The TV Cabinet

The bulk of the work for the TV cabinet was completed today.  Richard used his standard method of marking up a template for the end panels and roughly cutting the panels to shape.  The cut out sections are then positioned in the boat and scribed to the side of the boat before being cut a second time (and sometimes a third time) to their final shape.

In the following photo you can see Richard has joined a vertical strip of oak quarter moulding to the panel at the saloon end of the cabinet (top arrow).  I want a void behind the panel for cables so he has cut a second (duplicate) panel (bottom arrow points at its edge).  If you look at the bottom left corner of the cabinet you can see the battens on the floor which will be used to align the second panel at the bathroom end of the cabinet.  The void on this side will carry all the cables you can see in the photo.

There is a better view of the floor battens in the next photo.

Bottom arrow point at floor battens showing width of planned wall void.

The left arrow (above) points at the hole for the switches in the bathroom.  There will be two switches; one for the lights and the other for the extractor fan and shower pump.  The Empirbus DC distribution system will eventually be programmed so that shower extractor fan will automatically start when when the shower pump is turned on and will automatically run for an additional two minutes after the pump is switched off.

You may have noticed the large number of cables in the photo.  They are a mixture of 12V, TV signal cables, HDMI, Speakers and 240v.  The reason for so many cables is the cabinet is the focal point for all the entertainment equipment and the midships canbus node.

The following photo shows the two false panels in position along with two horizontal dividers.  Note how the cables have been ducted down inside the left void.  The outer panels are glued and screwed in place, but the inner (false) panels are freestanding.  The plan is to screw and glue all the horizontal shelving and battening to the false panels.  The interior of the unit will then be slipped between the two outer panels and screwed from inside the cabinet.  This will avoid any plugged screw holes on the outside of the cabinet.

There are three sections to the cabinet.  At the top will be adjustable glass shelves and sliding glass front doors.  In the middle will be the 32” Freesat/Freeview TV on an extending arm.  The lower third will have one adjustable shelf with two cupboard doors which we will use for storage.  The idea behind the glass doors and shelves in the top section is to give the illusion of space.  Narrowboats are obviously narrow; so we are taking some steps to minimise the “tunnel” effect!

You might have noted the switch plate on the outside of the right end panel in the above photo.  There are three switches.  They control the saloon lighting, terrestrial TV amplifier and the satellite dome. The wiring to them is obviously concealed in the void behind.

Richard plans to have the cabinet completed on Monday.