Old beat down rotten 13' Boler - Fiberglass RV
Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 05-19-2013, 09:04 PM   #1
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Old beat down rotten 13' Boler

Hey,

I introduced myself earlier, but I am moving most of my posts here as I will be tracking progress of my renovation. For those who care you can find my intro here. For those who do not: I have a boler 13', its gutted, the frame is in the process of being cleaned up.

Spent some time today going through the frame, and found some things that are giving me cause for concern. Pictures below show some of the severe pitting on the back end of the trailer and the hole I tapped through with a hammer (hey if it can't take me tapping on it, I don't want to tow it). The rust was scaled on many parts of the back end on the top of the 2x3 steel members. I was already aware that I would have to replace the cross members as they have rotted out, but now I am contemplating a few things:
  • sandblasting it, welding in angle iron to brace it
  • rebuilding everything
  • rebuilding just the cross members and 2x3 runners and reusing everything else (axle, a-frame, and rear bumper)

to be honest, the metal is pretty thin by the hole, I cut out a square area until I could get to some thicker metal and it looks better now... but still... blows my budget build.

Still assembling a list of ideas and items that I will need, that will be forthcoming.
Attached Thumbnails
IMGP0099.jpg   IMGP0104.jpg  

IMGP0108.jpg   IMGP0109.jpg  

PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-19-2013, 09:40 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
carlkeigley's Avatar
 
Name: Carl
Trailer: 2013 Lil Snoozy #161 (SOLD)/2010 Tacoma
NE Oklahoma
Posts: 2,358
That frame looks like my first boat trailer.

Welcome to the Forum.
carlkeigley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2013, 05:44 AM   #3
Member
 
Name: Byron
Trailer: 73 Boler
Ontario
Posts: 41
Looks like you have the same plans and ideas I have. But I am skipping on water tanks and need the front bunk for my kid. You will blow the budget fast, I sure did.

Have fun.
__________________
Please check out my Boler / life blog
https://adventuresofus20xx.blogspot.ca/
B-Rock is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2013, 03:36 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
slavandheather's Avatar
 
Name: Slavomir
Trailer: 1978 Boler
Washington
Posts: 275
Wow, that frame looks rough. I would not trust it to support a renovated egg...you may end up losing it somewhere on the road! If you plan to enjoy it for a long time, have a new frame built.

Hey, what year is your Boler?

Cheers,
Slav
slavandheather is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-20-2013, 04:56 PM   #5
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Yah, rough is putting it nicely... My friend will be over this afternoon with a verdict on salvage or rebuild.

As far as the year, 78 or 73. Can't remember, I do know it was built by neonex.
PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2013, 12:58 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
Thomas G.'s Avatar
 
Trailer: No Trailer Yet
Posts: 5,112
I'll call that frame a template.
__________________
UHaul and Burro owners, join the UHaul Campers on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/529276933859491/
Thomas G. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-21-2013, 01:04 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
slavandheather's Avatar
 
Name: Slavomir
Trailer: 1978 Boler
Washington
Posts: 275
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW_Yeti View Post
Yah, rough is putting it nicely... My friend will be over this afternoon with a verdict on salvage or rebuild.

As far as the year, 78 or 73. Can't remember, I do know it was built by neonex.
Check your floor from the underneath unless the inside is gutted. If it is just one piece fiberglass (no wood glassed in), then you have a 78. If the floor has been glassed in to the body and has glassed in wood slats (which may be rotten, hence more work for you), you likely have a 73.
slavandheather is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2013, 08:17 PM   #8
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Progress

As the trailer was broken down at my mom's I have not been able to spend as much time as I would like. My wife and I went down on Saturday and although we weren't feeling that well finished the demo on the inside.

The progress so far:

My wife removed the remaining interior pieces, drilled out all of the rivets and any screws still sticking through the body.

Many of the screws were rusted so bad none of the threads were there and they mostly tetanus syringes sticking out ready to poke you.

Sanded off any remaining insulation that was stuck to the wall, now it looks really really good.

The windows and vents are out. I will be reusing the windows and glassing in the vents. No fridge, heater or any other appliance requiring venting will be used in the trailer. I will be keeping the vent above the stove area.

I know many of you said the frame was shot, but my fabricator friend said it would be good to go. I trust him, and aside from the hole near the door (which will be fixed) the remaining frame is solid.

Moving forward:

I have decided to go with reflectix and headliner material. I will be painting the body using rust o leum and the roll and tip method as described by many people here. My budget of 1000 is looking more like 1500. (and reality that looks more like 2500)

I have included some pictures of the progress, comment away.
Attached Thumbnails
IMGP0092.jpg   trailer and odd stuff 034.jpg  

IMGP0093.jpg   trailer and odd stuff 036.jpg  

IMGP0096.jpg   trailer and odd stuff 023.jpg  

trailer and odd stuff 037.jpg   IMGP0095.jpg  

PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2013, 05:50 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
GMike A's Avatar
 
Name: Mike
Trailer: 2001 Spirit Deluxe 17" K5NAN
Texas
Posts: 688
LOOKS GREAT TO ME. I thought $1K might be tight but am guessing your return factor would be 6X if done well. IMO.

Thanks for super pixs and narrative.
__________________
Mike
K5NAN
"Miss Adventures"
If you Rest, You Rust
GMike A is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2013, 08:35 PM   #10
Member
 
jcham1970's Avatar
 
Name: Jeremy
Trailer: Scamp
Washington
Posts: 49
Great job on the interior clean up! How/what did you use to clean it so well? I see you are from Washington, and noticed you have an upper cabinet. Do you plan to take that down? If so, any chance I could make a template of it? I plan to build front and rear upper cabinets, and that would save a lot of time, assuming boler and scamp upper cabinets are the same or close. Nice job so far!

Jeremy
jcham1970 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2013, 11:07 PM   #11
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Hey Jeremy,

80 grit sandpaper, the kind that comes on the foam blocks from Home Depot, went through 2 of em. This mostly got the residual foam off and some of the glue. The rest of the glue was taken off using a wire wheel and drill (lightly).

I did save all of the wood. I will make some measurements and post them the next time I make it down there.
PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 09:13 AM   #12
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
I will be heading down to the trailer tomorrow to start on the fiberglass repair. The goal for tomorrow is to be ready to glass over the weekend. I did have a few questions that might benefit from the opinions and experience on this forum, some of them may have been answered already but I will shoot them out anyway:

1. Rivets vs. glassed in support. I would like to avoid future leaks by sealing the rivet holes and placing wooden glassed in support in the same locations, thoughts?

2. The belly band (aluminum trim) has lost whatever sealant it had And is filthy underneath. I plan on removing it cleaning everything and reusing it. Alternatively I could grind down the lip and glass over it, thoughts?

3. when it comes to sanding the exterior I was contemplating using my oscillating sander for the really rough areas, too much?

Thank you your replies in advance, I apologize for any typos sent from my phone.
PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 09:29 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
Name: Derek
Trailer: 1973 boler 13', Earlton On
Ontario
Posts: 396
Registry
My suspicion with the belly band is that it helps maintain the shape of the shell. It gives you rigidity that wouldn't be there otherwise.

When I did my "body work" on my Boler, a 1/4 sheet sander was as aggresssive enough. Simply pick the grit level needed for the job you have to do.
glamourpets is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 09:52 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
Carol H's Avatar
 
Trailer: 92 16 ft Scamp
Posts: 11,756
Registry
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW_Yeti View Post
1. Rivets vs. glassed in support. I would like to avoid future leaks by sealing the rivet holes and placing wooden glassed in support in the same locations, thoughts?

2. The belly band (aluminum trim) has lost whatever sealant it had And is filthy underneath. I plan on removing it cleaning everything and reusing it. Alternatively I could grind down the lip and glass over it, thoughts?
Josh a lot of people if at the stage you are at go with glassing in wood supports to secure the cabinets vs re riveting them in. Less rivets is always better in the long run.

Have seen some folks grind down the belly band and reglass. A lot of work that I am not sure returns the same in benefits. May want to touch up and reseal it before putting the band back on it though.
Carol H is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 10:40 AM   #15
Senior Member
 
David Tilston's Avatar
 
Name: Dave W
Trailer: Trillium 4500 - 1976, 1978, 1979, 1300 - 1977, and a 1973
Alberta
Posts: 6,926
Registry
The sticky part of removing the belly band is, how do you then line up the top half to the bottom half? Trillium uses the belly band, on the outside, riveted to some metal plates, on the inside of the two halfs. This lines up the top and bottom. Then they run a fibreglass mat bandage over the inside to seal it. Boler uses a flange in the fibreglass and clamps the top flange to the bottom flange with a U channel belly band.
If you grind off those flanges, then something will be needed to line up the two halfs, while you close the seam.
David Tilston is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 12:18 PM   #16
Senior Member
 
GMike A's Avatar
 
Name: Mike
Trailer: 2001 Spirit Deluxe 17" K5NAN
Texas
Posts: 688
I too and another renovator are not riveting anything topside but instead using fiberglassed in blocks that will support my shelves, galley and other items. I have discussed this at length and have a plan of attack. So I would say go for it. I also have a rivetless vent fan option that I have drawn out but will have to think about the real feasiblity a bit more before I do it. The fiberglassing was not bad at all after I got my hands into it. Learned not to make my patches so tight.
__________________
Mike
K5NAN
"Miss Adventures"
If you Rest, You Rust
GMike A is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2013, 05:54 PM   #17
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Well it looks like I got my answers!

I will be filling rivet holes and glassing interior support pieces, cleaning and reusing the aluminum belly band, and taking it slow with the sander.

Hopefully I will remember to post pictures tomorrow.
PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2013, 11:08 PM   #18
Junior Member
 
Name: Josh
Trailer: Boler 1300
Washington
Posts: 19
Exhausted

Spent some quality time Saturday, and some hung over time on Sunday working on the pock marks all over the fiberglass. I was hoping to get a lot further but sometimes what you want is not what you get. Movement is movement and as long as it's forward I am happy.

Each one of the pock marks on the trailer represents a "worm hole" into the fiberglass, so I chased them down with a dremel and beveled grinder bit. Some of them were pretty deep, others were really shallow. A few had gotten so bad the fiberglass on the inside had "popped" and created a cavity. Those will be repaired with actual glass.

My wife followed me and cleaned out the divets with acetone and a brush, then wiped it again with a rag. Fiberglass filler with cream hardener and some sanding and a final coat of primer over the top to seal it up and we were done, sort of...

After we had sanded down the filler we noticed more pock marks and some that had not filled in well. So again we will have to go back and fill them in. However the spots we did get filled in and painted over look excellent.

The weather was way too hot, it was supposed to be fairly mild (~65 and cloudy) but it was ~75 and sunny, a tyvek suit was almost unbearable. This is relative of course, but it was hot for me.

Lessons learned:
  1. Red cream hardener works way better than the cream hardener that comes with the can, it shows how well you mixed it in, if you mixed enough in and when it comes to sanding it works out much better.
  2. Painting over with primer also works really well because it shows all of the flaws, I can always sand it off and rework an area.
  3. I started out trying to work in large swaths with a bondo spatula, that did not work out well, it ended up wasting material, taking way too long to sand and the holes never filled well. A 1 inch metal spatula worked better and was actually quicker.

Well here are some pics, they kind of show the steps...

Also I forgot to take measurements of the rear shelf for Jeremy, I guess I will have to PM him...
Attached Thumbnails
IMGP0115.jpg   IMGP0116.jpg  

IMGP0117.jpg   IMGP0118-adj.jpg  

PNW_Yeti is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 05:47 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
GMike A's Avatar
 
Name: Mike
Trailer: 2001 Spirit Deluxe 17" K5NAN
Texas
Posts: 688
I've seen these before. Fiberglass worm holes. They primarily attack at night and if left untreated can turn an Egg into swiss cheese. These holes you point out appear to be marks from an infant. Good thing you caught them. A good coat of wax will help with two drops of DDT in it.
Good luck.
Attached Thumbnails
143995.jpg  
__________________
Mike
K5NAN
"Miss Adventures"
If you Rest, You Rust
GMike A is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2013, 07:09 PM   #20
Senior Member
 
Donna D.'s Avatar
 
Trailer: 1988 16 ft Scamp Deluxe
Posts: 25,697
Mike, Mike, Mike the uninitiated will think you're serious! You ARE, aren't you? They're probably morphed bed bugs....
__________________
Donna D.
Ten Forward - 2014 Escape 5.0 TA
Double Yolk - 1988 16' Scamp Deluxe
Donna D. is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
boler


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Old beat down no good rotten 13' Boler PNW_Yeti Hi, I am.... 14 05-20-2013 06:44 PM
Sure Way to Beat High Fuel Prices! Jon D P General Chat 7 05-01-2011 07:08 PM
Help with rotten Boler door LindaR Problem Solving | Owners Helping Owners 3 11-20-2007 10:02 PM
Got you beat! Elsie G. Jokes, Stories & Tall Tales 0 09-06-2006 08:49 PM

» Upcoming Events
No events scheduled in
the next 465 days.
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:27 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.