Well..... here we go...
The story:
We always wanted a VW van, as we love to travel by vehicle rather than air for the simple ability to stop and see different places along the way. We usually have a destination in mind but are in no hurry to get there or back.
We thought a camper van would be perfect because we could stay the night wherever we decided. However, when I started talking to people that have had VW vans, it became clear that the fun of ownership is not as fun as the idea. I realized that we would be spending thousands in maintenance for a vehicle to keep it running and functioning safely enough to take on trips, when all I really wanted was a cool unit to camp easily in along the road.
That's when I started looking at
Boler trailers. The ability to use a brand new vehicle that has warranty and no safety issues was really appealing. And being able to hook up to a cool trailer that pulls easily allows us to keep some of the 'fun factor' that we were looking for in a VW. A couple friends have them so I started asking questions. Soon I found a friend that had a
Boler out at his uncle's farm. His grandparents bought it new in 1975. I randomly mentioned to him that he should sell it to me for about two years. Two weeks ago, he finally caved and
sold it to us.
We went out to the farm and pulled it back to town. It had been stored in a Quonset so that kept it from the elements - but not the mice.
The deconstruction:
We forgot to take the pictures that REALLY capture the mess inside the trailer, but we got the mice out and all of the cushions, curtains, etc. I have removed some of the
fiberglass inside to get to all areas to clean out the mouse droppings. We are still deciding how we want to proceed as there will only be two of us using it so we don't need the bunks. Currently, we are torn between a complete customization and a simple
renovation....
The Pics:
As collected (with some of the really yucky stuff removed)