Rob from Mission BC, New Boler owner.

[TheRobster]

A friend found a 1974 Boler 13' sitting on the side of the road with a for sale sign on it.
He emailed me a few photos and a brief description.

After a brief conversation I told him to buy it, and I would send him the money.
So I basically bought it site unseen, a 4.5 hour drive away. (Obviously I like to live dangerously.)

The following weekend I drove up to pick up my Boler. On the way up, I suddenly realized I have never towed a trailer in my life. (I did mention living dangerously.)

The previous owner had stripped it down in a failed attempt to make it into a "glamper" Sink is gone, appliances are gone, propane system is entirely gone, all the cabinet doors are gone.
New curtains, new counter top, new tabletop.


Basic plan is to make it into a backwoods camping trailer. With a 12V only electrical system. I prefer to cook outdoors anyway.

[Kai in Seattle]

It looks pretty good on the outside!

Sounds like a good plan! Solar, then? And cooking outdoors keeps the cooking mess out of the trailer. Water? Carry your own in small containers?

How was the trip home? Any unusual problems?

[TheRobster]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

It looks pretty good on the outside!

Sounds like a good plan! Solar, then? And cooking outdoors keeps the cooking mess out of the trailer. Water? Carry your own in small containers?

How was the trip home? Any unusual problems?

The outside does look good. Although the suspension is sagged right out.

I have already started on my solar electrical system. Using mostly stuff I had around the shop it is coming together pretty well. A quick trip to Ikea for some low voltage LED lighting, and a few other bits and pieces. You can see the results it the attached befor and after pictures.

No trouble with the trip home, although I provided much entertainment for my neighbors when I tried to back it into my driveway.

[Kai in Seattle]

Are those IKEA picture frames as cabinet doors?
Looks like you're making good progress.


Thanks for the photos. We really like photos.

[TheRobster]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

Are those IKEA picture frames as cabinet doors?
Looks like you're making good progress.


Thanks for the photos. We really like photos.

Good eye, that is exactly what they are.
I think they are a good fit, and will look even better once I put some photos in the frames.

I put the table in last night.

Next steps.
Cabinet doors for the lower cabinets.
A slide out for my 12v electric cooler.
Extractor fan, built from two 120mm computer case fans.
Find and fix the leak in the left side window.
Replacement axle.
Small lift.

[Kai in Seattle]

The frames will be SUPER with pictures, though they're very visually attractive as abstracts already.

I like your decorating style, black and white so far? Very crisp. We considered it, but had too many things going in that wouldn't have matched. Maybe one day when we're not spending so much on new plywood.

Sounds like you're right on the job with your to-do list...looks like you got a lovely trailer there!

[TheRobster]

Being colorblind, it is always in my best interest to stick with black and white.

I think I am going to stick some pictures of this big guy on the frames. He is after all the reason I started looking for a trailer.

[Kai in Seattle]

I hear you about that! We learned our son was colorblind when he was 5 and trying to make pairs out of his dad's socks--he kept putting dark brown with navy blue, and couldn't see they were different. An eye doctor confirmed it.

But I think B & W is an excellent decorating choice in any case!

The Big Guy is a beaut! Looks like a brindle greyhound. Is he? What's his name?

[TheRobster]

Originally Posted by Kai in Seattle

I hear you about that! We learned our son was colorblind when he was 5 and trying to make pairs out of his dad's socks--he kept putting dark brown with navy blue, and couldn't see they were different. An eye doctor confirmed it.

But I think B & W is an excellent decorating choice in any case!

The Big Guy is a beaut! Looks like a brindle greyhound. Is he? What's his name?

If would like to he able to understand colorblindness. To be able to see through you sons eyes, if only for a moment . There Is a great website at: vischeck.com
They have some great images that have been edited to approximate what a colorblind person sees.

I had in mind to use some pine doors on the lower cabinet, but I think now I will paint them black before I hang them.

Rocky is a 4 year old ex-racing greyhound, from Ireland. He is 85lbs of love wrapped up in the softest brindle fur.
And he loves camping.

[Jay H]

The Boler is such a small space really. When we redid ours we thought a simple design theme with less colours would make it feel more airy and less confining. I too really like the picture frame doors.
Great job so far, keep posting, I really enjoy seeing what other are doing - especially Bolers!
Jay

[TheRobster]

Originally Posted by Jay H

Great job so far, keep posting, I really enjoy seeing what other are doing - especially Bolers!
Jay

Thanks.
This was intended as a simple greeting post, but it seems to have have turned into a build thread. I guess I might as well keep it going.

Tonight's work was so boring I didn't even bother to take pictures.
Tomorrow I should be starting to clean up the internal 12v electrical system.
I will try to include some details on what has already been done.

Stay tuned, and I appreciate the feed back.

[Kai in Seattle]

It's a good place for a build thread...mine have gotten so scattered over the last 8 months of starting new topics...

We need to take updated photos, too.

(As I've gotten older, I've gone partially colorblind myself; I struggle with it every day. It was fascinating to read about it, I never really have.)

Our best to Rocky!

Cinder and Nimble--our pugs.

[TheRobster]

Been busy, I have not had much time to work on the trailer.

But I have been looking for a LED reading lamp. I have not been able to find what I was looking for. So I gave up trying to find what I wanted and made it instead.

This is an IKEA 120v incandescent reading lamp. I removed the bulb, soldered in a small LED bulb, removed the plug. Works great.

[Mollie]

This should be called the "Macgiver thread" nothing stops you therobster nothing. Great job!

[TheRobster]

Originally Posted by Mollie

This should be called the "Macgiver thread" nothing stops you therobster nothing. Great job!

I will take that as a compliment.
Although I think of myself as more of a cheap bastard.

When I originally got the Boler home , I built that I called my zero dollar electrical system.
An old car battery that doesn't hold a charge properly.
A toggle switch from the bottom of my tool box.
Some old speaker wire.
A strip of 4 LED pucks. With several dead,or flickering LEDs.
A solar battery maintainer.

Parts of that (junk) system are still in place.

The terminal strips I ordered for the electrical system have arrived, so there should be more, interesting, movement this weekend.

[TheRobster]

Since there is no propane system. I modified the mount to hold a large marine battery box.

I installed a battery, and a charger in the box. Routed new wires through split loom. All the way inside.
The plug from the charger just sticks out, so it is easy to plug in, and sharge the battery.

Pretty clean install so far.

[Mollie]

Looks great Rob... When's the first trip ?