I
sold my
Boler a couple of years ago and went back to tent camping for a while but the wife said she missed the little trailer. I'd just missed the "Trailer of my Dreams" last year - an Eriba Triton - but I kept scanning craigslist to see what other cool little trailers would pop up. Last Thursday night a
fiberglass camper surfaced about 10 miles north of where I work - with a couple of pictures that showed the trailer with a full cover over it and one with a side of the cover pulled back.No mention was made of the brand but I recognized it as a
U-haul CT-13 and the advertised price was very fair. The owner asked people to call between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM so I waited until 9:15 AM to call him (I'd been at work for 3 hours at this point and couldn't wait any longer).
As it turned out I was the first caller and I made arrangements to drive up and see it at lunchtime. I knew this thing would go quickly and I had a few anxious moments waiting for lunch time to arrive. When I got to the owners place he told me the phone had been ringing all morning and he had four or five people wanting to come look at the trailer. We unzipped the custom made fitted cover (very nicely done by a boat cover manufacturer in Chicago - about $700 worth) and looked the little trailer over.
It was definitely a
U-haul - the owner said he bought it in 1987 when
U-Haul was liquidating its rental fleet. He had a friend who worked for U-haul and the friend helped him pick the best unit out of a lot that he said must have had fifty trailers in it. He had a dealer install the roof mounted
air conditioning unit to replace the swamp cooler and used it for the next twenty years or so to take his daughter on camping trips all over the country. Since he moved to Georgia he hadn't used it and his daughter is all grown and getting married so he thought he'd pass it on to someone else who would appreciate it. I asked him if the price was open to any negotiation but of course the answer was no since he was getting so many calls. Luckily I'd come prepared to pay full price so I paid up, got the
title and hooked it to the back of my truck to
escape with it before any one else could arrive and start a bidding war. (Sordid story of how I missed a deal on a
Perris Pacer a few years ago could go here...lets just say I offered this flaky woman full asking price and she balked since she'd had someone offer $200 more without even seeing the trailer - I was the first caller on Wednesday and the first to arrive Saturday morning when she wanted to start showing the trailer to everyone who called and then she wanted to play a bidding game to run the price up).
Any way the U-Haul is very nice - I'm cleaning it up to get rid of a little musty smell from sitting for two years and plan to go camping as soon as we get a break in the heat wave. The wife is excited to have another camper and I'm looking forward to hitting campgrounds around the southeast over the next few months.
Bigfoot Silver Cloud
Casita
LUNA
Uhaul CT-13
Prairie Schooner
1985 U-Haul (Sold) CT
Scamp 16 (current)
THE boler
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