Project | Install TV in Bedroom

One of the many features we like about our Cougar 27RES is the ability to add a TV in the bedroom for use during ‘Remote Wars’ – aka an inability to agree on what to watch on the living room TV.

While purging our possessions we decided to save a 28” TV and articulating wall mount from the sticks and bricks house for this very purpose. The articulating mount is important because the wall where the TV will be is parallel to the bed and with this mount, we can pull the TV out from the wall and turn it to face the bed.

During the walk-through of our RV we inquired what was behind the ‘LCD TV Mounting Bracket Location’ and they stated the manufacturer installs a piece of plywood or 2x4; satisfied by the answer we continued the tour.

Fast forward to a rainy day and the never-ending desire to ensure everything has its place – the TV box has been under our dinette since day one and the wall mount is consuming space under the bed – it’s time to install these.

Afterthought: what we failed to realize is the TV box was serving double duty as a stabilizer for the dinette table – now, after its removal, the table rocks when any force is applied making it highly annoying when eating – a project for another day.

Time to grab the necessary tools:

Stud Finder – Check

Drill and Bits – Check

Level – Check

Ratchet and Socket Set – Check

Pencil - Check

Opening the mount’s hardware bag, we see a problem; the wall mount bolts are 3” long and in a normal installation this wouldn’t be a problem, but in this instance the mount will be on an exterior wall and if you’ve owned an RV you know the walls are thin. Yikes! If we were to use the supplied bolts, we’d put holes in the exterior wall – not something we intend to do, although it could make for good spy holes 😊. Okay, a trip to the hardware store is needed and we continue forward to determine if any other hardware will need to be purchased.

Using the stud finder we search for the backing board and while we anticipated this to be located behind the sticker, it was not, we finally found a 15”x15” area to the left of the sticker – must be the plywood the dealer mentioned, right?? Makes sense…or so we thought.

This area of the wall presented some challenges in that there is a window, ceiling and door to contend with. With careful measurements taken we decide on the perfect spot and mark our holes.

To ensure everything is as it seems we drill the first hole with a 1/16” bit and after breaking through the wallboard (which seemed more difficult than it should be…more on this later) the bit went into an empty cavity. Dana and I looked at each other with that ‘WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?’ look; we were so careful with measurements and had double checked the area with the stud finder to find the location…what did we miss??

Out comes the stud finder…AGAIN…and we confirm the location of the backing board. Hmmm….what’s going on here?? We decide to forge ahead to the second hole and the same thing happened…BUT…we noticed some metal slivers on the bit this time. WHAT?!? Initially, we thought we had hit one of the aluminum wall frame supports but further use of the stud finder could not validate this – as in there was a support near the window and the spacing between it and where we drilled didn’t make sense for another support to be in place.

Time for a break and a little research. What we found is some RV manufacturers have moved away from a wood backing board and instead install an aluminum plate in its place. This jives with what we’ve experienced – through the wallboard, through the aluminum plate and into insulation.

Satisfied with what we’ve learned we forge ahead.

After a quick trip to the hardware store for 1 1/2” bolts and predrilling the holes we attach the wall portion of the mount with the new bolts and finish installation by attaching the TV, tying up the cords and adjusting the pivot points of the articulating arm.

Looks good.

On moving day, we remove the TV from the mount via a single screw and lay it face down on the bed; hundreds of miles later we have not had an incident where the TV has fallen off the bed.

Looking back, I prefer the aluminum plate instead of a wood backing board. The mount is very secure.