Category: Motorhome Projects

Elephant Butte SP, NM – TV Satellite Dish – Tuesday October 6, 2015

When we got our DISH TV satellite receiver last year I also purchased the free standing tripod so the receiver can be located away from the RV with a clear view of the southern sky.   The challenge with this is when we are traveling and staying in rest stops and Walmarts I can not set up the receiver so we can watch TV.  The Winegard Pathway X1 receiver has a roof top mounting kit available for $100.00.  However it is designed to be a permanent installation.  Here is what I came up with so I can mount the dish on the roof and remove it whenever I want.    CLICK
I went up on the roof today to check the mount and everything is good.  The only thing I added from the original design is after the two outside locking screws are tightened into place I add a wing nut and spider lock washer on the inside of the bracket or end of the bolt.  I added this extra nut and washer to ensure road vibration did not allow the bolts to back out.

Elephant Butte SP, NM – Monday October 5, 2015

Nice day here in New Mexico.  Our plan is to stay here for several days until the weather east of here clears.  They are having a lot of thunderstorms with some small hail.

The suction cup which holds Martha in place every once in a while comes loose, Martha is our GPS.  It has gone for as long as three months and as short of a time as a couple days.  I needed to come up for a fix because I’m afraid the power plug in will be break off the back.

Here is my zip tie solution:
I’ll leave the long ends on for a couple of days to ensure I have the correct pressure, tight is good too tight is not always better.

At Home – Sunday August 3, 2014

I spent the weekend working on Jean’s anniversary present.  We have never used the TVs in the motorhome very much, I watched videos over the years and that’s it.   Last year I took the TV out of the bedroom and made a nice cabinet.  However with our extended traveling schedule I decided to get Jean satellite TV as an anniversary present.

I forget to take a picture before I started.
This is the first step removing the old 27 inch tube TV.  It was really heavy and hard to handle.  Zach was nice enough to come over today and help me get it out of the motorhome.
I had to spend a lot of time putting some wood over the back of the cabinet to cover the insulation.  I had a couple of pieces of door skin and I was able to use it to give the hole a little more finished look.

I put this 28 inch HDTV into the motorhome.  It gives me an inch on each side and about 6 inches at the bottom.

I purchased a motorhome grade TV mounting bracket which will allow the TV to swing out of the hole and give me a bunch of storage behind the mounting bracket and board.  The mounting bracket is attached to a piece of oak.  I used oak because I was concerned that over time and road miles a piece of pine or even plywood might start to twist.
I even added two pieces of laminated oak strips to back side of the mounting board.
Here is the swing mounting bracket.

Here is the swing mounting bracket.

The oak board is placed between two 1×2’s which were glued and screwed to the sides of the TV cabinet.  I then put a pocket screw into the board and a support under the board so it can not slide down.  Don’t think this is going to go anywhere.
Here is the TV swung out of the cabinet.
Almost finished, the box on the right is the old switching box which will eventually be removed.  I also put in a small shelf over the Sat box so we can store something behind the TV.

Here is a final install picture I took this morning.  At this point I don’t know how I’ll finish off the space below the TV.

My next project is to handle the dual pane windows and the moisture which has started to collect inside them.  It is really expensive to have these windows taken apart and reassembled or buy new ones.  A couple of weeks ago I purchase all the necessary materials from a guy in Oregon with the plan to do this myself.  I really should get the two front windows done before we leave at the end of August.  In the instructions he says to use a 32 to 1 caulking gun or better yet a powered caulking gun.  The caulking is really thick and a powered caulking gun will provided smoother more even application of the caulking/sealant.

This is what I finally purchased.  It is one massive machine and should not have any problem applying the caulk.  It will produce 650 pounds of torque.

Finally more Mt. Rainier pictures.

19, 20, and 21