Old beat down no good rotten 13' Boler

[PNW_Yeti]

Hello All,

Long story short: Mom bought a boler from a friend for next to nothing, brought it home, realized she is crazy, and gave it to me, realizing I have a far bigger case of projectitis...

So now I own a boler. In the process of this I was helping her out. We ripped out everything. The fridge and heater were rusted beyond repair. All the wood work was soaking wet and rotten. Even the floor was bad, it came with one "vent" and by the time we were done we had created another much larger one in the rear.

So in two days everything is gone from the inside with the exception of the curved wood pieces for forms. The floor is still in the egg, but that will be remedied by the end of today. The frame is out, I will be sending that to a friend of the family who will be welding in some cross bracing that had rotted out.

So far I can say the only good things are the fiberglass shell, which is not pretty but has no cracks, and almost pitting. The frame also looks to be mostly solid, not torqued, and very rusty.

My plan (and this is where you will all think I am insane):

• Project <1,000$
• Simple simple simple
• No heater, fridge, commode,
• I plan on installing LED lighting, fan vent, and one plug, other than that no electricals
• a water tank and grey water tank
• ice box
• same basic floor plan, but with a bench and removable counter across the front
• I will add more later

Now before I get the "there is no way on god's green earth that this will happen for less than 1,000..." I have a few resources available to keep it under budget. All my wood is being sourced from my brother in law who has 3 pallets of 10 ply birch sitting in his garage (his company is very wasteful) and with a limited list of what I plan on installing I think the electrical items will be the most cost. Also a frame repair is coming from a friend with a low price for repair (beer).

So I am gonna go now, and I will be back with a list of everything I need. Then I will join the rest of you in your chorus of "you're insane.. not gonna happen... go home kid you're drunk..."

also the name is Josh, live in the Seattle area... this forum is really really good, so thank you to everyone who contributes here.

(a project blog, with pictures to come soon, will link it in here later)

[Thomas G.]

Welcome.

Everything you are planning has been done by someone here. The key to unlocking the info is to use the Google search box as shown in the image below.

Nearly any old egg needs a new a torsion axle, tires and a new battery. While replacing the axle, it is a great time to add brakes - they are cheap.

Sounds like a fun project, good luck and don't be afraid to ask for help.

[PNW_Yeti]

The search feature is really good, like I said you guys know what you are doing. I will have to look at the axle when I get down there, it seemed to be in good shape, but we'll see (that would blow my 1,000 plan, but I think I can do that for a safer trailer).

[Francesca Knowles]

Welcome to FiberglassRV, Josh!

And I simply must ask:

Did your Mom have this Boler over here in the Port Townsend area until recently? There was a local-paper ad for one very briefly here, and I've been wondering what happened to it...

Francesca

[slavandheather]

Welcome Josh! We live in northern Bothell and been working on a 78 Boler (running a thread under the Boler section) which was quite rotten when we got it! Let the fun begin!

Cheers,
Slavomir

[Richard Hayes]

By the time you're finished, you'll have a little dandy...and on budget.

I love the "Keep It Simple" approach. That, plus the ability to either do things yourself or being willing to learn how to, and buddies or buddies of friends, can get most anything done for a fraction of the cost of commercial work. Anything - and I mean anything - on these rigs can be fixed or rebuilt by an average human. There's a million dollars worth of free advice right here; if you've hit a glitch, there's members who've faced the same problem and overcome it.

Re the axle - my order of fix-it-first for the rolling gear is tires, hubs, axle. A sagged axle may make the trailer ride more roughly, but a blown tire or hub failure is dangerous and can, at the very least, strand me. Brakes are a very good thing - next on my upgrade list.

Go to work on the trailer - and remember, you're 'earning' $40-50 an hour while you're at it.

[Mike Magee]

Be sure to maintain support for the roof, so it does not start to sag on you. Some of the interior stuff was serving to help provide rigidity.

I think I've read that if you can put your fist longways between the tire top and the wheel well above (while trailer is loaded as would be usual), the axle is probably still ok. So that's one way to sort of test it, assuming you can throw some weight back in there to check it.

[PNW_Yeti]

Hey All,

Thanks for the replies and warm welcome, I have started a renovation thread here to catalog what I am doing and keep track of progress. Some issues with rust may set my ideas about a budget build back... but we'll see what happens.

Francesca, no, it was down in Tumwater, sold between friends, no ad ran... although if this thing keeps acting up there may be a shell for sale soon...

Yes Slavomir, let it begin, when I got done today I was covered in filthy rust and had raccoon eyes from my glasses. Thank goodness for dust masks, mine was filthy when I took it off.

Richard, yes it has new tires and the hubs were checked and greased before it left the PO's house. The axle doesn't look too bad, but the leaf springs...

Mike thanks for the tip on the roof, I have nothing in there right now but will have to place some support in there soon. It is far too late to check the axle with it loaded though, it does still have an upward bend to it so I am hopeful.

Thanks again everyone.

[Roger C H]

Welcome to FGRV. I see you have jumped in with both feet.

Leaf springs?

[PNW_Yeti]

yeah, the leaf springs are really rusty and scaly, I think I will replace them, they are cheap enough and will help to keep the thing running smooth down the road.

[Roger C H]

I didn't know any egg came with leaf springs. I thought all had the rubber torsion style axles. Any Boler owners out there who can speak to this? I thought maybe a PO had added the springs.

[Francesca Knowles]

I don't have a Boler, but I'm pretty sure that leaf springs must be a retrofit. Everything I've read here seems to indicate that they originally had torsion axles. Here's one discussion on retrofitting.

Francesca

[PNW_Yeti]

Re: axle confusion

I am ignorant of torsion bars, so the fact that they wouldn't have springs is new to me. The axle as is is a drop axle sitting on top of leaf springs. It still has a slight upward be d through the middle, and unloaded the tires stick out at the top. I assumed the axle was original because the label is still there from standens in Calgary. I guess they were the original suppliers for the neonex bolers.

If its not a torsion bar than I am relieved. Too complicated for me, better system, but too complicated. It's entirely possible a PO has replaced the original with a drop and aping set up.

Also the axle looks like it is setup to accept brakes, so I have that going for me, which is nice. You can see some of the set up in the mod thread I referenced earlier, will post more there when I get home.

[BruceandKaye]

Good luck! And you can do it economically! We bought a 13' U-Haul in "excellent" condition and have had to basically re-do everything....but after 6 weeks and about 600.00 *includes an AC & 6" memory foam mattress, we're very happy campers!

[Mike Magee]

My "fist" advice was for a torsion axle, so disregard it.