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Replacing the 2007 Phaeton Bedroom TV
We planned this modification for more then a year and finally settling on a 26 inch Sony Bravia KDL-26M400 LCD TV along with a rigid two piece steel mounting bracket from Sears.
The first order of business was to remove the 24" Panasonic TV installed by Tiffin. After removing the outside trim ring we carefully removed the retaining blocks used for keeping the TV in position. The OEM TV is heavy so take care in removing it from the cabinet. Once the TV was out, all of the felt from the cabinet was removed for reuse. Note the absence of HDMI cables, the 2007 coaches were wired with only coax cabling. One coax cable is used by the satellite antenna with a second cable from the front cabinet selector box. The IR sensor cable and the cable for the bedroom thermostat are the other two cables in the back of the cabinet.
Immediate use of some of the felt padding was made by installing it on the bottom front edge of the cabinet where it will be used to cover the floor of the remote controls shelf.
We had decided to make and install a cherry hardwood shelf for the TV to sit on and also provide a small shelf for the remote controls when not in use. As you can see in the below picture we did not remove the top felt padded piece of wood Tiffin had installed to prevent the OEM TV from moving back into the cabinet space. This piece of wood is secured by screws through the outside walls of the cabinet, removing this piece of wood would have been destructive to the cabinet.
The above picture shows the installed 3/4 inch cherry stained hardwood shelf with a back attached. After assembly a small cabinet is formed which is used to store the remote controls when they are not in use. Note the installed felt pad in the center of the shelf it was placed here to prevent the plywood mount from making noise after the TV is installed and while traveling down the road. I have plans to eventually route speaker cables from this cabinet down the wall under the floor and up into bed slide where I will intercept the front dash radio speaker wires going to the speakers over the bed.
Felt was glued around the edge of the cabinet where the TV may have rubbed which would have made noise while traveling. Note the addition of the two holes on both sides of the TV cabinet. Screws will be installed in these holes from the outside to retain the TV in its cabinet. The holes were counter sunk in the cabinet to allow the installation of Cherry Bark stained hardwood plugs, the same plugs removed from the original OEM TV trim ring. In an attempt to make the TV mount as rigid as possible and prevent any squeaking or rattling while traveling, 1/2 inch plywood was used as part of the mount. The steel mount purchased from Sears along with stainless steel hardware used to mount the 1/2 inch plywood to the steel mount can be seen in the next picture. I attached hardwood wings to the plywood which would just clear the inside walls of the cabinet. When fully assembled two screws were installed through the cabinet sides, pressure was applied to the mount by reached over the top of the TV and forced the plywood mount as tight as possible toward the back of the cabinet before inserting the side screws. The TV was mounted low enough in the cabinet to allow any heat to vent out over the top edge of the TV and below the cabinet top.
The bottom edge of the plywood "T" mount in the picture below rests on top of the felt strip glued to the top of the remote control cabinet.
We used a cherry trim strip around the cabinet face to finish off the cabinet stained to match the Cherry Bark color. Note the hardwood plugs in side of the cabinet. Below is the finished TV cabinet with the new 26" LCD TV.
Submitted by Ted Bryan - 6/12/09
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