Camper Screens

I`ve often told people to make magnetic screens for the front windows, as well as the slider windows, to use when camping instead of the jalousie windows with their attached rigid frame screens.

Time to put my money where my mouth is.

I picked up some black nylon screen material, 2" black ribbon, and a 10ft strip of 1" magnet.

The few screens I`ve seen in person didn`t impress me much. Most had the magnet captive in the binding (the ribbon folded over in my case). While this makes for a clean look, the binding reduces the strength of the strip magnet. That magnet isn`t all that strong, and putting material between it and the bus just weakens it further.

Others had the magnet attached to the outside of the binding with adhesive. In real world use, how long will that last? Especially if the screen is rolled up during storage?

The solution to my mind is stitching:

My cheapo sewing machine had no problem with the magnet strip during some testing. And as you can see, it came out quite nice.

I need to refine the corners and clean up the stitch lines, but otherwise:

My wife was VERY impressed and wants me to make these for sale. I can get different colors and materials for the border, including some original Westfalia plaids! Wolfsburg West sells some reproduction Westfalia plaid material, plus there`s always Busted Bus for genuine used material.

I`ve also found some much stronger magnet material. It`s signifigantly more expensive, but I suspect it`s worth it. Especially for the side windows where the headliner material can get in the way.

Pricing looks to be around $20 per window screen ($40 for a pair), depending on the material.

But it`s not for sale yet, so don`t ask!