Blast from the Past - 1975 Boler Restoration

[Nat]

Hello, fellow fiberglass rv enthusiasts.

My Introduction

My progress so far has been removing the interior, and tearing out the water soaked ensolite. I've removed the door and the windows, and all the many rivets. The water tank, piping, wiring etc. Its just basically your barebone haul and trailer.

My to do list when the weather clears up:

- Patch the hull
- Remove windows
- Crack the egg
- Reinforce the bottom
- Repair/Replace the trailer

Pictures:










Nice Seal



UPS Present?

[Rick Mooyman]

Hi Nat, Welcome. My 1971 Boler looks likes yours does right now, waiting for the snow to go away and do a custom rebuild. It is driving me nuts that the snow wont melt and the weather will not warm up so I can get busy on it again.

[GMike A]

Good luck, I am doing the same on my Casita. You will see a ton of questions from me too here. But there is a boat load of support for sure
Mike

http://s1141.beta.photobucket.com/us...%20Restoration

[freddo411]

Great project!

Lots of great documented rebuilds here.

;-)

[Donna D.]

ooooh another rehab/rebuild we get to follow! Please post lots of pictures as you go along. It won't just help folks in the same boat as you.. but you as well as you have an archive of all the great things you've accomplished and we'll applaude your success!

[slavandheather]

Hi Nathan! Awesome to see another rebuild going on with a Boler! We're not too far ahead of you with our 1978 rebuild. Looking forward to seeing your project get hard-boiled!

Cheers,
Slav

[Nat]

Thank you all for the replies,

Rick, Mike, and Slav, you all look like you have some big projects of your own on the go, your builds will give me something to refer to when I'm in need of some answers.

As for weather, it always seems to be sunny when I'm at work, and rainy on the weekends so I haven't gotten alot of time to work on the boler. I feel the withdraws coming on, i want to get out there and finish something so i can start camping. Lucky enough I have many house renos and my father's sailboat to get in the water to keep me busy on those days.

Question: Due to weather, and not knowing exactly when I'll get the boler off the frame to measure things out, does anyone have frame specs for the 1975 boler?

Also my UPS present:
Although they wont be installed until I'm done with the frame, here are my new Kinro 42x22 jalousie style windows. Which will require a little bit boler modification to fit.










Showing the depth. I do have a plan.

[Rick Mooyman]

[Rick Mooyman]

I found this on the site some time ago I hope it will help, but the frames were made different depending on the Factory it came from so might need some tweaking

[Rick Mooyman]

Where in your Boler will you put those big windows? Are they for the front and rear? Too big for the door side. If they are for the front and rear there will be some hugh mods to make the round body flat to accept the windows.

[Nat]

Rick,

Thank you so much for the frame specs, it will give me something to look at on the rainy days.

With as many modifications as I plan on doing, I hope to still keep the boler looking as original as i can. I'll be keeping all the original side windows because I think they add alot of character to the boler.

These new windows will be for the front and back and considering that they're only an extra 4'', I dont think they'll take away too much from the original look.

Original opening is roughly 42"x18"
New opening needs to be roughly 42''x22''

I was seriously considering the cheaper yet bigger 48''x26'' at one point, but I held back and stuck closer to the original size. It will also make less work for me when I'm fabricating the window rock shields.

I will have to modify the hull slighty to fit the windows, but its completly doable.

I like to think, that the plan takes time, the work takes hours, and the screw ups take days.

[slavandheather]

Nathan, as Rick pointed out, there was so much variation on the build of the Bolers that you can't trust any one schematic for the frame. You need to remove yours and modify it to your liking with a new one while making careful measurements. I'm finding that even with a 1978 Boler like ours, there are differences in the design. Treat your egg as unique...

You can look at the design of ours in our thread, along with our modifications. And also look up Robert Johans, particularly his 1971 Boler where he posted a plan of his new frame (that Boler just sold in Portland, OR, for a very cool $25k!).

Slav

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Nat

I will have to modify the hull slighty to fit the windows, but its completly doable.

More than just slightly. You'll need to build up the area to have a flat spot for the window. Maybe less on the rear, but a bunch on the front. To see how much, put a straight edge dead center in the current window and measure from the body to the straight edge on the ends. Could be as much as 3".

But, that doesn't mean it's not doable.

[Nat]

Originally Posted by slavandheather

Nathan, as Rick pointed out, there was so much variation on the build of the Bolers that you can't trust any one schematic for the frame. You need to remove yours and modify it to your liking with a new one while making careful measurements. I'm finding that even with a 1978 Boler like ours, there are differences in the design. Treat your egg as unique...

You can look at the design of ours in our thread, along with our modifications. And also look up Robert Johans, particularly his 1971 Boler where he posted a plan of his new frame (that Boler just sold in Portland, OR, for a very cool $25k!).

Slav

Being in autobody and welding before that, i can definitely agree to the idea that specs are not always perfect and sometimes not even close. Especially when you need them most and right down to the nearest millimeter. If its not correct suspension will be off, panels wont line up, water leaks, wind noise. Its all fun stuff.

Personally I wont be making any cuts or welding anything until the boler is off the frame. The spec sheet and pictures of fellow owners like yourself and Rob just gives me a rough idea for layout and materials to use, and places to put extra support etc. Its very helpful and much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Donna D.

More than just slightly. You'll need to build up the area to have a flat spot for the window. Maybe less on the rear, but a bunch on the front. To see how much, put a straight edge dead center in the current window and measure from the body to the straight edge on the ends. Could be as much as 3".

But, that doesn't mean it's not doable.

My "slightly" only refers to a few hours, pending on how long it takes the resin to set up.
More than slightly? How much more time do you think we're looking at here Donna?

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Nat

More than slightly? How much more time do you think we're looking at here Donna?

Nathan, I couldn't even hazard to guess. I know Scamp has tried a couple of times to put opening windows in front. Flipper windows in the 70s for instance... but driving through rain... leaks happen and they gave up on the idea.

You're the body man, lots of fiberglass build up ideas here on FiberglassRV. I think you can figure it out and I TRULY hope you're successful

[Nat]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I think you can figure it out and I TRULY hope you're successful

Haha, me too.

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We've gotten fairly fine weather this week, so yesterday the boler was removed from the trailer. It was a fairly simple task, the belly band, some rivets, and one layer of glass. Then we hauled it to the backyard.

Given what others trailers tend to look like, I'd say mines in pretty decent shape. Nonetheless it will all be replaced.






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Top side - Rock chips, small cracks, big cracks, stress cracks, rivet holes, a litttle bit of everything.

[Nat]

Bottom Side - Unprotected wood slats, bowed floor, holes, needs some door edge reinforcement, nothing too out of the ordinary.

[Nat]

I haven't had the time to download my camera which has more in depth photos, but here are some updated photos I took via phone.

Basically removed all the slats, and glassed new ones in, with two layers of cloth and two layers of mat.

Then I gave it a coat of bed liner. I haven't finished the coat because two of us are going to have to carry the base from the backyard to the front to where the frame is, through a 4' wide fence panel

Last four pictures is just cutting the windows frames an extra 5 inches in height to make room for the new windows.

As of right now, my next steps are ordering a new axel, and fabricating a new frame. I really can't wait to mold the new windows in too.

My house renos come first though

[carlkeigley]

I had to go back and review the thread.
I am dumbfounded and sit in awe..............Great progress.

I'd hate to see a sticky separated and laying upside down......LOL

[Rick Mooyman]

WOW awesome work. Great to see Bolers are still so popular and with lots of us out there restoring and rebuilding them. Great work and look forward to see more pics as you move along.

I am restoring my second 1971 Boler, but have not gone as far in the tear down as you have.

Rick