Fortravel delivered my coach with a 20 inch hi-line Panasonic color TV in the front, and a Panasonic 13 inch TV in the bedroom.  This has been quite satisfactory over the years with just a couple of problems.  Early-on, but not recently, the sound would lose volume for a while.  Also there is a periodic color banding, apparantly from magnetic disturbance from the radio speaker just behind it.  I don't know why this is just sometimes a problem.  The only other problem I have seen is the lower right corner has a somewhat soft focus.  The result is it is difficult to read all the satellite guide information.

As analog television is going away February 2009 to be replaced with only digital signals, I decided it was time to improve the TV's, front one first.  I had the advantage of seeing photos of a number of similar conversions by fellow Foretravel owners.  These were all flat panel LCD TV's ranging from 26 inches to 42 inches (diagonal measurement).  I decided that I wanted the largest set which would mount on the face of the existing TV cabinet without inhibiting access to any adjacent cupboards.  This turned out to be a 26 inch set.

I started my on-line research and went around town looking at and measuring TV's of all brands.  I looked at quite a few, all of which receive digital channels and will display in high definition resolution.  There were several "deal-busters".  Obviously it had to fit within the dimensions I had determined were the limits.  This ruled out any side speaker units, only bottom speaker sets would qualify.  It had to use remote control codes that my DishNetwork remote would recognize.  This ruled out several of my otherwise front-runners.  Vizio makes a set that seemed to meet all my needs, except that every one I saw just did not have the picture quality of adjacent sets.  I initially settled on a particular Sharp unit that Costco carried, then looked up reviews on the Internet.  About 60% of the reviews I read complained about inadequate sound volume and quality.  I passed on that set.  I then homed in on an LG model that had an absolutely beautiful picture.  The on-line reviews for this one warned about very high failure rates.  I passed again!  I finally chose and bought a Sony Bravia TV which passed the review test, the remote compatibility test, the picture quality test, the sound test, and the size test.  I am a happy camper.  The only negative I have identified for this set so far is that the manual control buttons are on the top of the front frame.  I had hoped for ones on the front or right edge.  I can easily reach them, but will need to label the front to know what I am pushing.

OK, now that I have the TV, I have to figure out what all I need to do the the cabinetry to mount it.  If I simply mount it on the front of the existing cabinet without modification, the side cabinet door will not open.  I need to cut the existing cabinet down by about 3 1/2 inches.   This is enough to easily clear the side cabinet door, but not so much that it exposes space past the side paneling.  I have no idea what is involved in removing this cabinet, but if it went in, it has to come out!

I removed the front bezel, then removed the TV.  Inside the cabinet I could see many screws and started removing them.  Before going too far, I removed several wires, the switch for the local TV antenna booster, and the booster itself.  Removing the cable from the IR remote control extender left everything clear.  I finally found the last hidden screw and the cabinet came out cleanly.
 

	After removing the front bezel and TV, there was a large empty cabinet.  It was not immediately obvious how it was fastened in, but I eventually found all the attaching screws.
This is what the cabinet looked like after I removed it.  The blue tape indicates where the adjacent cabinet covered part of the panel. I determined that I needed to cut off the front 4 1/4 inches, then put the front frame back on which would leave the finished cabinet about 3 1/2 inches shorter.

The cabinet is anything but rectangular.  The entire cabinet is tilted downward and the face is angled towards the center of the coach.  I measured all the angles and decided how to cut off the front edge.  The first cut across the bottom was a 4 1/4 inch 90 degree cut.  I then tilted the saw blade 8 degrees and very carefully adjusted the saw fence to align the blade with the end of the first cut.  I then cut the side.  The second side was cut the same way by again carefully aligning the angeled blade to the end of the bottom cut.  It all worked fine, leaving me a smooth front of the sawed off cabinet.  The front frame I cut off incuded 3 1/2 inches of side and bottom paneling.  I carefully removed these panel pieces using a hammer to break the glue joint, then a chisel to clean up the glue and wood splinters from the edge of the frame.  A little careful coping saw work removed pieces where there would be interference at assembly.
 

This is the front frame after I removed about 3 1/2 inches of side and bottom panel material all around. I sawed part of the corner blocks fastened on the back to clear the braces in the cabinet.  This frame then attached to the front of the shortened cabinet.

I assembled the front frame into the cut-off cabinet and brought out all my wood clamps.  After figuring out how to clamp it all, I glued all the surfaces, assembled it, and reinstalled all the clamps.  The dried assembly looked quite good, but did have some minor gaps and irregularities.
 

Gluing the front panel to the cabinet was quite a challenge, using every slide clamp I own.

I used some oak shaded wood putty and filled all the joints.  This worked much better when I started using masking tape on both sides of the joint, and puttied between them.  This not only kept the putty from filling the surounding grain, but also left it high by the thickness of the tape.  Upon sanding, the joint was flush, even if there was a little shrinkage.  I also cut the top out of the original bezel, which will no longer be used, and used it to fill in the open top of the frame.

I thoroughly sanded all faces of the cabinet both to remove most of the original finish, and to smooth up all the newly glued joints.  I then applied 3 coats of clear lacquer.  This provided a finish I was unable to tell from the original.

The modified cabinet re-installed just the reverse of its removal.  I had to drill only one new hole to screw the front of the left side up to the ceiling to replace one that was in the area that was sawed off.  Fortunately this screw hit an aluminum frame member, and had all the strength of the original.
 

This shot shows the cabinet before cutting.

Here you can see the new shallower cabinet installed.  The new TV is about 3 1/2 inches thick, so the clearance for the left hand cabinet door to open is about the same as before. The ceiling carpet shows indents where the original cabinet was.  I hope this indenting will decrease with time.  I may have to steam it. The refinished cabinet matches the surrounding ones exactly (even though these two pictures have different coloration due to the lighting).

The mount I bought to actually hang the TV is a 2 piece steel unit.  One piece mounts to the holes on the back of the TV.  The other is mounted to the wall, or in my case just inside the cabinet.  The TV will then just hook to the stationary mount, and then clamp in place by tightening two screws.  This mount is 7/8 inch thick.  As the rear of the TV is somewhat smaller than the front, I decided to mount the fixed part 1 inch behind the front of the cabinet.  To do this, I mounted a vertical piece of oak to the base of the cabinet.  The top of this oak board is attached to a board that runs forward to an aluminum roof frame member.  The fixed half of the mount is screwed to this oak panel.  This all gives me the structural stability I need to keep the TV safely and stablelly mounted.  I made one small modification to the mount, so the screws I tighten after hanging the TV actually tighten the mount halves to each other, instead of merely providing a pin that prevents the TV from lifting off.
 

The final result shows how the TV fits in the same space as the old cabinet.  Anything larger than this 26 inch set would have interferred with one of the adjacent cabinet doors.

I am very happy with the final result.  The TV looks much larger, even though the picture is only a little bit higher, it is a full 6 inches wider.  The picture quality is excellent, and even the satellite guide is easily readible.  When using satellite, my program selection is the same as before.  I do not have a high definition satellite antenna or receiver in the motorhome.  However when watching TV from the rooftop local antenna, I can now pick up all the digital chanels, including high definition ones.