My Marlin DVD story or Another DVD / TV story

ttles714

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So the DVD in my 2007 Marlin went bad .. I figured no big deal ! I picked up a replacement on e-bay for $25.00.... figured i would remove the 6 screws for the face plate and I would be done in 20 min .... I would love to know what GW was thinking on this design ... So I take out the 6 screws and now i can see that there are straps that hold the unit down , Still not too bad, I will just remove the 4 screws that hold the TV box to the bulkhead. W R O N G !!! .. So I start to to remove the TV and the 4 screws that hold the TV mounting box to the starboard side panel and find The TV mounting box is thru bolted to the entire side panel assembly. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING !!! It's a major disassembly process now. ... I was not going to take all that apart... I drilled off the heads of the 4 mounting screws and the box came off , I was able to access the DVD, swap it out and I set stainless steel rivet nuts into the four holes and used stainless machine screws to re-assemble the TV box to the bulkhead. What a really stupid design ...

On another note ... I previously added a TV to a 2001 Marlin ... Went to Best Buy and bought a 15'' Insigna with a built in DVD player and bought a mounting bracket. I through bolted the bracket and mounted it on the forward side of the head. I believe I actually used one of the existing bolts from the shower/soap dish bracket inside the head.. That whole thing cost me under $200, and worked great. Not as fancy as the GW original and certainly a lot less $$$$$$. I had no need to hook up to cable TV at the dock. And with the newer boat , I still don't.

When the TV on the 2007 craps out , I will do the same thing .. BTW the Insigna, although 110vac, was actually 12vdc as the power supply is a step down transformer. .. So I just wired it to a 12 vdc source. ( no need for the power inverter) Grady really took a mole hill and made a mountain out of it .
 

Meanwhile

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My boat had the original TV go dead so I ordered a FleaBay TV. Whoops, not the same form factor. It looks like crap as it will not fit in the designed space.

I was considering tackling the same project, maybe taking out that entire console and putting a wall mount on the wall as you described.

Good idea on the mounting stainless hardware.