Tuesday, April 21

RVing Tip of the Day


Butch and I have replaced our big bulky TV in the front of our Motorhome. More than once actually. I wish we had seen this article before we did it and that is why I am sharing it with you. This option has much appeal on many levels. 
This info came from a newsletter we read regularly and you may want to as well so here is the website. http://www.rvtravel.com/?q=daily-rv-tips-issue2129602
Barb B.
More ado about a drop-down TV bracket
by Greg Illes
 
Editor's note: Back in Issue 596 we ran a story on a fold-down TV bracket that Greg put into his Class A motorhome. We immediately were hit with cries of, "Where can we get one?" from our readers. Here's a follow-up from Greg. 
 
The bracket is full-custom, not store-bought. In order to get the TV nearly flush to the windshield, and also up tight against the overhead when stored, I needed a bent bracket design.
 
First, I used a piece of wire to mock up the angle and length I needed. Then I had a local plastics shop put a bend in a piece of 3/8" ABS textured sheet.
 
The sheet is attached at the front with two standard three-inch steel hinges, fastened to a metal portion of the overhead structure.
 
At the back edge, I used two strap retainers to hold one-inch black nylon straps. These use standard strap snap-catches to hold the TV up in stored position. I used two for stability and fail-safe design (don't want that puppy coming down while I'm driving), plus I needed the finished affair to be rattle-free. These worked out very nice.
 
I punched a one-inch hole in the overhead to accept all the cabling, and I put a split-sleeve cable cover over it all to dress it up a little.
 
The TV didn't hang down quite vertically (bent bracket center-of-gravity offset), so I mounted a small wooden knob into the windshield vertical post (not shown in photos). The bottom of the bent bracket slips over the edge of the knob to hold the TV vertical, and also to keep it from swinging.

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