1968 (?) 13' Boler For Sale

[Joe Diaz]

I have what I was told a 1968 Boler. I purchased the trailer and towed it home and took the fiberglass body off of the frame (which wasn't hard to do being that it was barely on there to begin with) and did a complete frame up restoration. I glassed in the floor and added bigger windows and then let the wife look in there and asked her what she wanted. The rest was up to me. What I did was build a frame in the back that accomadates a Queen bed that we have a double thick Air-mattress that is a full time bed. Thw wife said that she didn't want to have to build a bed when we were tired from the day, she just wanted to flop into bed. In the front I have a folding table with 2 seats that have storage underneath. for a "kitchen" I have a sink and icebox that I got from a VW bus and installed that so there is pump water from a 6 gallon holding tank and I also installed a spicket that can connect to shore water as well. It is wired for 110 and 12 volt. As far as refridgeration we have a 110 or 12 volt cooler that we plug into the lighter when we are traveling and then when we get to the campground we plug it into 110. We have been 5 days out and milk never went bad. I have so much more to tell you but pictures speak 1000 words. I am in central Florida Ocala area and we are asking $5000 for our little bungalo. Pulls great sets up quick and it is a great home away from home..I have all the reciepts from the build and all the pictures as well......I can send them all to you..thanks for looking Joe and Debra

[matt scott]

Private message sent. Thanks

[Kevin H.]

I have what I was told a 1968 Boler.

You've got a great looking Boler there. I like the VW sink unit. It's definitely not a '68 though, from the graphics I would say it's probably 10 years newer around 1978-80.

Good luck with the sale.

Kevin

[Raya]

Kevin,

I'm just curious what graphics you're using to date the trailer? (I think it's kind of fun to look for clues, but I don't see what you're seeing.)

I agree it's unlikely to be a 1968 though, and more likely to be 1970s. Unless... are those the "early" door hinges? I can't quite see them.

I like your lime-green/dark blue paint scheme

Since I think a lot of people are interested in a larger bed, can you tell/show what you did for roof support on the closet side?

Thanks,

Raya

[Joe Diaz]

Kevin,

I'm just curious what graphics you're using to date the trailer? (I think it's kind of fun to look for clues, but I don't see what you're seeing.)

I agree it's unlikely to be a 1968 though, and more likely to be 1970s. Unless... are those the "early" door hinges? I can't quite see them.

I like your lime-green/dark blue paint scheme

Since I think a lot of people are interested in a larger bed, can you tell/show what you did for roof support on the closet side?

Thanks,

Raya

raya I am not sure what you mean by the "closet side"? If you are talking about the "Fantastic Fan" that I installed that was easy, if you are talking about where I think there would have been a closet as you enter the camper which would have been on the immediete left what support are you talking about? As far as the larger bed I just went from one side of the camper to the other side and measured. I think it was 6'6" and then the measurement of a Queen bed (60" x80") and built a frame. I went to the local Wal-mart and got these clear storage tupperware looking containers that were stackable put one on top of the other and got that measurment (14"). It just so happened that it was the same height and the top of the wheel well which I used as end support,(along with other support of course). I built the frame, as I said, found out that I couldn't get the entire one piece of 1/2" plywood in all at once, so I cut it into 3 pieces and they are laid on top of the frame. The stackable containers fit perfectly under the bed and it is where we have our clothing, his and hers. They slide out when needed, get what you need, and slide back in. My wife made the comforter longer on the front side to hide the containers. I have a center support so there are 2 sections under the bed. Being that it is kinda deep underneath the bed, whatever we put under there I have a labeled string connected to whatever I have stored under the bed so I can easily pull out what I need without having to root around on my hands and knees in the dark, folding chairs, heater, stuff like that......... Its mostly common sense and using as much of the space offered as you can. Under the floor I made a trapped door that I store my stove in with one or twp bottles of lp gas.....We just cook outside on the pic-nic table provided. Here are some pix that might explain a little better

[Vickie B.]

Very clever use of space! Wow! So what is to the left of the door? Is there no closet?

[Raya]

Post was too wordy. Sorry!

[Joe Diaz]

Hi Joe,

I was thinking of the closet that is normally in the trailer - to the left as you walk in the door. Since that is what supports the roof (and hence keeps the trailer from bulging or "squashing" out of shape), I was wondering what you put in to replace it. Because of course it does not require that it be a closet; just that there is some method of support or triangulation to keep the walls from bulging out or the roof from sagging. I think the original "wrought iron" support running between the kitchen overhead cabinets and the kitchen counter also helps to support the roof, although it's probably not as effective as the closet.

Sorry, I could have been clearer!

I'm always interested to see how people solve the various remodeling challenges, and I think it's cool when people change the trailers around to suit different purposes (since everyone is not camping with Mom, Dad, and two young children, as Ray Olecko was [Boler designer]).


If you post a close-up of your door hinges (on the outside of the main door), we might be able to determine if your trailer is a 1968. I say that because they used different hinges on the early trailers, and in the photo it looks like you might have those, but it's hard to tell for sure.

Edited to add: On second thought, I wonder if it could be a Scamp? The reason I say that is it looks like you have the surface-mount taillights (meaning either very early Boler or any year Scamp), but also the floor that runs flat all the way forward (which didn't come into the Bolers until the mid-70s, as far as I know). The older Bolers, from what I know, all had a rise to the floor at the front, because there was no additional "box" in the center of the frame, to make the floor flush in the middle of the front (where the Porta Potti was meant to go under the couch).

On the other-other hand, it looks like your flush floor goes all the way front to back Maybe you floored over the "dropped" area in the middle of the trailer so the whole floor is flush but a bit higher in the middle? That would explain things and make me go back to thinking "Boler" Interesting! My curiosity is piqued!

Thanks for the additional info and photos I'm sure potential buyers will be glad to see them

Man Raya you are quite the curious one!....when I bought the camper I took the body off of the frame and noticed that there was a dropped center section....not thinking far enough ahead I made the whole thing level. It was only after that I built it that I realized that the drop in the floor was for head room. Knowing that I was going to have the table and seats up front I left what was left of the dropped floor up front and used it to hide my stove.....as far as the hinges they were replaced by me and never thought to keep them or even think that they would be instumental in dating the Boler.....as far as "support" I don't have any holding up the roof. It stands on its own just fine. inside if you notice I have like white metal racks that i have bolted through the wall and it works great....I have towed this Boler at 75 mph without any problems....I made sure that all the caulking would be done right so it wouldn't leak....Me and wife have been in some bad storms while driving and just a littel wetness under the door.....usually if it rains that hard here in florida which is basically every frickin day at 3 in the PM we just pull over and get in the camper and turn on the fantasic fan and make lunch....

[Raya]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be too nosey I'm actually fairly private myself, so I'm sensitive to it.

I guess I just got carried away because of how you weren't sure what year the trailer was, and then people were commenting on the figuring it out by the graphics, and that made me take a closer look, and... well... then I was curious about your mods (because, like others here, I just can't get enough of looking at custom mods, and wondering how people did them, and etc. )

And I love to look at the little details and get all detectivey about what year something might be.

Sorry if I asked too much I'll go back and edit my previous post.

Raya

[Kevin H.]

Joe that trap door is a great idea. Thanks for posting photos of your mods and answers to Raya's questions.

As far as the year goes, I didn't realize your first photo was after your renos. Your paint job with the stripe below the belly band and the maple leaf is similar to photos in boler brochures from the late 70's, I think they're here in the document centre. Plus, I thought the hatches you added were original, and I know they didn't start adding them till later.

Raya, you've brought up a couple good points about the possible year. First, we definitely know that it's not a '68 because that's the first year Bolers were produced and all the '68s and some of the '69s had the flat roofs. Your observation about the pancake taillights got me thinking as well. I now see that the door handle is the same or similar as what's on the earlier Bolers and all Scamps. I'm not sure what year Boler changed to the Bargman style so it could be an early Boler, say late '69-71?, whenever they changed door handles and taillights. I also see that the wheel wells are more rounded than normal, perhaps they were cut out as part of Joe's mods.

Thanks for the interesting discussion.
Kevin

[Joe Diaz]

Joe that trap door is a great idea. Thanks for posting photos of your mods and answers to Raya's questions.

As far as the year goes, I didn't realize your first photo was after your renos. Your paint job with the stripe below the belly band and the maple leaf is similar to photos in boler brochures from the late 70's, I think they're here in the document centre. Plus, I thought the hatches you added were original, and I know they didn't start adding them till later.

Raya, you've brought up a couple good points about the possible year. First, we definitely know that it's not a '68 because that's the first year Bolers were produced and all the '68s and some of the '69s had the flat roofs. Your observation about the pancake taillights got me thinking as well. I now see that the door handle is the same or similar as what's on the earlier Bolers and all Scamps. I'm not sure what year Boler changed to the Bargman style so it could be an early Boler, say late '69-71?, whenever they changed door handles and taillights. I also see that the wheel wells are more rounded than normal, perhaps they were cut out as part of Joe's mods.

Thanks for the interesting discussion.
Kevin

Hey raya don't go gettin' all touchy feely on me....no need to delete anything I am not Politcally correct in any way shape or form....I tell it the way it is and don't mean anything by it....I just said it as a joke...I am more that happy to share any and all info about the Boler that I have and how I did what I did never even seeing another Boler to use as a template....I just did what me and the wife thought would be sensible and functional thats all...ask awaaaaaaay.....Hiding that stove was I thought a great idea that I had as an afterthough and it works out perfect. In hindsight there are some thing I would have added like maybe some more overhead cabintry but i can still do that if I wanted to...I built the one over our "kitchen" and it works 2-fold....not only does it store things but it is also a place to run wiring without anyone noticing....if you notice on the walls I have the wire on the outside of the walls and then a piece of 3" wide material is velcroed over that to hide the wire...worked out great becasue I had a bad wire to my outside porch light and it was an easy fix without having to tear down the carpet off the wall......The outside storage compartment were sent to me by Paul Neumiester from Ontario....he is the guy that still to this day refurbishes them....great guy very knowledgeable.........anything you guys need or any pix that you want don't ever be afraid to ask.......You guys are making me rethink the sale of this Boler with all the work I have put into it!!!!!!!