fools rush in........1971 boler 1300 reno

[flatlander]

Sand and wash the fibreglass about two inches around the hole, and cut 3 or 4 pieces of fibreglass matt about 2 ½ in larger than the hole

I would get a piece of plywood or something similar that is bigger than the hole. Then I would lay a strip of tinfoil or waxed paper on the out side of the boler ( so the fibreglass will not bond with the plywood), and the firmly tape the plywood to the outside of the trailer. The firmer it is and the more it follows the contour of the exterior the less outside finishing work to be done.

Go to the inside of the trailer, and lay out your stuff ( resin/ hardener) measuring cups and measuring spoons. I find that cheap plastic measuring cups and spoons are perfect for mixing the resin and hardener. 1/3 cup of resin and ¼ Tsp of harder is the perfect amount for me to use before it starts to harden on me. Mix the resin and hardener in a plastic container not the cups or you wiol not be able to use them again to measure.

I learned to have everything nearby because once the hardener starts working you do not want to be looking for stuff.

Mix the resin and liberally coat the sides of the hole and the wax paper, the press a layer of fibreglass mat, then spread more resin on it with a spreader, poke or tuck the fibreglass mat to the edges around the hole. The better you are able to do this the less finishing work. I am a beginner so trial and error has taught me that if I can get the first layer just right, or if the stiff is giving me a hard time to let the first layer sets . Then I can add several layers on top of the first without disturbing how it seats in the hole.

Laying several mats down will have much more structural strength that fiberlassing a piece in.

After it sets, you can take the plywood and wax paper off the fibreglass matt should be in line with the exterior surface and just need a little bondo to finish. I’ll try to post a photo in the next day or so of a vent and furnace exhaust that I filled as described.

h

[flatlander]

Been working on a built in boondocking on cooler with top access from the dinette seat and from the top where the fridge used to be seated. One cooler two access doors, It will have a built in drain and some built in cedar racks to aid airflow and keep food dry. I am using the pink insulation R10 value and filling in the cracks with spray foam. The photos just show the dry fitting, I will show more photos later as the final construction has to be in sync with putting the furniture back in as the cooler flows from the dinette into under the stove. Besides gluing the insulation together I will also have two layers of the silver reflective foil. Pretty shiny stuff

I got most of the ideas from boat builders who use onboard high efficient ice coolers.

Also fitted the cherry wood table you can see in the photo is going to work well. And in case you guys thought I was doing all this work unsupervised you are mistaken.

I am having an ongoing cold war with my door but I will put everything door related I have been dealing with in one post soon.

I am picking up 2 6 V batteries, and getting a wiring lesson on Friday so I do not blow the new batteries up. I really need the lesson.

I found a good deal on some flooring so I ordered it and the furniture should be ready for paint. The next couple of weeks should be fun.

h

[CindyL]

Gorgeous cat. Is it going camping too?

CindyL

[sheephills]

Hue

I know excatly what your saying. i want to get it just right and seems like i will be able to do that no problem. Thank you very much. by the way nice kitty. i have three so i know what you mean by always being surpervised LOL. keep the reno pics coming.

[flatlander]

In my part of the woods a many animals would consider him a tasty snack. I think he would be much safer at home.

In the next week or so I should have my door story ready, but I have been doing some painting, a little wiring and of course fighting with the door.

When the rain lets up I will put some photos of some wiring and MacGyvering I have been doing. heres the batteries I went with two 6 volt chained paired together.

The rest of the photos are of painting and other little things I have been doing

Getting a little bit closer every day amd more to come.

h

[flatlander]

The photos from the last post showed two costs of red enamel. Now I have sanded them with emery clothe and repainted them. I will sand them a couple more time between coats before I add the final coat. Red takes a lot of paint before it covers.

In one of the photos you can see how the cupboard doors will be finished

I put a drawer between the cooler and the stove. To suspend the hardware for the drawer I bolted the hardware frame to the bottom of the stove and to one of the 1 in plywood supports I epoxied in. The stove top I sanded to metal and sprayed with High temperature engine paint.

the front and back dinette tables are in the process of being refinished

The sink shows the bolts I chemically welded to the doggy dish sink, to hold it down when I install it The stove and drawer will be installed before the cupboards are installed in the trailer. Because I am building the cooler in permanent I am think of tabbing in the bottom cupboard (less holes in the shell)

I have also cut in the holes for the light switches, including the cooler light. I got these little switches at the RV Superstore. I think they will work great. Especially the Chandelier.....

Yep more pretty shiny things. I am putting a chandelier over the back dinette table. I used a neat trick to get the wire to it. I taped the wires to a straightened cloths hanger and slid it along between the ensolite and the fibreglass shell. I went from the FF across the middle of the roof.

I will hide the wires under the cover of the FF and then in the seam of the ensolight and caulk over them and paint until I reach the upper cupboard then straight down hidden behind the backsplash. the backsplash will match the cupboard doors.

The entire system will only be DC so the wiring is simpler. I bought the batteries from a electrician and I am taking his advise and wiring the FF separately to the batteries using higher gage wire and the lights will be on a separate line. I will also have an inline fuse within a couple inches from the batteries terminal so nothing gets accidentally welded.

more pretty shiny things to come


h

[sheephills]

Hey hue.

About your wiring could you please give me the specs on the batteries. and also would be great to see some pictures on the wiring as i would like to wire in DC voltage. Whats your strategy on attaching the cupboards and cabinets. i was thinking of using a urethane glue, i got the idea from another thread on here.

[sheephills]

Originally Posted by flatlander

Like I mentioned earlier I have been working on a number of different things that needed fixing but not really finishing anything yet. Because of my limited skill I have to do it this way partly to insure I do not back myself in a corner, as many fixes do not appear until two parts start coming together. A lot of dry fitting.

Anyway I was rereading the work and comments that Jack did in regard to straightening the fibreglass cabinets.

The cabinets especially the one that the sink and stove drop into in my Boler were getting pretty warped. They had the original 1 in plywood fibreglassed to the cabinet to provide support. While the fibreglass was still holding strong ( it took some doing to get it off) the actual 1 in plywood had warped quite a bit. I hope you can see an example in the photos.

So I had to cut them off of the cabnet and reglue new ones using fibreglass epoxy. The result I think was well worth the effort as all the sagging disappeared. It was clear that it was the old plywood that was holding the cabinet in a warped configuration.

Maybe not a fix for everyone, butr if you have the cabinets out of the trailer already ...

Where did you get the fiberglass epoxy glue.

[flatlander]

I was putting in the floor today, and everything went sideways. It was a one piece linoleum and at one point I was trapped in the Boler ... picture opening an umbrella in a closet and trying to get out while it’s still open.

Anyway it ended up I had to disconnect the bit of wiring I had done because everything ended up in the way of the floor including me. I think I lost the battle but won the war. More on that later. The wiring will be next , as soon as the floor is glued down.

I will take photos of the wiring as I go and give you my DC for dummies version as I go. Try as I might all the wiring schematics I’ve located on the net have looked indecipherable to me

In the meantime the epoxie can be purchased at Canadian Tire in the autobody section it is fibreglass resin, I might have been mistaken when I called it epoxy? I just used the resin without the glass.

Please let me know where you get the urethane glue and how it works for you, I was thinking of trying it. The only thing that is making me nervous about gluing the cupboards in is that if I cannot hold it in place long enough to stick tight. or worse... gluing it out of place.

Unless someone suggests an alternative I think I will rivet the overhead cupboards to the shell, and tab the bottom cupboards with fibreglass.

A quick review of my limited battery knowledge is that two 6 volt batteries can be drained lower, and will last longer than a single deep cycle 12 volt. So you end up having access to a deeper reserve of Amp hours. I think they could make a 12volt battery deliverer the same amp hours but the battery would have to be the same size and weight as two 6 volt batteries, and end up too heavy to manage.

The batteries I have a capacity to deliver 233 amp hours if I drained them. That would be bad for them but they can be safely drained down to 100 amp hour before they would have to be recharged. You would get a lot less out of a deep cycle 12 volt before it would need recharging.

The only power draw would be LED lights, and running the Fantastic Fan which medans I should be able to funtion off the grid completely using a solare panel.

I tried to go with a close up of the batteries’ specs.

h

[flatlander]

Rewired the trailer lights today. Wanted to use the LED rear lights I got from princess Auto,but I also wanted to use the original lens cover because I like the retro look of the originals. You know have my cake and eat it too.

They would not fit as the stuck out a little too much, the lights would not fit period with out some kind of modification, maybe because my lights are not frenched ?. So I decided if modification were required no matter what then I modify them to meet my needs and use the original tail lights. Did have another set but chose to sell them earlier.

To make them work I has to cut out the back out of the originals lights , slide in the LED’s far enough to make enough room for the lens cover and retaining ring. I sealed it with butyl tape and duck tape.

I was not sure what wires to hook up for the wiring as the wire from the back of the LED’s were red and black, and the white of course which was the ground. It looked to me that if the wiring was done correct initially, then most of the potential future problems usually had to do with a poor ground, So I doubled up the grounds one from each light to the frame, and a separate ground wire running from light to light to the frame.

I just guessed with the LED wires and got lucky. So for those of you who are wondering the same thing as was the green or yellow wire connects to the red and the brown wire connects to the black.

I had some old hose that I decided to use as a wiring harness of sorts to keep them organized and out of harms way. I do not want to loose my running lights when a sweater gets snagged on some wireing. I also chose to solder all the connections as my eyes are not going to be better in the future.

Also got the floor in and some other stuff. I’ll throw up some pictures. Starting to look shiny and all pretty.

h

[flatlander]

Here is a few more photos of how things are coming along.

h

'"coming soon door wars"

[sheephills]

Thanks for the info on everything and as well as the batteries i was talking to some guys at work the other day and they were saying that 2 6volt batteries is the way to go. just didnt know what to get. i have a solar kit and definitly can live off the grid if need be. The glue is a proform product that can be purchased at Acklands Grainger. Its a urethans glue used for bonding body panels and what not together. Got the idea from other thread on here but haven't got an update on how that worked though. The boler looks great and i really like the colors on the inside.

[flatlander]

Been doing a little work between other things. I got the upper cupboard in with the doors on, and the lower cupboards in with the backsplash. The backsplash allows me to hide the wires behind it so I can get rid of the pole that used to be in the middle of the counter.

I raised the height of the bottom cupboard to allow more room for the cooler which is being built into the left dinette seat and extends to under the stove. This means that I have to modify the original support. I think I am going to have one custom made but that will have to be later to I am temporarily using the two pillars to give support in the meantime.

The wiring is just about complete but I am taking my time . The FF fan I put on a second line.

Slowly but surely it’s coming together

I have left the outside because the weather has been bad, and I wanted to get the yard back. All spring it has been looking like a workshop and my better half has been very patient.

Soon I will post my door issues which I think I have beat. But for the moment here is where we are at.

h

[flatlander]

The entire system will only be DC so the wiring is simpler. I bought the batteries from a electrician and I am taking his advise and wiring the FF separately to the batteries using higher gage wire and the lights will be on a separate line. I will also have an inline fuse within a couple inches from the batteries terminal so nothing gets accidentally welded.

I was kicking the idea around regarding a battery box for my two 6 V batteries. Though about using a a metal tool box , a plastic tool box etc and then I was walking through Wallyworld and I saw a coleman cooler for sale under 25 bucks. I had the dimensions I needed to accommodate the batteries in my head and it looked like the cooler might work.

So I bolted the cooler down , and then ran the battery straps through the , so that the straps held the batteries and the cooler tight to the frame.

You can see from the photos that it keeps everything neat and tidy. It also keeps the solar controller and wiring stored where it is handy.

h

[sheephills]

Looks all neat and tidy. Good idea on the cooler, is the solar controller safe there. Was redaing that it might need some sort of certain clearance from batteries etc.... not sure but if you havent checked i would better to be safe than sorry eh. And im wondering what did you go with attaching your upper cupboards and lower cabinet.

[flatlander]

I am glad you mentioned the charge controller location. The unit did not come with any instructions to speak of and the last thing I read on installing them was to put the charge contoler as close as possible to the batteries.

After you questioned the location I did some more research.

Next you'll want to determine the location for the charge controller. The charge controller should be as close to the batteries as possible but not in the battery compartment. Battery gases can corrode and over time destroy the electrical circuits in most solar charge controllers

There are a couple of reasons not to have the charger in the battery compartment one is outgassing from charging, and rge second is corrosion I guess. So I will move it. I was not worried about out gassing so much because holes to ventilate have gone in.

Controllers also do not like heat or water, so I will figger a new location as close to the controller as possible.

I ended up riveting the cupboards in. To be frank I was too scared to glue them in. As it was I had to take the top cupboard out and put it back in a second time so I could get the backsplash in properly.

There are too many things that can go sideways and my experience is too limited which means that It is not a good idea for me to anything as permament as the kind of glue we are talking about

Anyway thanks for the tip on the controller. How did your cupboards work out did you go with the glue

h

[sheephills]

Well that is what this form is all about information and tips. Im glad i was able to help you out with something cause your project looks really awsome. Its accaully kinda funny hue with the project im doing, i havent started anything yet cause were camping in the boler this year before my wife has our first child so she didn't want me starting it this summer . So im parking it this fall and starting the resto project then. Iam just getting all my info so when i start there's no hesitation and i know exactly what i want to do and i'll know it will work cause i have done all my inquiring. i still dont know whats best for the cupboards. your project just gets me antsy and i look forward to your recent post.

[flatlander]

Just got back from Ness Creek. To have the boler ready I had to go a little nuts for a bit to get things ready on time. Not so much finished but good enuf to take on the first trip.

So I had to finish the wiring put in the stove attach the sink and faucet, finish the cooler , pack the wheel bearings ( yes it is an easy job, but I never would have tried it without the info I was able to find on this site)

Got the closet door finished with two glass cupbpard doors frim Habitat for Humanity. I like being able to see in the closet ( the glass is crackled), and I like being able to open the doors separately.

The trip went well, the FF worked great, and I went with the solar panel only to charge up the batteries.

Anyway here are a few photos of giving an partial overview of what I have been able to get to

h

[flatlander]

Heres a couple of photos of Bolers I saw at Ness. There were about 7 or 8. These are ones that i managed to get photos of.

The black and white one is Ryans. (4x4Boler) Very nice


Alot of great music too

h

[Bonnie n Claude]

Originally Posted by flatlander

...I decided to change the bunks in the front to a dinette which could convert into a single bed. Not being the best of craftsmen I decide to try to use some of the fibre glass front bench as part of the dinette seats.... For the bench with the hidden toilet I used wood, but I want all the furniture to look like painted fibreglass. What I decided to do was to put a light coat of bondo over the wood, to fill all the grain. The jury is out until I paint them this coming week as to how well it worked....

Wish I'd seen this earlier. Would have sent it to the guy doing our front end renos. Was it difficult spreading the bondo over the wood? What type of paint did you use over the bondo? Is it 'wearing' well?