Boler Mods.

[Con]

Hi Ronny,

Check out my latest pics at http://community.webshots.com/user/con111
Posted some more last night.
If you are talking about stick welding alum. DON'T do it. I built 2 snowmobile decks for pickup trucks figuring that they would be strong enough. Not the case most of the welds had to be ground out and redone with a Mig wire feed. You just can not get enough proper penetration with stick. Wire feed is the only way to go, or Tig. I had a shop weld up my frame because I had turned in my rental Argon tank a few months before I did the door frame. Wasn't worth keeping it for the small amount of alum. welding I was doing.

[Con]

Ronny W has sent you this email from http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.php.


I think i wrote nice door repair Al Instaid of giving the creddit to you. I went and fixed that.
I think your door repair is a thing of beauty.
That screen door is another fancy addition my trailer could use.

The welding rods im sugesting useing arent like welding with a stick here is an addy to check it out eBay Aluminum Welding Rods

Its sorta like useing brazing rod or soldering copper pipe. Stuff held great for me and ive fixed stripped threads with it too... (no im not a salesman)

Anyways Im needing to repair my door soon but there are an awefull lot of things i need to do to it first. I basicly bought a frame and shell the rest is needing replacing Including the axle.

I love this website and its the people making repairs like yours that realy drive me to do this one up rite. Thanks

Ron
P.S. What is the aluminum tank under yours... is that where your fresh water tank is now? or what? It doesnt look origonal but it is way cool...

[Con]

Hi Ronny, I tried to hook up to that address you sent but no luck, so I can't make a constructive comment on those rods. I would strongly recommend sticking with something that you know has the strength and works like Tig or Mig.
Yes! That is our fresh water tank. I had a lot of pictures I took of it and the original before I installed it but I had a hard drive quit on my computer before I got a chance to do a backup lost a whole lot of stuff.
We were getting ready to make a trip and I was filling the tank when I noticed water pouring all over the ground. When I looked underneath the whole backside of the tank was wide open cracks. After 28 years even the exposure from the ultra viloet sunlight broke down the plastic. So I dropped the tank out and tried all over the Internet and various local suppliers to find one. The one company here spin molds poly tanks but wanted about $800 to make a mold. He was not interested in doing a one-off job. The tank measures 4"x16"x42" and holds 10 Imp gals. The existing tank was hung by 4 rusty old bolts to a rotten wood frame with the fiberglass cutout from the rear window as a platfom under it. My only alternative was to fab one out of 1/8"alum. with 1/4" thick disk bosses where the connections are. Having worked in a pulpmill for years I had lots of SS fitting kicking around. I fabbed up a new hanger platform
from 1 1/2" squre alum. tubing and hung it from new 1/2"SS stove bolts. I will take more pictures and post them. It has worked like a charm. I flushed the tank with water & about a teaspoon of bleach before using it. The new tank was approx. $400
So nothing to rust or needs painting.

Hope this gives you some direction

[Con]

Added original brochures and some manuals to Webshots.

[Con]

For specialty weather striping try this site.
http://www.tacomarine.com/

[Con]

For Silkaflex bonding products try these sites.
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/to;ID...ulking,Sikaflex
http://www.sikaindustry.com/ipd-ma-products

[Con]

For those of you who may be looking for hard to find items I am posting some more web sites. I have probably gone through about 100 sites to find the best items.
For more weather strip and seals try this site:
http://www.trimlok.com/

For those that are interested in tank level indicators and sensors:
- Acu-gage Tank Monitors- Snake River Electronics
http://www.snake-river.org/

- SeeLevel Gauges and tank monitors- Garnet Industries
http://www.rvgauge.com./rv.htm

- Instruments, digital gauges, alarms and monitors- CruzPro Ltd.
http://www.cruzpro.com/ (sort of an interesting site)

- Fluid Sensors & Controls- Gems Sensors
http://www.gemssensors.com/TOCProduc...nContentsID=15

For battery monitoring electronics and products
http://www.power-store.com/products/bm/bm02.htm
http://store.solar-electric.com/metersmonitors.html
http://www.ferriellosales.com/wst_page5.html
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/97/p/d.../5/product.asp

For a good review of the various makes of battery monitors a must read for anyone is aPDF file at:
http://www.micromediaplus.com/
Battery_Monitors_Practical.pdf

Enjoy

[Lizbeth]

Con, that is one sexy water tank. Mine on my '79 was broken to bits and barely attached, so I measured it and into the trash it went. Like you I am unable to find a suitable replacement. I think I will have my son and his friend weld me up one. We've been talking about it but it's nice to see one that is actually in place and working!

[Donna D.]

Lizbeth and all, be sure to check out the Helpful-Links info...here's one for a Boler Water tank: Water Tanks, Fresh and Gray Water

[Lizbeth]

Thanks Donna! That tank is a bit different that my original tank but it might work.

[Con]

Well I 'll be darned ladies. Last year when I was looking for a replacement tank I had every local RV dealer searching thru their suppliers for a poly tanks that size. I talked to a plant here who makes poly tanks but wanted around $800 to make a mould to spin one and searched about 75 supppliers on the internet to no avail. And what do you come up, a supplier right next door in Edmonton! Damn!

At the time I didn't have a lot of options left to me as we were planning to go on a trip.
I would be interested in the price of the poly tank. The only difference I can see is that theirs is 3" shorter than my original tank (4"x16"x42") Just fits nicely between the frame with about a 2"to spare. I think it was 45"between. A 39" tank would be a little easier to hook up though.

If any of you are interested, I can post pics on how I modified the hangers and rack which was a huge improvement over the original.

[Lizbeth]

After I posted I looked back in my bookmarked pages for water tanks and reviewed some sites. They've added more sizes. My original tank was roughly 4.75"x22"x36" and said 13 gallon. Someone might find these links useful.

This company comes pretty close and you can search by putting a size in the search area.
http://www.tank-depot.com/

This site has been updated too. I didin't look through all the tanks.
http://www.ronco-plastics.com/

Edmonton RV...I remember they had something close too.
http://edmontonrv.com/

[Con]

Hmm! Very interesting. They must have increased the size of the tank between 1977 and 1979. I could have made my tank a little bit wider but because it is behind the axle I didn't want to change the weight distribution which could reduce the tounge weight.
Before we bought our Boler I had borrowed a neighbours 13' Trillium to go to a family reunion. I had to put about $150 worth of stuff into it to make it road worthy. It had a square 10 gal. tank under the side seat. Trying to work on that thing was a real pain. I didn't think that was a good place for it if it ever split when it was full. Personally I much prefer the tank underneath. I hope you are forwarding those sites to Donna to add to the helpful limks!!!
I just sent her a bunch.

[Donna D.]

I hope you are forwarding those sites to Donna to add to the helpful limks!!!
I just sent her a bunch.

Got em all uploaded to the
Helpful-Links page

Thanks Con for sending along Lizbeth's links too

[Con]

Our Boler has these little 1"dia. plastic vents in all the cabinets. I don't recall seeing them in other Bolers I have looked at. Has anyone else got them? I think I found a couple of links for them which I forwarded to Donna.

[Lizbeth]

My Boler has those too. I have them all popped out at the moment to paint and some of them are pretty brittle.

Come on Con cough up the links.

[Con]

Hi Lizbeth,
Here are the links I passed on to Donna to add to "Helpful Links"
So far these are the closest I have found. That is the problem I am finding with a lot of the 28 year old plastic parts, they are getting brittle. I am going to have to replace my water tank filler cap. I have replaced the lights, sink trap and water tank.

CABINET & ROOF VENTS
http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/27-113-s...er--616965.aspx
http://www.duraflo.com/siding/soffitseries.htm#
http://www.marksrv.com/vents.htm

Enjoy

[Con]

For those that maybe interested in a Instant Hot Water Heater installion find attached the PDF files of the one I used.
Hot_Water_Dispenser_01.pdf

[Con]

One mod on the Boler I have been toying with in my mind for awhile now is some sort of protection on the front end from rock chips. Ours has numerious chips in the GelCoat and our all alum. Featherlite horse trailer is the same way. Even with it been power coated which is a very tough finish it gets beat up.
Many people get 1/16"polished checker plate alum. panels mounted on the front of their horse trailers but that is not feasable on a Boler. All the travel trailers I have seen so far that have the ribbed black rubber mounted on them has not appealed to me as they never seem to fit the curves well without slicing them or the don't stay flat, they buckle in places beacuse the adhesive has let go. Beside white doen't show the dirt as bad.
What I have been considering is a white padded bra held on by dome snaps. Snap are not a problem in my view. After a trip the bra could be unsnapped, hose off any mud or dirt from the shell and bra, let it dry and remount it. Same idea as the bras on pickup trucks and vans.
People keep telling me "oh it will ruin your paint" Not true. We have leased 4 Chevy trucks in the last 12 years, all had bras and not one hurt the paint. I always blast the junk out from under them in the car wash.
So I am wondering if any one else has addressed this problem. I don't want to keep filling chips and repainting the front end.

[Gina D.]

That sounds like it would work, Con,

but.. and this is just my personal tastes..so don't take it to heart

Whats the point of protecting the paint if you are going to cover it up and hide it anyway?

My new paint job got beat pretty bad on the road recently. I have touch up paint. When it gets bad enough, I will get out the touch up paint and bits of bondo if really needed.

I figure I would rather have same "Character" than covering up large painted surfaces.