Renovating a 71 Eco - Fiberglass RV
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Old 07-12-2019, 02:02 PM   #1
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Name: Carter
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Renovating a 71 Eco

Well, as outlined over on http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post748593 what appears to be a 71 Boler has just entered my life. It appears to be pretty sound but definitely needs some love. I'll document the progress here. Today I picked it up and managed to JUST BARELY get it in the garage.
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Old 07-13-2019, 08:49 AM   #2
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Today I cleaned everything out. It was a lot.

And I discovered that it appears to be an Eco, not a Boler.
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Old 07-13-2019, 10:07 AM   #3
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Wow. An Eco. Nice find. First I've seen. Didn't know they were such a close Boler clone.
Enjoy.

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Old 07-14-2019, 07:09 AM   #4
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With everything out, yesterday I removed some random hooks and such, and got half of it scrubbed, primed and caulked. Today is the other half.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:06 AM   #5
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Good progress over the weekend.

* Everything is scrubbed down now.
* Carpet and 70s linoleum were ripped out.
* All the walls and floors have been hit with sealing primer.
* Hit the interior frame rails with some rust converter while they're exposed. It's only light surface rust, but might as well. Pretty soon they'll be covered up again.
* Drilled out a bunch of random hooks and junk prior owner had pop-riveted into the fixtures. Repaired the holes with epoxy.
* Removed the ant colony and mold from the driver-side dinette storage.
* Caulked about 2/3 of the seams.

Not bad for the first weekend!
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:08 AM   #6
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Started looking at my wiring yesterday. Discovered my converter doesn’t appear to be converting (there’s a separate thread for that) and discovered a length of Romex that tied into the 110v system near the shore power, then ran out the front of the trailer to just lay on the tongue unterminated. No tape, no wire nuts, nothing. Really scary. What are people thinking?
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:16 AM   #7
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Wires on the tongue are probably for attaching 12vdc battery mounted on the tongue.

In your pic of the power center, some of the wires are probably for 110vac power, while others are probably for 12vdc power.

None of this really matters, as you really need to re-check and/or re-wire everything.
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:21 AM   #8
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That's what you'd think, John, except the battery is under the dinette (another problem), it was household romex, and it was tied directly into the 110v systems. I honestly don't know what they were thinking, but I'm sure glad it didn't plug this thing in and touch the tongue.

The power center doesn't appear to be doing anything anymore. There's no transformer, so anything 12v would have to be running straight off the battery or not working at all.
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Old 07-30-2019, 12:02 PM   #9
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Haven't given an update in awhile, and since today was a small milestone I figured it was time.

At this point, everything has had two coats of sealing primer, and most of the ensolite has been painted gloss white.

All of the fixtures except the front bench have also been painted gloss white.
I've also painted inside them.

New power center is in, which in turn allowed 110v service, iPhone charging, and best of all, the set of 6 puck LEDs I picked up for $12 on prime day -- complete with a remote. Pretty sweet.

Today I hooked it up and hauled it down to the trailer place for a good look at the running gear.

They haven't fully dove in yet, but at a glance they agreed with my assessment that the frame and axle appear to be fine.

They're going to give everything a good inspection, replace the bearings, put on two new tires, and cut off the angle-iron someone welded onto the back bumper to carry a "trunk"

They did notice at least two body mount bolts have failed, so let's add that to the list.
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Old 08-01-2019, 06:19 AM   #10
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Heard back from the shop yesterday with good news. The frame looks good end to end. Axle too, which is kind of surprising. They’re still putting new tires on it, replacing the bearings and cutting that nasty iron thing off the back.
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Old 08-01-2019, 07:29 AM   #11
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Cool! My brother had one in southern Alberta.
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Old 08-01-2019, 07:42 AM   #12
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It's definitely fascinating wondering how these things move around over the years. This one hasn't gone that far -- just from Nebraska to Kansas -- but then you hear about one up in Canada.

For awhile I wondered if it was a Boler American, since they were made right up the road in Wichita.
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Old 08-01-2019, 08:23 AM   #13
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Since I really dislike adding photos to posts in vBulletin I started an album hoping that will be less painful:

Fiberglass RV - Baxter's Album: Restoring my 71 Eco

(honestly, I just think vBulletin is horrible forum software, but :shrug:
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Old 08-01-2019, 12:45 PM   #14
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After adding a bunch of pics to the album, I dunno if that's better. Not a whole lot easier, and in a thread at least people can ask questions or comment on them easier. I guess I'm not sure what's the preferred protocol 'round here.
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Old 08-01-2019, 02:03 PM   #15
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I will look at a picture and decide if I want to spend more time on it. I won't follow a link to see if I want to pursue more pix and posts. I almost never click on video, linked or not.
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Old 08-01-2019, 03:14 PM   #16
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Given that the original thread title incorrectly says "Boler" maybe I should just abandon this thread and recreate the album in a new one.
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Old 08-02-2019, 01:45 AM   #17
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Maybe ask a moderator to help retitle the thread.

Walt
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Old 08-02-2019, 02:18 PM   #18
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Maybe that's best.

Anyhow, backing up to the beginning to show the work so far..

As I found her, most anything fibrous inside had to go. Here's a shot of the dinette, showing the poorly-recovered and stained cushions, the faded curtains and grungy ensolite.
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Old 08-02-2019, 02:22 PM   #19
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Here are some shots of the kitchenette as found.
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Old 08-02-2019, 02:25 PM   #20
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On the plus side, everywhere I looked, the frame looked a lot like this: a bit of surface rust, but nothing deep, no cracks, and it looked straight. I expected much worse.
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