RV TV wall mounts are great. Their swing feature allows users to turn the TV in multiple directions, great for the rather strange seating arrangements RV manufacturers often use. They also allow the TV to be pushed back out of the way when not in use. Trouble is, these articulating mounts typically require the use of wall studs for a safe and secure install. If the desired wall doesn’t have studs—typical of most fiberglass or composite exterior RV walls—what’s to be done? Here’s one way to get the job done.
Screws right out through the side of your RV?
Our recently acquired travel trailer’s TV nest was in a cabinet that nestled into a corner of the rig. One wall was the sidewall, the other, the rear wall. Neither of these walls were studded, so here we were. We could leave the television on “feet” in the cabinet, and run the risk of having it topple out while underway. And if we wanted to turn the set on at an angle that could be seen from our dinette, we were at a dead end. The TV would have teetered on the edge of the cabinet. We ordered an articulated wall mount from Amazon. On arrival, we learned it needed to be mounted with long lag bolts, or some kind of wall expansion bolts. Neither would work. The lags would have screwed right out through the fiberglass exterior, and the solid block insulation prevented the use of expansion bolts.
Stymied, we had to think out of the box. We finally hit on using a solid wood block to which to attach the wall mount. And to make the wood block hang on the wall? A liberal dose of construction adhesive. If you’re not familiar with the stuff, construction adhesive is like very strong glue that bonds on a molecular level. You’ll need to pick an adhesive based on the surfaces to be bonded when you do your shopping. It used to be the stuff was only available in big tubes, the kind you’d dispense the contents with a caulking gun. You probably won’t need that much and, happily, many construction adhesives are sold in small, handheld tubes.
Wall prep may be required
In our case, we were bonding a wood mount to the wallboard material inside the existing RV TV cabinet. For us, Gorilla brand, Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive was appropriate, and set us back less than $7. If there’s wallpaper over the surface of the wallboard, you’ll want to remove it from the backing board first. A utility knife, scraper, and maybe even sandpaper are in order. Here’s how our project worked.
RV TV wall mount to pine block
Our relatively lightweight TV required an RV TV mount that impacts a relatively small wall surface. For us, we were able use a length of 1 x 4 pine board for our block. We saw to it that the board was clean. We then measured out the wall area and determined we wanted to mount the block at the center of the cabinet back.
First, we pre-drilled pilot holes for the screws that would give additional strength to our installation, and that would hold the block in place until the adhesive dried and cured. Here’s another shopping point. Some construction adhesives take a LONG time to cure to strength, others take less. Take this into account when buying. The pilot holes looked good, but we had our own set of “boobers” with that.
We marked out the spot where the block would need to be mounted. We then applied a liberal amount of construction adhesive, following the manufacturer’s instructions. The block was then stuck up on the wall, and we set in screws to hold it in place while the glue cured. Hey, presto! Here’s the boober: Our pilot holes weren’t quite large enough, and sure enough, we got a couple of very unwelcome cracks in the block. Since the block was now glued to the wall, there was no real way of going back. Happily, while the cracks look super unprofessional, once the adhesive cured, there was no issue with holding power. Loss of pride, yes, but not loss of strength. Happily, the TV hides the minor mess.
Pilot hole size?
After the cure time, we then used heavy screws to mount the TV wall mount to the block. This time we used adequate pilot holes! How do you determine what size pilot hole to drill? The bit should be the same size as the body of the screw, but not the threads. Since screw sizes are by number, not width, here’s a good chart to help you determine your hole size.
With the business end of the TV mount screwed down tight, we completed assembling the mount follow the instructions. We hung the TV on the mount, and we now have a TV we can pull out of the cabinet and point in whatever direction we need. One issue we’re still working on is this: When we’re underway, the TV likes to “hunt” its way around in the cabinet. We’re hoping something less clobbered up than a bungee cord with two eyebolts will come to mind!
Your photo shows the TV inside a cabinet. Another option is a TV mount made for under-counter mounting. In the right situation, that may be simpler than attempting to glue a block to the rather tender side walls. I used an under-counter mount from Best Buy to put a 24″ TV under the cabinet over the door in our Thor Class C. That allowed us to remove the silly TV mounted in the over-cab space that was always blocked by storage bins.
There may be screws or bolts at the pivot points that could be tightened somewhat to increase the friction of the mount arms. A colored wood filler will hide the cracks of the block too.
Good article, but I would have used plywood. Its multilayer construction would prevent splitting. As you found out, wood has a tendency to split.
Here’s another additional means of hidden support. While locked-in for travel, see if there is a possible means of additional support using 2 simple L shaped brackets, one on each side of the TV with the reach that can support it’s underside. Be careful not to place these L brackets in a location where they can contact any control buttons often located on the bottom of the TV. Mine are mounted such that when locking-in, with just a slight lift, the TV rests some of its weight on them. 8 years and thousands of miles and the TV mounting bracket still performs like new. Apply felt to the Ls’ contact surfaces to avoid any scratches.
Thank you!
Looking at the shelf in the corner area shown, I think an alternative might be to mount a rotating lazy susan type mount atop a board with drawer slides under it. Screw through the TV’s feet to a board on the lazy susan and reinforce under the shelf if needed. So you could pull it forward and turn it as desired. No tilt with this, but the shelf looks to be close to eye level when seated anyway.
You can get tv mounts that lock in in the folded travel position
Open Range, Excel and Holiday Rambler used both locking TV mounts and nylon straps with snap lock buckles. We were on an extremely rough Oklahoma state highway where the TV wall bracket lock came unlocked and we had failed to fasten the straps.
One of my travel trailers had a velcro strap to hold the tv. I would get a lenght of velcro, screw 1 end on each side of the mounting board using a fender washer and make it long enough to wrap around the tv. When not in use it would rest behind out of sight.