Adding TV to cockpit

TonyG13

Our dock is a stone's throw from Soldier Field, so last Bear's home game we were sitting on the boat wanting to watch the game on TV, but since it's in the main cabin we just didn't get the same ambiance if we had a TV in the cockpit. So that got me thinking about how to easily swap the TV between the two locations when needed.

Since we are not audiophiles, I decided to use the starboard speaker hole as my mounting location (I also don't like drilling/cutting more holes than I need in the boat).

I bought a TV slip mount for RVs that came with two wall mounts and a cheap cutting board (made of HDPE, same as marine starboard but much cheaper). Cut out a disk from the cutting board same diameter as the speaker hole. Matched up the mounting holes and then bolted on the slip TV mount, installed a RG-6 cable connection to tie into the existing antenna, and installed a 12V cigarette lighter for power.

Worked out great, now we can move the TV from cabin to cockpit in about a minute. 

Took about two hours total.

The mount...



Starboard speaker before...



TV mount installed in place of speaker (looks off center, but it's not, just camera angle)...



Installed...



TV mounted...

LaRea

Brilliant!  And so easy for a future owner to click the "undo" button.  

Michael T

.....and it's a Majestic which are purpose built for boating with special anti-corrode and anti-vibration circuitry. It may also have a dedicated DVD on one side? Great install BTW. I did similar installs on my 3013 EC 310 and 2014 EC 360. Having full hard tops with both sure made it easier but you did an awesome job with the arch!

davidbrooks

You should see if there's a way to attach the speaker cover on it when it's not in use. Great idea by the way.

TonyG13

Michael T said:

.....and it's a Majestic which are purpose built for boating with special anti-corrode and anti-vibration circuitry. It may also have a dedicated DVD on one side? Great install BTW. I did similar installs on my 3013 EC 310 and 2014 EC 360. Having full hard tops with both sure made it easier but you did an awesome job with the arch!

Yup has a DVD player on the side. Majestic's are great TVs - though a bit pricey. Their customer service is awesome. I had a bad remote from the previous owner and couldn't find a replacement since it was a discontinued model. Emailed Majestic and got a reply from the president. He found one in some old stock and sent it to me at no charge.

TonyG13

LaRea said:

Brilliant!  And so easy for a future owner to click the "undo" button.  

Exactly why I did it this way! Either Admiral changes her mind or next owner might. :-)

TonyG13

davidbrooks said:

You should see if there's a way to attach the speaker cover on it when it's not in use. Great idea by the way.

I have definitely been looking at that possibility, but not sure it will work. If I do figure out a way to do that, I'll post a pic.

Liberty44140

Nice job, looks great!