1978 Boler Complete Restoration / Rebuild

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by 1979Trillium

Hi Slav, nice job! What are your plans for covering the fiberglass on the inside? I'm fixing up a Trillium and have some doubts about ensolite (cost, adhesion, durability). I'm wondering if there are sprayable products with some sound and temperature insulation properties. Regards, Steve.

Hi Steve, thanks for stopping by! I'm going to use Reflectix insulation (as many have on the forum) and then cover it with marine Hulliner. Another option is to buy covering from Scamp, but after I got a sample I found it too thick/shaggy. Much more prefer Hulliner.

Look at Robert Johans' fine work, and in post #85 he talks about Weldwood contact cement - pick it up at your local home improvement store. I'm probably just going to use a brush to apply it, but a cheap sprayer seems a good option as well. Same post, you see Reflectix on the walls (also from home improvement store).

Here is some info on Hulliner: store link.

Let me know if you have other questions!

Slav

[1979Trillium]

Thanks, those links are very helpful. Steve

[slavandheather]

After grinding out troughs on the outside of the body over the seams where I patched in FG and modified window openings, it was time to get it all filled in for strength with FG mat. As was recommended, I put down two layers of FG mat over the outside seams. It will just take some sanding to get it all smooth and then touched up with body filler.

The first window I modified just didn't look good. The FG dried rippled and I wasn't excited about trying to fix it. So, cut out my effort and glassed in another spare piece of FG, then ground out a trough for FG mat (still to do):

One of the corners with extra glass and mat on the outside:

The former fridge and furnace vent holes, from the outside with glass and two layers of mat:

And finally closed up the two port holes. I don't even remember what they were for. We'll be putting port holes in different places than the original design. I wish the serial number was still visible, but nothing. I guess I'll never know.

More to come, of course....

[slavandheather]

Hey, speaking of stickers, does anyone know what the "976" inside the leaf stand for? Is that some permit number or ??? Thanks.

[jkmboler]

Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS). 976 will refer to the standard or code related to the type of vehicle (in this case, type of RV or camper).

[Borrego Dave]

Good move Slav with making a trough for the mat, you'll be able to get an original level of the gel coat and it will look smooth at an angle.

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by jkmboler

Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS). 976 will refer to the standard or code related to the type of vehicle (in this case, type of RV or camper).

Thanks Kent!

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Good move Slav with making a trough for the mat, you'll be able to get an original level of the gel coat and it will look smooth at an angle.

I sure hope so, Dave. I hope it doesn't look like an old pockmarked goat!

[Borrego Dave]

That's how I've done it, works well. Just make sure you are deep enough so the mat is a shade recessed. After the top resin coat and a little Bondo, do a little wet sanding it will show any low or high spots. Your finished repairs will disappear like they were never there.

[D White]

Originally Posted by slavandheather

I sure hope so, Dave. I hope it doesn't look like an old pockmarked goat!

If you don't like an area, just grind it out and redo to your liking...fiberglass done right has no risk....you can do it....fiberglass Dave

[Kenny Strong]

Slav Just a little late. With my sisters Boler. with a square hole or a round hole. cut the opening pretty even. straight line or round ( round, nice shape. I cut 2 pieces of 1/4" ply wood , 6 to 8 inches larger than the opening, one for the inside of egg and the other for the outside ( 4"s per side, larger than opening size ), I cut a hole in the center of the outside piece, 4"s larger than the opening, ( 2"s per edge or side ) I made a pattern the size of the opening. slightly smaller 1/6th +-. I cut a double piece of mat the size of the pattern . the egg skin was almost flat where the heater outlet was. I set it up with resin and let it set. I cut it to the size of the opening with mat scissors. fit it close to the opening. I put plastic wrap on one face of the ply pieces. put the inside piece in place over the opening, duct tape in place. drilled alignment corner holes near the edge of the ply, thru the skin. Removed the inside piece of ply. cut a double piece of mat, and risened up, applied to the plastic covered face of inside ply. cut the wrap out of the center of the outside piece. put the inside piece back into place, ( mat will drupe ) put the outside ply same size in place, and screwed the pieces together at the corners, (don't strip wood screws ) My brother in law on the inside. ( of course ) . Put more screws every 3 inches or so +-. screwed around the opening in the center ( predrilled the holes thru the skin. with a very small bit to avoid stripping ) set the center prefabricated piece in place. set the center ply piece in place ) inside pre-cutout hole and screwed thru the inside ply. thru the skin, into the ply covering the inset piece, along the edge of the hole. a couple in the center of insert. removed the ply the next day and in looked like it needed no work to clean up the fit. surface flush. edge almost invisible. ( " been there done it " ) Sister has pictures I do not. ( The new heater was an Atwood )

Later Kenny

[slavandheather]

I decided to grind down the FG around the rear lights some more so I have plenty of depth for new FG once I trim the flange on the light cups.

As I was grinding down the edge of the FG under the belly band I noticed about 6 locations where the "lip" was cracked through and starting to go up the body. I couldn't tell if it was just the gelcoat that was cracked or part of the underlying FG as well. I figured I might as well hit it with the grinder and prep it for a bit of FG mat so the condition doesn't worsen down the road. Here are 4 of the 6 spots:

Left side of the entry, right where the two halves of the body come together, was a mess of FG rot and multiple rivet holes, so went ahead and ground it down some to put down fresh FG mat:

The hinge attachment points on the body are a disaster with the holes about three times larger than the bolt diameter. This didn't help with the door sag by about 1/2 inch or so. I am going to reposition the hinges just a bit (Scamp replacements as the originals were not salvageable) - lower for the upper one and higher for the lower one. Anyways, I ground out the FG on both the outside and inside to make room for plenty of new FG mat. I'm also planning on using aluminum plates on the inside (glued and glassed in) to make sure the same hole enlargement doesn't occur again.

Finally, toward the bottom of the body, under the driver-side window are two 3" holes. One was the power cable port that nicely allowed for water to enter the cabin and over the years rot out the furnishings and make massive mold carpets very happy. I can't remember what the other one was.

My plan was to put a smallish hatch door in this place, leading to a compartment under one of the benches in the "living room" for quick access to wheel chocks and storage of jack wheel while in transit. A while back I got a 10x13" hatch on ebay - I had hoped for something a bit longer and narrower but the selections are very slim. As I was getting ready to make a tracing for cutting out the opening I realized that the curvature of the body wouldn't allow the hatch to be flush with it, and it isn't worth the effort to build up the FG to accommodate this. So, the hatch plan is out the door. So ground around the openings to get them patched up:

I guess I'll be doing some more fiberglassing next.

[slavandheather]

Oh yeah, forgot, after grinding things down on the outside I wanted to hit most of the exterior rivet and screw holes with a sander to remove the grime and silicone so I can get to patching them up properly. Also sanded around the window openings to get rid of the muck buildup.

My wife snapped a couple of these and Stan did a quick inspection on the job...he said it was passing, just barely, and told me to hurry it up so we can go camping! That's my good boy!

The sander seemed to work pretty good in places but took a lot of extra work in others. I have since found out that I'll make it easier on myself to get a random orbital sander rather than the regular orbital crapper I'm using.

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by slavandheather

(clip) rather than the regular orbital crapper I'm using.

Yee Ha! Just how does one go about using an "orbital" crapper?

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by Timber Wolf

Yee Ha! Just how does one go about using an "orbital" crapper?

I walked into that one!

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by slavandheather

I walked into that one!

Must be what the Astronauts use.

[slavandheather]

Greetings everyone! It has been a while since I posted and almost as long since I've worked on our Boler. Between a major surgery I had to go thru followed by recovery and winter...life...the little egg was just patiently waiting in storage.

My personal goal is to get it operational before the camping season is over, and that will make it almost three years since the project got underway. Hopefully I can pull it off...but it is a tall order considering how much is left.

I mentioned before that once the belly band was removed there were rotten and cracked sections that I decided to fix by cleaning and laying down a couple layers of FG. Here are a couple of the fixes, not final of course.

You also notice that (after hosing out all the mud and muck) I filled the gap with caulking to prevent future accumulation.

Fiberglassed the two 3" holes from both sides after grinding down the body some to expose raw FG. Also patched up the door hinge holes in the same fashion.

The area around the door opening where lock hardware used to be was pretty mangled so hit that up with the grinder and put down fresh FG.

And then we have all those rivet and screw holes, of all sizes, that are in need of getting patched up (they have been patched with FG from the inside).

I was initially going to just use Bondo but decided to do some research into hopefully something tougher. Noticed that a member here on the forum was using something different (note the color is not the Bondo pink) and had considerable automotive experience so I asked.

It was Evercoat's Everglass filler. Had to pick it up at Amazon. It is definitely more expensive but I figured that if it lasts better then it is worth it.

I have more holes to patch with the filler and then will pull out the Boler and sand it down real well to smooth out all the areas that have filler and exterior FG mat. This will most likely be a process that will cause some frustration but I want to have a good surface before the primer goes down....

[slavandheather]

With a little time here and there I have continued to use body filler on the exterior patching all the rivet and screw holes and chipped away original gelcoat. It sure doesn't look pretty, but a diamond in the rough never does.

Once sanded, more filler will need to go on to make the seams "disappear" in places where FG patches came in. A facelift, making the old young again!

I had a good day and pulled out the Boler to start the sanding process on the filler. I used a DeWalt random orbital sander with 80 grit paper and overall it went really well. The waste bag on it looked to be sucking in most of the dust, so that made me quite happy. I was able to cover most of the top half of the egg and the roof. There was a ton of old gunk around the original roof vent so that took extra effort to clean, but it looks good now.

The top left corner in the back was crushed and patched very poorly before we became owners. I already got the inside prepped for fiberglassing but the outside needed considerable sanding to smooth out and prep for filler. Here is the before and beginning of the after.

When I got to inspecting all the sanded areas yesterday afternoon I noticed that some of the sections that had holes actually had the FG shell warped inward as if they were hit with a baseball before the shell solidified in the manufacturing process. I realized that 30+ years of furnishings on the inside tugging at the shell would cause such damage (that they were loose didn't help), especially considering that the shell is not uniform in thickness.

Only one thing left to do, slather on some extra filler to make the several depressions perhaps not perfect but less obvious.

Here is the section above the back window where the above-window crappy wooden cabinet resided, pulling down on the shell.

By the way, I decided to not make cabinets above the front and back windows. Don't want the egg to feel really cramped on the inside.

Did some more smoothing over the FG repairs at the entrance.

And basted the very pockmarked front from rocks flying from the tow vehicle. We plan to put the same coating over this as underneath to prevent chipping.

As Donna eloquently put it, "it doesn't have to be perfect, just perfect for you" is starting to really work on me. This won't be perfect no matter how much I try, but it has to be nice and functional. So that's the goal.

[GMike A]

Looking Good Slav.

[TimR]

Any more updates? I just made it through all 18 pages expecting to see an awesome trailer at the end. Have to say I admire your determination and skills up to this point!
T