Wall-mount TV in small travel trailer ?

[vlopddap]

Hi, I'm just wondering how do you wall-mount your TV in a small travel trailer? I have no reinforced wall surface to install a swivel wall-mount bracket for my 19 inch LED TV. I'm wondering if I can put a reinforcement wood piece over the wall, glue the wood piece with industrial adhesive maybe, then screw the wall-mount bracket through the wood piece and into the wall surface? Also I install the wall-mount bracket over a countertop surface, maybe I can screw the bottom of wood piece onto the countertop with metal "L" brackets too?

My TV is very lightweight since it's a 19 inch LED (under 10 pounds) and the wall-mount bracket itself is pretty light too (2-3 pounds) since it's all aluminium.

Any other suggestions? Pictures of your own setup would be appreciated :B

[jjjandrbaker]

I gave up on the idea of mounting the TV in my camper. There simply isn't any wall space that makes sense to me. I roll it up in an old child-sized sleeping bag and stow it in the little closet over the wardrobe. Takes 30 seconds to get it out, put it on the counter, and plug it in. Besides, I almost never bother with the TV unless there is a game I want to watch, the weather is really getting iffy, or there is some special event happening that I don't want to miss. If I wall mounted it, it would always be out for no reason taking up space.

[Keith_Haw]

One thing I learned about wall mounting a TV when I drove a 18 wheeler was that the rear mounting screws on the TV are not great for a moving vehicle. They can pull out of the set from the bouncing when traveling. If you can make a bracket that will go down under the bottom of the TV that connects to the bracket it's a lot better. That way the weight of the TV isn't just supported by the screws in the rear of the set. Hope this makes sense and you get the general idea.

[TOMMY47]

I wouldn't mount it. It will bounce around on every bump.
When I had my RV, I kept the foam insulation from the TV box and put it in a plastic bin. Laid the TV on it and eliminated the bouncing. Can set it up in a minute. Easier and cheaper plus the TV should last longer.

[westend]

That will never work, you better tear it out and......*just kidding* :B

Nice job, that looks real functional.

[ryanw821]

vlopddap wrote:
Hi! I wanna share the final result of my LED TV installation. I finally go ahead with the modification of a LCD computer monitor mount to mount it on the countertop surface instead of a true wall-mount. Basically the monitor mount have the same 3-ways adjustments than a true wall-mount bracket, but it's held by the desk surface instead of the wall.

I begin by cutting the large (and VERY thick) "U" shaped clamp bracket... using a handheld grinder with a cutting wheel. After that I drill three holes in the now flat bracket to screw it on the countertop right flush to the wall. The rear two screw are #10 2 inch long screw and they gone through the countertop surface into the solid wood frame structure of the wardrobe. The front screw is a 1-1/2 inch bolt that goes through the countertop surface. Trust me, this is EXTREMELY strong especially for a 8-9 pounds LED TV! The monitor mount come with cable management clips, but the cables are pretty thick so I put some zip-tie too be sure...

I use a premium 3-ways LCD computer monitor desk mount from Monoprice (18$) and the TV is a 19 inch RCA LED TV from Walmart (99$). I also use a Philips media player where I connect one of my 2.5 inch portable 1 TB HDD with 200+ DVD disc image inside.

Only remaining part is to install a small clic strap (like child seat) on the wall to ensure the TV are not moving when travelling.

Here's a few pic, sorry for the actual quality, it's pretty dark inside the RV even with the new LED dome lights!

I like it :C

[vlopddap]

Hi! I wanna share the final result of my LED TV installation. I finally go ahead with the modification of a LCD computer monitor mount to mount it on the countertop surface instead of a true wall-mount. Basically the monitor mount have the same 3-ways adjustments than a true wall-mount bracket, but it's held by the desk surface instead of the wall.

I begin by cutting the large (and VERY thick) "U" shaped clamp bracket... using a handheld grinder with a cutting wheel. After that I drill three holes in the now flat bracket to screw it on the countertop right flush to the wall. The rear two screw are #10 2 inch long screw and they gone through the countertop surface into the solid wood frame structure of the wardrobe. The front screw is a 1-1/2 inch bolt that goes through the countertop surface. Trust me, this is EXTREMELY strong especially for a 8-9 pounds LED TV! The monitor mount come with cable management clips, but the cables are pretty thick so I put some zip-tie too be sure...

I use a premium 3-ways LCD computer monitor desk mount from Monoprice (18$) and the TV is a 19 inch RCA LED TV from Walmart (99$). I also use a Philips media player where I connect one of my 2.5 inch portable 1 TB HDD with 200+ DVD disc image inside.

Only remaining part is to install a small clic strap (like child seat) on the wall to ensure the TV are not moving when travelling.

Here's a few pic, sorry for the actual quality, it's pretty dark inside the RV even with the new LED dome lights!

[Clay1969]

I mounted this T.V. in the bedroom of my camper tonight. I think it took me 20 minutes, a cordless drill motor with 1/4" drill, a 13mm socket with ratchet and two 2.5 inch lag screws:

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Retracted:

[bdosborn]

vlopddap wrote:
I have 5x LED/LCD/Plasma TVs at home and I have WD-TV Live devices on all my TVs and they are all networked using WiFi. I have a media server PC in my basement where my 800 DVDs are ripped (6+ TB hard drive space). I also have about 100 Blu-Ray rips. I still have the 800 original DVD inside large Rubbermaid bin inside my exterior shed...

I have a similar system at our house. All our DVDs were ripped several years ago after I realized that a lot of the disks in the trailer were getting scratched by the DVD binder I was carrying them in.

Now we have two 2TB UB drives and a WDTV box in the trailer. New movies get copied to the WDTV from our NAS system via the WiFi network. It's a relatively slow connection but I have a server wake up and copy new stuff over at night. All the movies in the camper are compressed in H.264 format so we have plenty of movies to watch, the NAS drives store everything uncompressed at home. We have a WDTV box at every TV in the house. The WDTV will download and store metadata from the internet so you have the movie poster and cast information displayed when you browse titles, even when no internet is available. I jut browsed titles when I first set everything up but came to realize that looking at the metadata pictures influenced which movies I pick more than I would have ever guessed.

The nice thing about the WDTV box is that it plays about every video format you might come across. It also runs off straight 12V DC from the camper so you don't need to use the supplied wall wart. I can't imagine using DVDs as the primary media anymore, they're just too fragile and take up way too much room in the trailer. Instead we keep them in a safe spot as archive backup and none of our digital versions have ever gone bad.

Bruce

[VTR]

I indeed did mount mine on the counter top. At a slight (very slight angle) angle facing the dinette. Great viewing angle too. Left 98% of the counter space too for odds and ends, mostly electronic stuff, like a small converter on the wall next to the antennae. I have the same model, called KZ, they said no. Some people will do it anyway, and successfully too. When traveling I just push the tv straight back towards the bunk and wrap my sleeping bag over and under it. Works for me. I decided no holes in the trailer walls, others will differ.

[beemerphile1]

vlopddap wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:
I would look for a different location, I hate looking up at a television. Ideally it should be at eye level when sitting in your favorite seat.

Since it's only a 16 feet trailer, this is the only suitable place for TV mounting. I agree with you, I dislike to watch TV from that angle too, but this is the only option...

I mounted mine on the side of the refrigerator cabinet, of course that is a different RV. It was originally in a cabinet near the ceiling.

I reinforced the cabinet wall by removing the refrigerator and installing 3/4" plywood behind the thin cabinet skin.

Mine is on a swing out mount and is strapped back to the wall when traveling.

[PAThwacker]

Has anyone mounted an articulating base mount into the formica whatever countertop?

[westend]

Make the backer board for your mount larger so that it spans two studs. What I did was counterbore the holes needed to attach the articulated mount to the backer board, attach the mount with bolts and nuts securely to the backer board, and then attach the backer board to the wall. I glued it and attached the backer board with screws into the studs. I don't remove it for travel as the arm is rock-steady when folded closed. I have a 32" screen.

[myredracer]

There may be new technology but DVDs aren't dead yet and I don't think they will be for a while. If folks have kids, often they have a collection of favorite DVDs that are good to take camping. Even we, as adults, have a small collection of classics and favorites and a few newer ones that we like to take with us for the odd occasion that we do watch a DVD. We've already got them and like to be able to just pop them in the player and watch them. I'm sure a lot of others are in the same boat. Maybe that's why RVs still come with a DVD player.

Personally I'm just not interested in spending the time to choose 200 movies from somewhere and download them onto a hard drive and I'm not interested in figuring out or setting up the hardware to do it. Maybe it's for some, but not me.

[vlopddap]

Just to clarify my opinion about DVDs, I still purchase and loan DVD at home. I meant they are outdated in the sense than carrying a large amount of DVDs is really annoying. It's like using DVD player in a car; why not using a 10 inch iPad with a headrest mount for kids on the back seat? I'll not carry 50 DVDs in my car when my iPad Air 64 Gb can contain over 50 full-quality movies and then my kids can swap from one to other with their fingertip. That's why I purchased the WDTV for the RV instead of carrying a bag full of DVDs especially for kids! 🙂