J & O - 1979 17' Boler
After years of searching, we finally found our Boler! These photos were taken the day we brought it
home. We knew when we bought it that
there would be a lot of work to do. The past few years we have been working on
fixing some of the issues i.e. leaky windows and plumbing, sagging door and
roof.
~ J
~ J
Boler Renos To Date!
A
few weeks after we brought The Boler home, we took it out for its maiden voyage
– a camping trip to the beautiful Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in
Michigan. It was on this trip we discovered a few things:
- The roof vents
leaked (we later realized it was because the roof sagged)
- The windows
leaked
- The oven didn’t
work
- Something was
wrong with the toilet (which we were told was brand new)
- The plumbing
system leaked
- The water pump
leaked
- The bunks sagged
- The door sagged –
so we had some issues with water when driving in the rain – or dust on gravel
roads. We think the door was straightened out a little when they added the
window – which left a gap at the top and the bottom.
- Ditched the decor
and ripped that wallpaper off! Turns out the wallpaper was hiding a lot of
water stains
- Replaced the
copper pipes with PEX pipe – fixed the plumbing leaks
- Replaced all the
lighting with LED bulbs – O got a great deal on eBay
- Welded scissor
jacks on all four corners of the frame – which has made the camper a lot more
stable in the “camp position”
- Changed the wheel
hubs for Dexters and aluminum rims
- Replaced the
kitchen sink tap – the old one was small and useless
- Welded a hitch receiver
to the back of the trailer for our bike rack
- Fixed the toilet –
turns out it was a cracked valve
- Replaced the
inverter with an inverter/charger and purchased a small Honda EU-1000 generator
- Installed a
CO2/smoke alarm
- Replaced both
roof vents
- Exterior paint
has been stripped and sanded. As much as we “loved” the two-tone puke brown
(yuck), the paint was peeling off in many places. The stripping process revealed all the
different colours our Boler had been in the past: white, powder pink, silver
(going for an Airstream look?) and back to white again.
- O has fixed the
roof sag! He added a sheet of carbon – which has firmed things up for a proper
seal on the roof vents. Carbon is strong and very light, so it worked really
well.
- He also removed
the door – put the curve back in and added a sheet of carbon. This has resulted
in a much better door seal. The window in the door has been removed. Not sure what
we are going to do. We’d like a smaller window so that we don’t have the same
problem as before (putting a long straight window in a curved surface). Has
anyone put a window in their door? If so, what size did you use and where did
you get it?
This
spring we hope to:
Stay tuned,
~J
- Install the new
water pump
- Fix the window
seals
- Figure out why
the oven doesn’t work
- Prime and paint
the exterior
- Start the
interior renovation. I think this is likely going to be a little more involved
then we had initially hoped. With the leaky water system we will have to rip up
the old flooring and clean things up.
- Our kitchen
counter slopes towards the wall and has some water damage. I would like to
replace this and add the fold down counter piece at the end for additional
counter space.
- Paint some of the
interior, make new curtains and replace the foam and cushion covers.
Stay tuned,
~J