Picking up 71 Boler 13' tomorrow! Ideas?

[D and E Boler]

Hi everyone,

I am picking up an original 71 Boler 13' tomorrow evening.

Any ideas of what to do first?

Devan

[FRED SMAILES]

get 'er cleaned up and go over the running gear, tires basically see if it is useable as is, if so I suggest you use it on a couple of weekend outtings just to see if it is really you.
That is what we did the first summer we owned ours, that gave us an idea of what we were happy with and what needed attention first.
Fred

[frank_a]

If it was me, I'd pull the hubs and rebuild them, unless it was done just before you bought it. Make sure the tires are okay, all the running lights work, the hitch is in good shape and go for a spin!

Best of luck to you!

Frank

[Ian G.]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum.
Safety and reliability first.
As mentioned; Tires, bearings, lights, adjust and check coupler, safety chains. Then clean it up but I would not do anything until you use it some, get a feel for the space and how you camp and use it.
I just publish the Boler Buyer Guide which may give you an idea of what to check and what you may need to work on first

[1ATony]

Thanks for joining Devan, ,it's great to have you here.

Tony

[slimmit]

Make it safe before all else. Check out all the basics first. tires, bearings, trailer wiring/lights. check out your internal wiring for potential hazards and definitely check out the propane system. Ian published a buyers guide which is an excellent read for a person new to the FGRV world or any RV for that matter. Check for any leaks especially from the roof vent and windows.

[Carol H]

Follow Ian's Great Boler Buyer Guide! first off to look at running gear and frame! At a min take the wheels off and inspect and replace or repack the bearings!

Then look at the date on the propane tank, if the tires and battery are more than 5 years old save yourself some grief down the road and replace them. RV tires are a funny thing they may look good but not so good when you hit the road .... Unless you know that the previous owner was meticulous in maintaining an older battery don't count on it lasting for more than a day ....

[gary car]

Ive got an original 1977 b-1300...fun times...safety first......although Im thinking about selling mine because of storage costs in my area...santa barbara ca...any interested parties? I will post more pix on sellers page

[EcoHeliGuy]

Out side of the safety stuff mentioned.

First step for me was a complete rewire of the light wiring and switching to LED. Lighting is the largest single headache while towing. Fix it once.


Sent remotely

[papa-t]

Devan, Welcome to the forum and congrats on the purchase. Pictures so we can see it please.

[D and E Boler]

Thanks for all the valuable information everyone! Ian's guide was very helpful. Unfortunately the previous owner took the propane tank for his bbq and the battery for his boat. I will be heading the store to buy these items.

The frame looks like it has been reinforced in the past with pieces on the frame rails at the front welded on and also some triangular pieces below those.The door is slightly off set though. It does have all interior supports.Its also missing the furnace and water tank which I will be looking for. The fridge works and stove!

Looking forward to getting rid of my tent!

I have uploaded some pictures for everyone to see.

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome Devon, a new LP tank and battery are minor. Do check out your frame for safety though, everything else is gravy

[D and E Boler]

Okay I have taken some frame pics.

To me everything looks good except for the amount of rust on rear section of the frame. the frame feels solid when I tug on it and appears to be mostly surface rust.. Maybe some rust paint would be beneficial.

Not sure if this should go into another thread, but let me know what you think.

I also took a picture of the tire spacing. Looks like the tire is pretty close to me.

(Some pictures are upside down..sorry)

[Borrego Dave]

Looks pretty nice . I don't see anything wrong with the frame additions from the pics but do check it out. If you do end up painting the frame you may want to use Por-15 as from others it sounds like a good product.

[Ian G.]

It looks good Devon, door is a little out of adjustment (check the hinge balls for wear) then just adkust them to align the door.
If you can get a picture looking down the length of the drivers side frame rail like I have in the Buyer Guide.

As an option rather than replacing the water tank I use an external tank on mine, the write-up is on this mod is almost at the bottom of the page
External Water Tank or External Water Tank

[gary car]

thanks for the awesome post

[slavandheather]

Looks very nice overall. Definitely get the frame looked at. It might not break where it was reinforced but can somewhere else. They used thin metal and poor welds.

You can pick up spare parts from Scamp, like water tank.

[Borden]

Looks nice and clean; we had to replace all three tires when we got ours it had new car tires and we wanted the ST radial trailer tires. We did repack bearings, check brakes and over all inspection ours was like yours looking good. No frame repairs had been done. You should have lots of fun adventures.
Welcome to the group.

[Borden]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Looks pretty nice . I don't see anything wrong with the frame additions from the pics but do check it out. If you do end up painting the frame you may want to use Por-15 as from others it sounds like a good product.

Check tire size against the original and check for suspension sag. They may have added bigger tires or .....

[D and E Boler]

Hi,

Its been raining here for a few days so I left it outside to test for leaks:

-Plexi glass windows are leaking at the middle at the bottom. Not very much but enough to annoy me. I may get some caulking just for that area. There is a hairline gap there.

-The side windows are leaking slightly as well. One side very bad to the point that the dinette cushion is quite wet. Unfortunately the previous owner appeared to have used silicon around the windows. The strange part is that the water was in the tray that holds the screen..I am thinking maybe it wasn't closed tight enough.

I have brought the trailer into the garage now.

Checked and tested all wiring inside and everything is good. Some lights only work with a 12v battery. It is a little hoaky but seems to do the job.

I have taken a picture of the rear frame like the one from the Buyer's guide. It appears be straight to me.. I am going to make sure all bolts holding the frame to the frame are good to prevent future damage. (Sorry..cannot figure out how to rotate uploads, so you can save it to your computer then rotate to view better.)

The diameter of my tires are just under 24". I measured the distance from the frame to the ground and it appears to be 8"..

The door hinges are definitely worn. The springs, etc are gone and have been replaced with other bolts. It looks to be causing stress marks on the door area.

I am thinking of ordering the axle and hinge parts from Paul in Ontario. Has anyone dealt with him in the past? If so, is the axle good build quality? Or has anyone in BC replaced their axle and know of a good shop to go to to get one made to match the original?

Thanks for all the replies. They have been very helpful.

Devan