Outdoor TV – Tilting TV Mount You Can Install Yourself!

Our 2015 Entegra Aspire came with an outdoor TV that we thought was a great feature when we purchased the coach. It wasn’t until after we purchased the coach and started using it on the road full time that we realized the TV had some noticeable drawbacks.

First, it is mounted very high and unless you like watching TV standing up, it’s a bit of a bear to watch unless you’re half reclined in a zero gravity chair pointing half at the sky!. That location also lends itself to be very susceptible to glare from sun making it difficult to watch anytime but at night. Second, its a fixed mount, which means unless you are sitting directly in front of it it can be a bit difficult to see if you are at any angle.  These are not huge problems and to be honest if this was a big job to fix or one that required a large investment we probably wouldn’t have even bothered fixing but some things fell into place for us that we’ll explain below.

We were at the Entegra Oktoberfest Rally in Las Vegas in 2016 and got to see quite a few coaches from a variety of years. New for 2017 was an articulating outdoor TV arm that tilted down for easier viewing. Nice! Just what we wanted but… I had a pretty good feeling that if I called Entegra and asked for the part I would have paid well north of 250.00 to buy the parts from them.. That is where our friend’s from Great-Escape.us come in!

Now i’ve installed quite a few of these over the years being in IT. Our clients frequently have us mount TV’s or large monitors in offices so I can tell you first hand that there are BAD mounts and GOOD mounts that vary greatly in price and quality. Glenn from Great Escape had done quite a bit or research as his 2016 Entegra Anthem has an arm installed but not the “tilt” feature to point the TV down towards a more acceptable viewing angle. Glenn  called Entegra and found that they were purchasing their tilting TV arms from a manufacturer called Crimson who claimed to make the world’s thinnest TV mounting arm that tilted. In fact he had one in his coach that was left over from his research! Score for LivinLite! We’ll take it!

I took one look at the TV arm and knew the quality was good. It was well built and suitable for automotive applications. The TV mount has plenty of resistance to ensure it wouldn’t be swinging back and forth in the wind banging into our coach or rattling itself to deal while we were driving down the road. We also really like that it had a locking feature meaning it locked into the flat position which would come in quite handy when stowed for driving.

Installation

The installation was pretty straight forward. I won’t bore folks with a lengthy written explanation of the install since it is all detailed out in the video at the top of this post. We’ve included a material list below as well as Amazon links to all of the tools and items mentioned in the video. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to post them here!

Tools & Materials:

• Cordless/cord drill with drill bits – (you may want to consider the stepper bit set mentioned below and in the video)
• Screw Driver Bit Set – Complete with security bits for Entegra factory screw removal. (see below link under Amazon links)
• 15”-18” piece of 2×4 or other suitable wood to strengthen mounting plate backing
• Cable ties for wire management
• Flat black spray paint for matching trim behind TV
• A helper! (much easier with 2 people)

Amazon Links:

• Crimson World’s Thinest TV Mount for up to 42″ tv: http://amzn.to/2funD3X
• Crimson World’s Thinest TV Mount for up to 65″ tv: http://amzn.to/2esdHny
• Neiko Titanium Step Drill Bit Set: http://amzn.to/2eS5SI7
• Neiko Safety Bit Set: http://amzn.to/2f3cCDA
• Flat Black Spray Paint: http://amzn.to/2fnVg8e
• Cable Ties (We love these one because they are reusable): http://amzn.to/2f1RMXI

Thanks so much for checking out our post. If you have any questions, comments or questions you can post them here. If you like the article please share it with friends on Facebook or other social media using the links below!