problem in the future, I will stick it there using some other method.  

You can see that the bottom of the fabric is about at the same level as the bottom of the OEM sun visor in front.  It's a tiny bit lower because I'm shorter than the average Sprinter driver, and I fitted the fabric to my own height.

It does not obstruct my left-hand driver's view all the way to the horizon, nor does it obstruct my mirrors.  If for some reason in a certain atypical situation it did pose an obstruction and I needed a wider angle of viewing, I could just snatch it right off the window in a split second because it's only held to the door frame by those useful but pesky magnets.  

Here are the other advantages of this kind of solution versus a pivoting visor.

I put a few magnets in the bottom hem so that I could raise it up if I needed to.  Those magnets are aligned with the top ones that hold it to the door frame.  

There is no obstruction when I open the door.  It just stays on there.

It also does not obstruct when I roll the window up and down.  There is no interference. 

This is what it looks like from the exterior.

Well, I suppose if I wanted to be more stealth about it, I could have made the outer layer black instead of reflective.  

It also packs up nice 'n' small.

Comme ca.  Except I cringe when I see that sewing seam visible above.  Messy!  Like I said, I was burned out and ready for a break when I tackled this project, so my execution was not my best effort.  But I also needed the final result to be produced so that I could start using it.     

Anyway, I have not yet had an opportunity to road-test this device, but so far, I am pleased.  When I sit in the driver's seat, it feels right to have it there.  We'll see what the road proceeds to tell me in terms of whether it needs any possible refinements.