1973 Boler 1300 updating

[Baxter]

That's awesome. Have you seen my similar Pi efforts? https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/...egg-91194.html

[bobdobqb]

Thanks! Just checked out your thread. You are definitely all in. Good stuff!! How are you liking Plex? I gave it a try but had real issues with getting the offline functionality to work. KODI just wasn't stable for me. So far OSMC seems to be working fine. Biggest issue was I had to disable the onboard bluetooth (shared with wifi) and go to an external dongle. Of course I spent waaay more time online actually researching a solution than it took to implement.

[Baxter]

I use Plex at home and like it a lot. I haven't tested the offline capabilities, but I don't expect any problem since the movies will be stored locally, in the trailer. So no wifi *should* be needed. But we'll see.

One nice thing about Plex is that it runs fine on raspbian, which I think makes doing the other monitoring and such a bit easier, compared to a dedicated media OS.

[bobdobqb]

I really like Raspbian. I use it on a pi 2 with a custom add-on board that my son (an electrical engineer) built for me. It controls the linear actuator that keeps the solar panels on my shop at the optimum angle. If I needed more functionality in Lita I would totally go Raspbian.

[FRED SMAILES]

After reading the last few posts I can relate to a non gearhead person when I'm talking about cam overlap, castor camber settings relative to Ackerman
and scrub radius,lol
The electronic world escapes me but at least I learned to surf out of water,, lol
Beauty work on the boler!
Fred

[Baxter]

Most of it isn't really even getting into electronics or programming, it's just another little ecosystem with it's own products and nomenclature to learn. Not really that different than learning about Casitas and Bolers and Trilliums, in that sense.

A Raspberry Pi is just a very, very cheap computer. Usually it runs some version of Linux, but it can run Windows. Because it is so shockingly cheap (as low as 5-10 dollars) there's a lot of DIY and add-ons involved.

Raspian is just particular brand of Linux, optimized for the Pi.

And so on. It's mostly just being somewhat familiar with the cheap computers and what's available for them. After that, it's generally not much different than installing software on your home computer. Mostly.

[bobdobqb]

Thanks Fred! We all need something to keep our brains churning and having fun!!

[bobdobqb]

Originally Posted by Baxter

Most of it isn't really even getting into electronics or programming, it's just another little ecosystem with it's own products and nomenclature to learn. Not really that different than learning about Casitas and Bolers and Trilliums, in that sense.
.

Yep that's it. And if you like a little DIY in your life (and if you have an old FG trailer that's a given) and technology I say give it a whirl It's a fun project

[bobdobqb]

Since the Raspberry Pi project was completed a while ago I put the fun stuff on the back burner and got back to my windows. The side window replacements required some filling and redrilling of the fiberglass before before I did the reinstall. I ground out the areas where the rivets had been and filled with bondoglass short strand fiberglass and then sanded down and topped with bondo body filler.



That gave me a good crack free surface to drill for the new fasteners. The shop was still a bit chilly when I started so my little ceramic heater helped a lot in getting the fiberglass cured.





And of course as I was filling in the window holes I went down the rabbit hole and started on redoing the loose rivets on the closet which led to.... Well let's just say that's my next post.

I decided that I would use stainless steel machine screws and nylock nuts to reinstall the windows. That way I can pull them out easily and reseal again anytime if I need to. Also as I'll be repainting the boler in the not too distant future I also primed the window area as well.

I was kind of dithering as to what I would do with the interior window trim. The original aluminum trim was in pretty crappy shape so I thought I'd change it up a bit. I picked up a piece of 3 inch wide PVC exterior trim at my local Home Depot. I ripped the 8 ft piece into 3 strips and made my window trim out of that. It looks pretty good and as an added bonus is just fine for screwing in the curtain brackets.





So 2 of the jalousie windows are now refurbed, reinstalled and looking good. Well I guess 3 if you're counting the door window I did a while ago. Just 1 left to go. As a bonus we had a couple of heavy days of rain just after I installed the windows and no leaks!!

As I said earlier in this post I went down the rabbit hole in body work. I hadn't planned to, but as I started in to redo the closet I found significant stress fractures on the roof and some damage that the PO had "fixed" with some fiberglass mat kind of slapped on. Looks like I had found my next project.

[bobdobqb]

The window project as previously mentioned brought to light some not serious but concerning fiberglass issues on the roof. It looked like there had been some damage to the rear curbside corner and the PO had just slaped fiberglass mat patch over the damaged area and then slopped some white gelcoat over that. As I was patching the dining window area I decided that I would also fix up what I thought initially were just some small stress fractures. As I started grinding I realized the job was going to be a bit bigger.



In for a penny in for a pound, right? I ground down the rear curbside corner to bare glass (It was a lot bigger area than I had thought) and laid a layer of chopped strand mat for reinforcing and then finished with body filler. I'm not anywhere CLOSE to being a bodyman but it turned out fine.





As I followed more stress fractures to the drivers side rear it turned out a similar patch job was done on the drivers side rear corner as well which lead me to think it was a fallen tree or big branch that was the culprit.

Anyway... A lot more work, but I got it to a point I was happy with.



To finish off the roof I rolled a couple of coats of Interlux Pre Kote to cover the filler while I decide what to do for paint. She looks like a bit of a hillbilly hideaway right now but she's ready for paint in the fall.



With the roof done and extra time on my hands I thought I'd tackle the boler's achilles heel (Okay one of them). The pesky cracks above the door. I was surprised how thin that radiused area at the top of the door actually is. So I carefully peeled back the ensolite on the inside of the door and patched with fiberglass chopped strand mat to strengthen the corners and then ground out the front side and filled with bondo glass short strand filler. That should do the trick but I guess we'll find out.





And of course when I did the door's outside repair I needed to remove the old bent drip cap (I do have a replacement) so had to fill those 12 rivet holes as well. 12 fasteners for the drip cap!!! Why? No idea...



The good thing about this part of the project was we had a really nice stretch of warm dry weather for it so I had no delays. Next job which was going to be something I'd never done before but didn't seem like it would be insurmountable was to remove the old water filler on the curbside and fill that hole and as well on the drivers side get rid of the mouse hole for the electrical cord fill it and replace it with a 15 amp cord socket.

It's all coming together. I think she'll be all done by next spring but in the meantime she's perfectly usable, comfy and dry.

[Nicolas]

Love what you’re doing and how you are doing it. Especially the roof repair.

[bobdobqb]

Thanks Nicolas! Really enjoying the process.

[FRED SMAILES]

Hey Bob, great updates!
I'm of the same attitude to use it as is and update along the way.
Hope you get to enjoy it over the summer!
Fred

[bobdobqb]

Thanks Fred! I'm sure we'll get back to exploring the island this summer. And in the meantime our driveway is actually a pretty good campsite.

[bobdobqb]

The hole from the water tank fill and the electrical cord mouse hole were next on the list. I have never filled any bigger holes in fiberglass before but figured it should be pretty much like filling big holes in drywall. When my sister got her ensuite bath redone we pulled her old fiberglass shower out and I had scrounged some chunks of it that I thought may come in handy. And they did.

The bathroom reno was slightly delayed so I had pulled the water filler out a little prematurely. Luckily my son had a roll of tiedye duct tape to cover the hole until I got started. Tiedye for a 1973 trailer seemed appropriate.



When I finally got some fiberglass to use as filler I cut a piece out with my hole saw that fit the diameter of the water fill hole. To fiberglass it in place I screwed a backing piece over the hole on the outside of the shell with some wax paper to keep any resin from sticking to the backing. I then screwed the filler piece in place from the inside and fiberglassed it in place with short strand mat.





With the inside of the patch secure I then ground the gelcoat on the exterior to allow me to put another patch of short strand mat on the outside.





And finally with the hole patched and strengthened inside and out I finished off with some body filler and primer to hold it until I paint.



I give it a difficulty level of 3. It was pretty straightforward and as always I didn't rush it and tried to figure it all out before I started. That's always a good thing when working with fiberglass because once that fiberglass resin is mixed you're on the clock!

With the water filler complete I moved over to the other side and started on the
electrical port. It was the same process as the first with the addition of redrilling a hole for the new power socket and this time went a little quicker. Now I have a new 15 amp socket and no place for tiny animals to possibly invade. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.







With Lita's major fiberglass projects complete it's time to continue on with filling in the rest of her rock dings and chips on the shell. I've started doing some experimenting with paint so will update that next.

[Jay H]

Hi Bob, I just wanted to say I think your reno looks great!

[bobdobqb]

Thanks so much Jay! She's a great project and we really enjoying exploring the island in her!!

[FRED SMAILES]

Originally Posted by bobdobqb

Thanks so much Jay! She's a great project and we really enjoying exploring the island in her!!

We were out enjoying your island this time last year!
We had 3 perfect days on the beach at ?? Bella Pacifica??? just outta Tofino.
Fred

[Jay H]

We towed our Boler out to Vancouver Island in 2017. Absolutely gorgeous! You are lucky to live in BC.

[bobdobqb]

Hey Fred. Haven't been to Bella Pacifica but heard it's a nice spot. Have to give it a try when things open up.