When turning in for the night my 1st Mate is a stickler for having the curtains drawn tightly and covering any perceived opening slits at each side of the curtain(s). As much as I try I find I cannot conceal all of the side slits to make 1st Mate comfortable. I place hats over the port holes... :lol:
Yesterday, I thought I'd fix the issue and make it easy for 1st Mate to secure the curtains as required.
My solution was to buy 2' of self adhesive black hook&loop velcro strip. I then cut a number of 1/2" wide pieces from this. Armed with these I attached the hook pieces to the sides of the metal windows and loop pieces to the backside of the curtains aligned with the hook pieces. I used two on either side of each curtain and one at the bottom of each window.
When all done, I stood back and admired my handiwork. The black hook&loop pieces blended in nicely and were almost invisible to the eye.
I drew the curtains and found it very easy to attach/press the loops to the hooks and all the curtain side slits were non existent. I unhooked the velcro strips without issues and without the pieces trying to pull themselves off the window frame or the curtain material (this was my main concern). Time will tell as to how well the strips will hold up to being pulled apart... but if they do start detaching, I can at least stitch the loop pieces to the curtain material and replace any of the hook pieces that eventually lose their adhesion to the window's metal frame.
As an aside, Ranger Tugs provides a similar solution for our R-25 model for the cabin door and cockpit facing cabin window canvas coverings... and I have found that over time some of the hook pieces attached to the door and window frame have a tendency to pull off when removing the canvas coverings.
Now all that remains is for 1st Mate to approve... :lol:
Yesterday, I thought I'd fix the issue and make it easy for 1st Mate to secure the curtains as required.
My solution was to buy 2' of self adhesive black hook&loop velcro strip. I then cut a number of 1/2" wide pieces from this. Armed with these I attached the hook pieces to the sides of the metal windows and loop pieces to the backside of the curtains aligned with the hook pieces. I used two on either side of each curtain and one at the bottom of each window.
When all done, I stood back and admired my handiwork. The black hook&loop pieces blended in nicely and were almost invisible to the eye.
I drew the curtains and found it very easy to attach/press the loops to the hooks and all the curtain side slits were non existent. I unhooked the velcro strips without issues and without the pieces trying to pull themselves off the window frame or the curtain material (this was my main concern). Time will tell as to how well the strips will hold up to being pulled apart... but if they do start detaching, I can at least stitch the loop pieces to the curtain material and replace any of the hook pieces that eventually lose their adhesion to the window's metal frame.
As an aside, Ranger Tugs provides a similar solution for our R-25 model for the cabin door and cockpit facing cabin window canvas coverings... and I have found that over time some of the hook pieces attached to the door and window frame have a tendency to pull off when removing the canvas coverings.
Now all that remains is for 1st Mate to approve... :lol: