1978 Boler Complete Restoration / Rebuild

[Nelmes]

The front window and seal where new last year, but when the shop went to install they "upgraded" to marguard, a much more flexible and scratch resistant material, the only problem is on the freeway the wind blew it out of the seal (downside to flexible). I managed to get it back in, and now travel with a rock guard on the window. I have since noticed that during storms the front window leaks. With everything appearing to be good I have had trouble finding the issue and changing the front window seems like an expensive solution as it is still new.

[slavandheather]

Started fitting the 1st window that needed FG work. As messy as it looked before, it looks quite decent now. And after some sanding and body filler I think it will be quite nice.

Here you have the modified cut-out followed by window sitting in it:

Will get to work on the opposite window and kitchen window next....

[slavandheather]

After a bit of a mess with the first side window, I decided to use scrap FG for most of the work on the opposite side window and the kitchen window. Still did the smaller corners with fresh FG, but in hindsight should have just used scrap pieces for those too. Anyways, here are some pics of the kitchen window.

First, securely screwed in the scrap piece followed by basting with FG on the inside:

Next, traced out the size and cut out the new opening. Turned out pretty good and fits well after some fine-tuning:

With the bigger side window I first secured the long scrap piece before basting from the inside. The corners were done from scratch:

Once everything was well cured, I again traced out the outline of the window and made the cuts. Fits pretty good.

There is more fine tuning to be done and of course the external body filler will be needed once I'm ready for that step.

I think I'll tackle that busted upper rear corner of our Boler, at least from the inside for starters.

[Luis]

Nice! ill forward pics of my windows over the long weekend!

[D White]

You need to ditch and put 2 layers of fiberglass on the outside too, or it will show and possibly crack....fiberglass Dave

[GMike A]

Nice work Slav. Listen to Dave the FB man. Looking GREAT

[Borrego Dave]

Good job Slav. Just a note for anyone needing scrap FG pieces. I picked up 12 window cut outs from a shell maker for free. Done many mods with them on the dune buggy.

[slavandheather]

Thanks everyone for the good words! I guess it will be more work, but will take Dave's advice. Don't want all this and upcoming hard work to bite me.

Slav

[slavandheather]

Finally got a day I could put some more hard work into the Boler. First, wanted to get that belly band taken off and see how things looked underneath. It will need to be restored and shined up for sure. I plan to use stainless screws (anyone know if stainless and aluminum will react unfavorably?) instead of rivets. Not sure yet if only drilled into the top or all the way thru. Guess it would be cleaner to not drill thru the bottom of the band.

As expected, under the band could almost make a guy cry. Filthy and kind of rotten in places. This one is on the driver side of the rig:

And this one to the right of the door. You can really see how gross and frayed things look:

What I'd like to do with this is clean it up as good as possible (any suggestions? acetone? water? soap?) and put a bead of something into the gap just to seal it up from future gunk buildup. I was thinking of some liquid rubber, if there is such a thing. Or there is that tar in a tube for roofing. Or would silicone be good enough? Doesn't need to be pretty, just functional.

Thanks for any tips!

[Sitah]

My trailer is very similar to a Boler. I was curious as to how the frame project came out. Did you remove the rust and repaint? I found a crack in my frame (1973 trailer), so I'm juggling different ideas: fix/strengthen or have a whole new frame made. Not sure yet. It looked pretty easy to separate the body from the frame on yours. I don't think mine would be quite as easy. What is the floor? Fiberglass? Mine is a thick, plywood floor, attached to the body via bolts, rivets, and fiberglass overlay. Interesting design. =P Thanks!

Chris
Portland, OR

[Luis]

Originally Posted by slavandheather

Finally got a day I could put some more hard work into the Boler. First, wanted to get that belly band taken off and see how things looked underneath. It will need to be restored and shined up for sure. I plan to use stainless screws (anyone know if stainless and aluminum will react unfavorably?) instead of rivets. Not sure yet if only drilled into the top or all the way thru. Guess it would be cleaner to not drill thru the bottom of the band.

Attachment 75228

As expected, under the band could almost make a guy cry. Filthy and kind of rotten in places. This one is on the driver side of the rig:

Attachment 75229

And this one to the right of the door. You can really see how gross and frayed things look:

Attachment 75230

What I'd like to do with this is clean it up as good as possible (any suggestions? acetone? water? soap?) and put a bead of something into the gap just to seal it up from future gunk buildup. I was thinking of some liquid rubber, if there is such a thing. Or there is that tar in a tube for roofing. Or would silicone be good enough? Doesn't need to be pretty, just functional.

Thanks for any tips!

I suggest sandblasting (or soda Blasting) the area you want to clean up.
Soda blasting is a bit less coarse than sand.

If you are in Calgary area there is one shop that does this near 50th AV. south.

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by Luis

I suggest sandblasting (or soda Blasting) the area you want to clean up.
Soda blasting is a bit less coarse than sand.

If you are in Calgary area there is one shop that does this near 50th AV. south.

Hey Luis, I don't think I can do that myself and I'm definitely out of range of Calgary! I'm in the Seattle area...

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by Chris73

My trailer is very similar to a Boler. I was curious as to how the frame project came out. Did you remove the rust and repaint? I found a crack in my frame (1973 trailer), so I'm juggling different ideas: fix/strengthen or have a whole new frame made. Not sure yet. It looked pretty easy to separate the body from the frame on yours. I don't think mine would be quite as easy. What is the floor? Fiberglass? Mine is a thick, plywood floor, attached to the body via bolts, rivets, and fiberglass overlay. Interesting design. =P Thanks!

Chris
Portland, OR

Hey Chris,

If you follow my posts from the start you'll see our frame was in pretty poor state. The welds looked crappy, the whole thing was eaten by rust, and I've read too many stories of those frames breaking. We went ahead and had a local shop build us a new one with much better steel and with some modifications. Also got a new axle with e-brakes. All that is in this thread.

Our floor is FG, no wood, so that was nice but we had to be careful not to break it while lifting because it is only about 1/4 inch thick or less.

Have a look at Robert Johans' work on a 1971 Boler with wood floor here.

If you plan on using the trailer for years to come, I'd suggest a new frame and axle for peace of mind. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Cheers,
Slav

[slavandheather]

After getting the belly band off I suited up fully, put a respirator mask on and goggles and fired up the grinder. My goal is to make the tail light cups flush with the body and essentially one with it, rather than the afterthought cups that they are. I'm not sure yet which way it will go, whether I'll cut off the flange on the cups and glass them in, or grind out a trough around the light openings deep enough to recess the flange and then smooth it out with some extra FG and filler. The inside would be glassed as well for solid strength. For now, I ground off the gelcoat plus a bit more:

As was suggested here on the forum, I got to grinding out a trough on the outside of all the patched-in holes and window mods so I can lay down FG mat for super strength. Here are the windows:

And the former vents, holes, etc.:

The body is of course full of rivet and screw holes. Most of these I've patched from the inside using FG mat, but they still need help on the outside. I hit each hole with a conical grinder drill bit to make a trough and expose fresh surface that filler can bite into.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, one of the rear upper corners was crushed by the previous owner and patched very poorly. It will be quite a bit of work to redeem this corner. I started by grinding out the cracks on the inside (from top to bottom this section is about 15 inches or so). The big patch will most likely come out, or maybe I'll just glass things in nice and solid. Outside will be even more effort but I'm not there yet.

Seemed like the longer I was grinding the shell the slower the RPMs were going on the grinder. Wonder if it is simply the quality of Harbor Freight equipment. Hopefully it will last a bit longer for me to finish up the grinding. This is dirty work and I am looking forward to getting at least the shell finished up sooner than later. I cleaned things up with acetone and she went back to the garage...

[jkmboler]

Slava:

You were talking about insulating your floor. I would recommend Dynamat, dynaliner.

It is a self-adhesive closed cell rubber mat used in the hotrod custom car world.

Check it out here: Dynamat.com | Dynaliner for Automotive Use

You can put carpet or flooring directly over it.

[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.

[GMike A]

Looks good Slav. You can have a career working with Robert J. if you want

[D White]

Excellent glass work here,,,,Fiberglass Dave

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by GMike A

Looks good Slav. You can have a career working with Robert J. if you want

Thanks Mike! Put in a full day on the Boler yesterday, more pics will be posted later in the week. Not sure I'd want to do this for a living, but it certainly is fun to see the project moving along.

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by D White

Excellent glass work here,,,,Fiberglass Dave

Thanks Dave! And many thanks for your suggestions over the course of the project.