home made, budget thermal blinds for our VW T4 SWB camper van project.

I checked on eBay and other online shops to find a set for a T4. and the price tags were unreal. £50+ so I set about making our own.
originally I was thinking a sheet of emergency blanket type thing but found some loft insulation stuff that is perfect for the job and cheap too.
Tools list... its a big one ;-)
1. 1 x roll foil backed bubble wrap insulation ( I bought 2 just in case and ended up double siding)
2. mini sharpie any permanent marker will do.
3. scissors
4. drawing pin suction cups

Addition: added a Pic of final rear tail gate window.

Step 1:

you could get out the measuring tape at this point and be all kinds of accurate.

I didn't, I got straight in the van pulled out a length put it up against my first window and cut giving a few cm for luck. once I had a sheet I wedged it in the window as much as I could, took my sharpie and tried to get it tight in as I could so my lines would fill the window space.

Step 2: Add the Suckers

now the suckers. choice of sucker is important, I thought an easy solution would be to buy some twin packs of window sun shades from a pound shop and steal the suckers. This did not work for me, attaching the suckers by cutting a small cross then inserting and sticking Down with tape did not form a sufficient bond and I felt the thermal sheet would tear each time I tried pulling the sheet off the window.

40mm Drawing pin suckers were the ones I ended up using from Ebay. They had a more secure fit and stuck to the window better as well.

They have a plastic drawing pin on the back that pushes straight through in to the suction cup on the front.

I added 1 sucker to each corner, coming in from the sides about 3 cm from there you can add extras to the centre if needed, I would recommend 3 across the top and bottom if you have a tailgate rear door like we do. 1 in each corner is enough for the rest, even the windscreen as you can use the rear view and sun visors to keep in place. that 26 in total which is about £10 online.

Step 3: Optional Extra

we used the single sheet blinds successfully in a wet Augustus bank holiday camping trip and they great kept the light out and was very warm we nights even hot. Our plan is to use the van for a snow boarding holiday to Scotland so need a bit more than summer warm.

additional extras:

1. Seal the edges.
it just looks better and will probably prolong the life of the blind from frayed edges.
***CAUTION***
I used a lighter to heat up and seal the edges, this is hot and dangerous take care not to set fire to anything or burn yourself.

2. Double up.
One roll was enough for all windows in our van and I purchased 2 just in case and at £7.99 I didn't mind.
so using the already cut blinds as a template cut out another batch, I used spray glue to stick them bubble side together (silver sides out) don't forget to add the suckers first and this way you can hide the backs of them.