Replacing mini blinds on Mainship

This is my first post since joining .
We have a 2004_40 Mainship. The mini blinds are aluminum and pitted and in sad shape.
Does anyone know who we can order new ones from?
We live in Chesapeake , VA.
Thanks

You can buy mini blinds cut to size from any home center. Or you can go to a blind shop for possibly better quality and service.

Ordered our vinyl ones, custom from Lowes last year.

They averaged about $30/blind (maybe a little less) so were very reasonable and we are happy with the result. The blinds were up to 40" wide and 36' long.

I ordered a set online for my M/T in aluminum. As I recall, it was blinds.com. On that site, a 36" x 24" is $26 for the economy brand. You can order exact dimensions for any window.

I thought the aluminum might hold up better to UV than vinyl/PVC, but if Mila Vera has aluminum in "sad shape" after only 10 years maybe they are all prone to the problem. Mine have been up for about 5 years and show no signs of deterioration.

I went to Wally World and bought plastic minis for dirt cheap...less than $5 each as I recall. I wished later I had sprung for the really expensive ones ($8.00) that were heavier. I used a grinder with a cutting wheel to size. Easy job. Not in the engine room, back straight, no crawling, grease, crap, diesel.

Lowes in faux wood with color matching tapes. I used cordless fabric blinds at the doors in matching color to allow one-handed operation coming and going through the door.

If you cover the doors, be sure to look at the stack height when retracted to ensure you don't lose headroom through the doorways.

You might also consider cellular shades if cost is not the issue. Hunter-Douglas make some nice ones. They come in a huge range of colors.

My boat has the blinds between the double window panes so they do not move during vessel operations. Do you do anything special with yours when underway?

we just raise ours so they don't swing and we want to see out anyway...a couple of smaller ones we have the plastic retainers that come with them that hold the bottoms steardy and we just tilt them.

ulysses said:

My boat has the blinds between the double window panes so they do not move during vessel operations. Do you do anything special with yours when underway?

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Nice touch! When we installed the blinds, we trimmed the cords to the minimum length required for full function. When underway, we raise our blinds and thread the pull string through the end of the louvers to keep it from swinging and slapping the glass.

I did not install the hold-down clips to hold the bottom of the blinds firmly in place. I didn't want to drill more holes into the mahogany wall. I am considering using self-adhesive Velcro strips to mount these clips.

The plastic clips are a PIA as they break very easily....only a few have survived on the windows that aren't near traffic or are raised and lowered a lot.

On a few window corners where my rot was so bad the plastic retainers couldn't be used...I screwed "P" clips for electrical cable into the bottom of my "clamp" style aluminum window frames with the one leg free so it can grab the bottom of the blind...looks good and works great.

psneeld said:

The plastic clips are a PIA as they break very easily....only a few have survived on the windows that aren't near traffic or are raised and lowered a lot.

On a few window corners where my rot was so bad the plastic retainers couldn't be used...I screwed "P" clips for electrical cable into the bottom of my "clamp" style aluminum window frames with the one leg free so it can grab the bottom of the blind...looks good and works great.

Click to expand...

Ditto

Thanks for all the great ideas!
I will send pictures when we look "new" and the blinds are installed.
First Lady

Just a heads up, my Hunter Douglas blinds had a bad pulley a little while back (2008 34t). I asked a friend who owns a blinds company and he informed me that Hunter Douglas has a lifetime warranty. These were the wood mini blinds, may be different with the aluminum, but at least worth checking out. He mailed mine in to them and a week or two later they sent a new one.