Replacing an old TV in the RV.

Location, Home, CA

We did celebrate the 4th yesterday by spending a few hours at the Elks Club. We had the traditional hot dog to celebrate. They had a really nice turn out. Very nice to see.

I mentioned in yesterdays post that I had been working on the replacement of our 27 inch RCA TV in the RV with a new flat screen TV. The new one is 26 inches wide which just fits the opening in the cabinet. However the height is larger than the new TV so something will need to be done with that extra opening.

I removed the old set and took it in for recycling. The cabinet while quite large is not a rectangle as the face of it is turned to the couch across the room.

I decided I needed to have a way to remove the new TV to get to the space behind it and also to tilt the TV forward for better viewing. That meant buying a bracket kit with a swing arm to mount the TV on. 

This arm needs to be attached to something sturdy which meant adding something to the cabinet as the walls and wood of the cabinet is not substantial.

So I came up with this. It is a 4x4 covered with wood grain shelf paper attached to cross pieces (also covered with shelf paper). The cross pieces are screwed at each corner to the existing cabinet and braced along the back wall to the opposite corner so nothing can move. It is quite sturdy.

Wood mount in place.

All wires are tied to the swing arm so they won’t interfere with movement.

To close off the opening above the TV, I decided to add a board painted black to match the TV. The board is attached with Euro cabinet hinges on the back side so it can swing upwards inside the cabinet. The hinges hold it up to allow access to the bookshelf and also to provide ventilation while the TV is on. I didn’t want to trap all the hot air behind the TV so this should work well.

Wood flap closed.

 Wood flap open.

I added a shelf for books at the rear of t he cabinet.

Flap closed and TV in place for viewing .

I do need to figure out a way of holding the TV in place while traveling and think a combination of a strap and foam blocks may do the trip. I don’t want the TV banging around while we are moving.