LCD TV/DVD Combo

Ease of television use/viewing is the only thing I have ever thought Airstream could have done differently in 1967. The designers apparently intended the television to sit on the counter above the refrigerator because that is where the antenna jack is located. But, due to the lack of depth, very few viewable-from-the-gaucho TVs will fit the available space. It had to have been worse in the sixties because the tube-type televisions of the era were larger than they are now.

To make life easier, we always placed our 13" picture-tube TV/VCR combo on the cooktop cover beside a small DVD player, and ran an antenna wire up and over to the jack. This ensemble would be moved to the dining table when we wanted to cook.

While constantly moving the stuff got old pretty quick, it took me until now to finally look for and find the LCD TV/DVD combo I wanted - A 15" Sylvania, model LD155SC8.

Mountsdirect.com sold me a small-TV articulating arm for, in my opinion, less money than the part is worth - the mount's construction is impressively beefy.

The TV mounting plan going in was to mount the arm to the rib running up the wall behind the cooktop. The rib's placement was such that the TV would articulate out of the cooktop's way. But after much finger stroking & gnashing of teeth, I decided that I was not going to be happy with the results from either an aesthetic or life-of-installation viewpoint. In essence, the wall is just not strong to support the TV during the vibration of towing unless the wall is modified. If it was easy to remove the interior wall skin, all the beefing up could be done inside the wall. But it is not, and this meant riveting a plate about the size of the TV to the wall on which the articulating arm would be mounted.

My plan ended up being a steel bracket mounted to the countertop:
	The ¾ inch thick countertop is screwed to the base cabinet which is screwed to the floor. This attachment point is not going anywhere no matter how bad the roads get. For convenience sake, new quad-shielded RG-6 coaxial cable had been run inside the back of the cabinet a year or two ago.
The mounting arm also makes it easy to watch TV from the bedroom.
	While towing, an elastic strap with Velcro fasteners keeps the TV in place.

There is a funny side story to the cable jack added to my 1967 Overlander to accommodate the new coax. As the interior’s American Cherry is somewhat dark, I felt that a standard ivory or white jack-plate would stand out too much. But that was all the local home stores were selling. Finally it dawned on me to check with a local electronic parts supply house which I knew had been in town for forever. “Yes, we have those”, the man behind the counter said. “We probably haven’t sold one since the sixties since they are so ugly”. I smiled & reminded myself that beauty is in the eye of the beholder…