In this era of flat-screen LCD TV monitors, an old-fashioned cathode ray tube television may seem an anachronism. However, for most of us good old boat owners, conserving boat bucks is a key consideration. Given that, a 9", 12-volt TV is the key to on-board entertainment. A PO had installed one of these little wonders on a platform made from layered plywood and Formica aft on the starboard shelf in the saloon. The platform is bolted through the fiberglass shelf by four very stout bolts. The top layer of plywood was routed out to fit the base of the TV and the whole thing was held down by what looked like an old web belt.
When the nearly 20 year old TV
started pitching fits, I replaced it with a US$200 TV/DVD combo unit from
Costco. I secured it with a piece of fabric that was the exterior liner from an
old fire hose. To keep the remote control where I could always find it, I used a
piece of marine Velcro on the bottom of the remote and another on the left side
of the set. The whole configuration stays right where it belongs in a seaway.
I'll keep it just as it is until I get one of those LCD TVs for Christmas some
year.
Oh yeah. The only problem with the installation is that when I'm stretched out on the forward side of the port settee, the pole from the dinette table eclipses the left side of the screen. If I pile up a few more pillows next to the bulkhead, the problem disappears.
One parenthetical note. On Ping the wood fiddles for the port and starboard bookshelves both have Plexiglas extensions bolted to the inside that rise about 4" above the top of the wood. This add-on is a tremendous means to keep books, bottles and anything else tall one might want to keep there in place in typical sailing conditions. Most of the other 323s I've seen don't have them. It would be a very simple addition.
Things I'd do differently: I'd trim the edges of the shelf with veneer instead of Formica, but that's because I am a fan of really nice looking wood.