Solarglide have been commissioned to install specialist ‘motorised’ pleated blinds onboard the Viking Mississippi river cruise vessel.
The Challenge
Fitting blinds to a specialist vessel required Solarglide to overcome many obstacles, the FES5 and FES3 suites had large awkwardly shaped windows that sloped inwards. The customer came to Solarglide after running out of options to solve this problem, normal roller blinds and curtains would not have worked well for these windows and would have been an eyesore. Solarglide travelled to the States to carry out a survey, the survey allowed them to collect all the essential data needed to come up with a solution.
The Solution
They concluded that motorised pleated blinds were the only valid option for windows of this type – this was a blind type that had not been considered by the customer. The pleated material has the flexibility to move and adapt into positions that other blinds can’t. Due to this they were able to cover the most extreme of window shapes. This was down to the skilful team of engineers. The Solarglide team created a number of demo blinds in their UK factory to mimic the windows onboard and to ensure that the product would do the job correctly. Even though they are highly experienced in installing pleated blind systems, the scale of the project was new but we were confident that they could deliver for the customer.
The Results
Solarglide offered the complete package for this project – survey, manufacture, installation, motorisation set up, training and sign off. They installed flame retardant pleated blinds – essential for all maritime projects. As well as installing vertical L shaped angle brackets to ensure no light transmission down the sides of the blinds once installed. All blinds were synchronised – in each suite the push of a button allows the user to move the fabric up and down the window – with ease. The system also allowed the blinds to be set at any desired level on the window glass. So, the user has the option of complete privacy, semi privacy or full panoramic viewing.
