Once the euphoria of stacking two kids into one strollerspace wears off, many Phil & Teds users start thinking about improvements: like figuring out a sun canopy for the rear seat so their other kid doesn't fry. Some track down exotic aftermarket canopies from the Land of Water Going Down The Drain The Other Way. Others, like DT reader Courtney, wait patiently for the P&T accessory that never comes. [But what about The Burqa?? "I know they have that sun protection thing, but I've never seen anyone use one and my son would have none of it."]
And still others, like the woman Courtney saw the other day, just use good old fashioned, brand-be-damned ingenuity:
I thought of you and daddytypes today when I was strolling down the street with my P&T Sport watching a woman lug hers out of the back of her car, stick the doubles seat on and snap onto the doubles seat a matching black canopy. I was dumbfounded. Does she know something that I don't? Did P&T finally put out the canopy that I could picture in my head being on the doubles seat? So I asked her.Sounds awesome, has anyone else tried this? And does Phil & Teds know about either the pent-up demand or the cross-brand solution? Doesn't sound like it:She laughed and said that she had another stroller- a Jeep stroller- and she stole the snap-on canopy from that and stuck it on the doubles seat. The best part about it was it was all black and matched her black stroller, it just looked like it belonged.
She also said that she had called P&T and asked them if they made a shade for the back and they told her that nobody ever requested that before...??Phil, Ted, stop with the iPod nonsense, order up some Kolcraft/Jeep canopies and start knocking off! Kids are frying back there!
Until then, you could buy an entire Jeep umbrella stroller for the cost of a non-extisent P&T
canopy. Or if you're handy with product numbers, you might even be able to order a canopy a la carte, straight from Kolcraft for just nine bucks.
Pictures, part numbers, and details--and other canopy mashups, perhaps?--after the jump:
The canopy Courtney saw was one of the skinny, parasail-shaped numbers, the exact kind you may have seen on a Jeep or Kolcraft stroller and thought, "How the hell does that thing provide any shade?"
Though the canopy on the Jeep Wrangler Twin umbrella stroller shown above is a good color match, the twin canopies are attached in a double-humped "M" shape. And so far, I haven't been able to crack the combination of product number codes, manufacture date, and purchase date for the various Wrangler singles on Kolcraft's replacement parts website. The closest part I can find is this grey canopy [prod no: 76JU003-XCA, mfd and purch. date in 2008]:
JU is apparently Jeep Umbrella [JT is Jeep Twin], but the only other option is the JU005-XIP, which is the very Jeep-like color of Ice Pink:
Other awesomely named Jeep colors include Silver Abyss and Fierce. Seriously.
Poke around at Phil & Teds strollers on Amazon
Look for Jeep canopies with strollers attached on Amazon
Kolcraft: Order replacement parts online [kolcraft.com]
I just purchased the Phil & Ted's Vibe and had the same questions about the lack of the sun shade. I did some image research on Flickr and found sibergirlblue has come up with two different options. She first used the Rayshade.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25090861@N03/2380314895/
Then she actually made her own shade and had this to say about it: "The ray-shade works...but it's also cumbersome and kinda a pain to get on and off...I wanted something that would be easy to get on and off and would just sit in the basket, even with it folded. This has a lot less fabric to it."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25090861@N03/2715224000/in/set-72157604343954236/
I do not sew at all, so I was planning on buying the Rayshade.
I have neither, but what about the canopy Valco sells for their toddler seat add-on?
Interesting. I suspect that Kolcraft or Jeep or whatever canopies won't fit onto the profile of the aluminum tubes on the Vibe.
p+t has a black mesh sun/bug thing... i think this is what you are calling the burka. we use it all the time, it goes over front and back. my daughter (older - in front) doesn't always like is so we gather it on top of the canopy and just let it hang over the back, where the little 9mo cold care less. you can get it in the states easily, very convenient. we throw it over the front, too, when she is sleeping. when we were in NZ we used it all the time - you know, there is a hole in the ozone there - also because the bugs were nasty, and it seals off against them pretty well. other than that - hats and sunscreen!
You know the sunshade on the vibe does clip to the frame of the doubles seat. I wonder how much to have a replacement shade sent? Then It really would look like it belonged and it could adjust up and down the frame. You can't fold with it on though...
Dear Kristina;
Thank you for your e-mail and I apologize for the delay in responding.The vibe sun hood is $25 plus shipping.
Sincerely, Monica M. E. Eklund - Returns/Customer Care
Hey, does NO ONE here know about the sunshad that protect-a-bub makes SPECIFICALLY for all us P&T ppl? it's on the expensive side, but it DOES exist!
sorry, here's the link for the shade
http://protect-a-bubusa.com/backseattandemsunshade.shtml