RV Project: TV Upgrade

We love our RV.  Every trip we take I’m reminded how lucky we are that this coach fell in our laps.  The previous owner took great care of it, top to bottom.

There’s only been a few updates that we felt were needed.  Since we dry camp a lot, the first thing we did was replace all the old incandescent lights with energy efficient LED lights.

Next up was replacing the two televisions in the front of the coach.  Typical man, Mark wanted to go bigger.  We swapped out the 32″ television for 39″.  It was an easy swap, the hardest thing for me was holding that heavy old TV up over my head while Mark unscrewed the last part of the mount.  We were set for a while, or so I thought.

We didn’t upgrade the original TV outside at the same time as we did the two inside because he was still on the hunt for a mount that would fit behind the TV in the compartment.  The high location of the TV compartment really bugged Mark; it was the only thing he didn’t like with our coach.  We tailgate often and when we dry camp, it’s usually in a circle and we rarely get that perfect spot where the passenger side is always in the shade.  Glare from the sun made it difficult to see the screen many times.

We followed forum discussions and checked out the mounts other owners liked.  He scoured Amazon for thin mounts that would fit.  I swear we’ve had 6 or 8 in our cart for months.  Two weeks ago he decided it was time and pulled the trigger on a new TV and mount.  Okay, we are really doing this; I sure hope it works.  We fetched the RV from storage Saturday morning.  Mark washed it and I got the inside cleaned and ready for our next trip.  TV upgrade day was set for Sunday after church.

One important part of this project involves the gas shocks that hold the door up.  Our coach has two which meant we had to remove one so we could swivel the TV out.  Back to Amazon he went for one 80-pound gas shock to replace our two 40-pounders.

Up first was removing the old TV.  Wow, that bracket holding it in the compartment was heavy.  I could see our gas mileage improving as we pulled it out.

Up next was removing the gas shocks.  Four screws each and they were out.  The bottom part of the right side was screwed into a 1/2″ sized gas shock knob.  Uh oh, our first snag.  Never fear, Mark’s hacksaw is here.  A few minutes later and that gas shock knob was history.  We now had one single gas shock successfully holding up the compartment door.  Yeah.

 

The next task was mounting the new bracket.  The compartment is all metal, good and strong.  Mark didn’t want to hurt anything inside the coach since he’d be screwing new holes.  Inside, behind the TV compartment, is the kitchen.  He double checked under the sink and we were good to proceed.  There were no wires or tubes in the way.  Yeah.

We carefully measured to find the exact middle of the compartment and mounted the new swivel mount.  The mount looked like it was made for the compartment.  Holy cow, this was going to work!

You’ve seen those home improvement shows where it’s all smooth sailing then boom! the snag that almost derails everything.  We reached that same dramatic point in our little TV project.  It was time to open the TV box and get this thing mounted.  Except the screen had more cracks than an old sidewalk.  A word of advice, don’t buy the TV from Amazon.  When I took it to the UPS store for the return, the clerk told me that every one goes back broken because they don’t bother to double box it.

Now we had to find a 39″ television quickly.  Many stores don’t carry that size anymore.  Sizes jump from 32″ to 43″.  We got lucky at Best Buy, buying their Isignia brand for $35 more than the one we bought from Amazon.  But, it’s wider than the Vizio from Amazon.  Uh-oh.  I sure hope it fits rang through my head.  Mark wasn’t fazed, he knew it would work.

Back home we went, unboxing a beautifully unbroken television.  Mark screwed the mounting hardware on and we mounted the television.  Easy.  Then we hit our dramatic second snag.  The mounting bracket needed to be slightly off center for the television to swivel in.  Now what?

We pulled the television off and laid it back on the table.  We removed the bracket form the compartment wall and remounted it a little lower and to the left.  This location would allow the television to swivel in easily and lock into place.  The television was mounted again and viola!  It worked!  It moved out smoothly, swiveled to the left and right and tilted down for a better viewing angle.  This was a high-five moment.

We go to Lake Powell a lot and the drive on US 89 from Flagstaff to Page is not a smooth one.  There are random high and low spots along the route like they didn’t properly compact the soil before laying the asphalt.  If anything was going to jostle that television and to the breaking point, it was going to be that stretch of road.  And, we were traveling on that road the very next weekend for our fall colors trip to Marysvale, Utah.  Mark humored my concern about jostling the new television to pieces by putting four strips of 3/8″ thick window threshold foam tape from Home Depot on the inside of the compartment door.  They are grey and blend nicely with the silver inside of the door.  Guess what?  The television stayed securely locked in place from our house to the campground at Lake Powell!

Thursday evening after our ride chasing Aspen trees, our group of 11 gathered at our campsite for the Thursday night football game.  Normally getting a good viewing angle for that many people would be a challenge but not this time.  Mark pulled the TV out and swiveled it toward the front of the coach and there we sat, with two campfires in a can for warmth, watching the game on that beautiful new screen.  Don’t worry, our neighbor was part of our group and we kept the volume low so as not to disturb anyone else.  We even added to our group as people walking their dogs stopped to watch as well.

Our TV project was a complete success.  Mark was right, this was going to work.  Don’t tell him I said that.