My '73 Boler Winter Project

[Steveo R]

I thought I would post my renovation pictures. Hope they inspire and motivate people to get their eggs ready for the upcoming camping season!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7236...277&l=1c9bf

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2187...mp;id=505718277

So... I have a fetish for taking lots of pictures! haha. Its a good documentation i guess. big difference between when i bought it with all the mold and outdated colours (yes, we spell it that way in canada, though don't ask me why!).

Some of the new mods:

LED tail lights
LED marker lights
Removable dinette table (so i can still use the bed for a guest)
new 2 burner stainless cooktop
a paint job on the interior
Painted cupboards
Drilled out all the rivets and replaced them with stainless machine screws and acorn nuts
drilled out window rivets, reapplied the butyl tape seal
IKEA drawers in the closet
New cushions are on the way!

Hope that warms some people up during the tail end of winter!

[Roy in TO]

Looks great,
I prefer the original 70's lino myself to the wierd stuff somebody put in over top of it.

[Raya]

Wow, that is inspiring!

It's not possible to have too many photos

I had to start writing down my questions, there were so many good ideas and projects!

So, here goes:

1) What is the new refrigerator-panel material?

2) What kind of paint didyou use to paint the Ensolite?

3) I take it those are Ikea's "Trofast" drawers, but the glide/cleat things don't look like the Ikea ones (Ikea's look like white plastic on the Ikea website). Can you tell how you made yours (and I suppose there is a good reason why you didn't use the Ikea ones; curious what it is since I was thinking of buying them to use the Trofast drawers in my Boler's closet pretty soon).

4) How did you fasten the drawer glides into the closet?

5) Ooh, how did you paint the hardware for the cabinet doors?

And yeah, that first added linoleum was pretty retro-cool.

Again, everything you did looks great! And thanks so much for documenting as you went along! And then sharing it with us

Raya

[Steveo R]

Thank you guys for the good words!

1. The fridge panel is actually a piece of 20 gauge stainless steel. I went to a local sheet metal place and asked them to cut one to the specified dimensions. The fridge door came apart quite easily, just one or two screws and i slid the new panel into place. Probably one of my favorite mods!

2. I used melamine paint. From what I read about it, once it dries it basically turns into a very durable, but flexible coating. It was a bit of work to roll on with the little 4 inch foam roller, but it is totally worth it. I painted the cupboards with the same type of paint and i can't even scratch it off with my fingernail like i would be able to with latex. Very happy with that paint (though it does smell because its oil based). I was afraid that when I peeled back the already painted ensolite to add the dinette that the paint would chip off, but it stayed on there.

3. I decided not to use the sliders that they sell because i wanted them to be a bit deeper so that i could push the drawers all the to the back wall. Not sure what else i am going to put in there, but i just wanted the option. Second, i wasn't sure of how sturdy the plastic sliders would be, seeing as how the drawers will probably be jammed full of heavy items. The last thing i wanted was broken sliders going down a bumpy back road. I used aluminum "U" channel with a 1/2 inch groove. I cut the aluminum channel to the appropriate lengths, then drilled holes on the inside of the "U" and countersunk the holes so the screws would sit flush. To get the U channel, I went to the local scrap metal yard and picked it up for super cheap.

4. They are attached to a custom made 1/2 inch plywood cabinet inside of the closet. That was a lot of work trying to get everything to fit, but it was well worth the effort. So that I didn't have to drill anymore holes in the fiberglass, I used PL premium urethane based adhesive that is used in construction quite often (another product out there called "no more nails" is essentially the same thing). I can post some other pictures if you want more details.

5. To paint the hardware too a lot of prep. I disassembled the plastic pieces (there is a little metal plate that can be popped off and the moving parts removed), sanded the heck out of the hardware then found a good can of spray paint (make sure it specifically states that it will adhere to metal). A couple coats later produced a nice finish, then i reassembled the moving pieces. Might sound difficult, but it was actually very easy. I was going to buy new hardware, but found that they are all made of plastic now and are amazingly expensive! I managed to get lucky on the hinges though, as I found some that were exactly the same dimensions as what were on there previously. I found them at Home Depot, i think they were 3.50 (canadian) for 2 hinges. I just took the old ones off, and secured the new ones with some small machine screws and bolts (no drilling or anything, they just fit in the same holes!).

Here is the link to the hinges on their website:

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/...tk=P_PartNumber

I wish the original lino was in good enough shape to keep because I think it is very cool!

Hope that answers your questions!

Thanks again, and good luck!

[Phil 4500]

Great job!!! Thanks for the inspiration on this cold February day
Can't wait to see more pics in the future.

[Doug Mager]

Wel come to the site Steveo!! I used some of your tecnics in our re-do a few years ago!!
Watch for a personal message!!!

[Angelo F.]

Looking great so far! I did the exact same thing to my Pacer last spring and it's literally like a brand new trailer inside. Better than new. You're going to be so happy and comfortable when you're done.

[Raya]

Thanks for the detailed replies to my questions!

I was wondering if you had used the metal channels for extra strength - that plus the length makes sense. (Also, inexplicably, Ikea does not sell the channels by mail order, even though you can get a lot of the other Trofast parts online - even bulkier ones.)

Speaking of strength, I take it that you felt the plastic boxes themselves are up to taking some decent weight inside them? I wondered about that but haven't seen one in-person so I had no idea about their relative strength/flimsiness.

I had also been wondering whether to use them because of that potentially wasted space in the back (or front). I'd been thinking of maybe adding bins for light items in the door, but wasn't so keen on that idea.

Then, just last night while idly Googling, I ran across a neat idea, which is where someone used the Trofast bins in the front of the Boler 13 closet, then made a tall, skinny door on the forward side of the closet, right next to the door latch, for hanging coats, etc. in the area behind the bins. That person had built a whole new closet out of wood, and I'm not sure if it might have been deeper than the stock one (although I don't think so). Here are some photos of that closet. The trailer is/was owned by a person named Darren (are you here, Darren?). At first I wondered if I should post the photos, but on his website showing them, Darren said <span style="font-family:Arial">Thanks to Laura W from the Fiberglass RV Forum who shared the idea of using IKEA Trofast sliding drawers in the closet. </span><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">So I think it should be okay










</span>Thanks for the hinge info, too. I was just going to do some research to find some and now I don't have to (By the way, looks like Home Depot calls them "Liberty" in the US instead of "Richelieu" as they do in Canada; I can just picture the Home Depot people sitting around deciding what will appeal to the different countries )

Speaking of Canadian products, does anyone know the equivalent to Melamine paint in the US? I did a bit of Googling but didn't find anything conclusive. One source said Home Depot sold it as Cabinet Rescue (brand) but I don't get any results for that on a Home Depot search. (Searching paint I don't see any way to "sub search" and narrow down the 300+ items.)

Thanks again,

Raya

[Steveo R]

I do believe that the bins are strong enough, in fact my parents have the trofast bins in their pantry for things like potatoes and such. I have seen a 20 lb bag of potatoes go into one of the bins with no problem. They are surprisingly well built for the low cost of them!

I had also thought about the wasted space, but in the end decided i was gaining much more usable space than i would be losing. I might be able to rig something in there to hang some clothes as well.

Ironically enough, it was from that same webpage that i got the idea for the bins! I actually e-mailed him about his dinette table to see how he did it! He was very helpful.

As for the melamine paint, I actually found it at Benjamin Moore paints and if I'm not mistaken they are a US company? I would try giving them a call maybe, they seem to have good staff that know what they are talking about. Not sure if this will help, but here is the link for the canadian benjamin moore site that it is located on. Might be a starting place to look?

http://benjaminmoore.com/bmpsweb/portals/b...findproducts_ca

if you can't find it there, i would phone a paint store instead of home depot as they just seem to have more knowledgable staff.

Kind of funny that they change names like that! Very quirky that we are so similar yet things have to be so different!

Hope that helps