May 19-22 at Pismo Beach, CA. Over 275 trailers, teardrops and rolling thing-a-majigs that were more fun to go through and look at than can be imagined. What talented folks! Some of the interiors were stunning, lots of fun at the "yard sales" and night music jams too.
We were able to talk to other Boles' owners, one couple has a 1954 Ensenda, that was in bad shape when they got it, another Miramar, which is shorter than ours, that sat unused for 57 years in Yosemite that had an original interior. Some 10 footers, some 60's vintage. All in all, a very productive weekend, with making contacts and learning about aluminum and other factoids, and basic where-to-find-stuff info.
Once back home, we kept working thru the punch list. Re-caulked all the roof seams. Started polishing some of the window frames after pulling off the old thin window gasket. The gasket was actually in good shape, it was the old plasti-coat that had been sprayed on them that caused them to look so bad. We used several brands of aluminum polish with a buffer wheel on the drill. What we got was shiny windows with the pitted, oxidized areas now showing up black. Could NOT get the blackened polish out of the pits. We finally decided, (after a lively discussion) that we would leave the remaining windows as is. With the new grey gaskets installed, they look very passable. Tried washing some exterior siding with good car wash soap and distilled water....didn't make any difference. So, the siding issue is back on hold again. One yahoo groupie said he ended up painting his whole trailer out with grey Dodge paint and followed up with a clear coat and it looks great....very tempting at this point. When we take it to the body shop next week to get the tongue and hitch painted we will ask to see the paint chip and get a price, just for the heck of it.
While I was under the trailer putting copper plates over the open holes left from the old plumbing, I saw that the new axle was rubbing against the frame. Hauled the trailer down to a truck and trailer guy who will lengthen the shackles on the new axle. Also getting the trailer raised up an inch and a half and a new hitch attachment welded on. Ordered new steps for the 2 doors, as the original ones are a bear to pull out. Of course, they are welded on, so will have them cut off and new ones installed when the axle work is getting done. Geez, this FREE trailer is starting to cost some bucks!
We are getting eager to take this baby out and USE it somewhere. Nice just to sit in it after a long day of working on the little projects with a nice cold beer. Just wish the view out the window wasn't our pasture, but a nice mountain lake somewhere!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
The trip home.
After a short overnight at Les Schwab again for a new axle, and then to an RV place to have trailer brakes installed (it had old hydraulic brakes which don't work with new ABS braking systems) we were ready for the 700 miles down I-5 to home. It weighed in at 4100 lbs on the truck scales, and our car was rated for being able to haul up to 10,000 lbs, so no problems there. It hauled very well and the single axle makes turning and backing up easy. I could feel when the big rigs were coming up behind me, and so will order a sway bar and install that for the future, just to be on the safe side.
The only minor issues we discovered once home were that one of the glass ceiling light covers had come loose and fallen and broken and sadly, the perfect porcelain toilet lid had wiggled loose of its screwdown and bounced off and miraculously only chipped two front edges. The 2 chips were laying there, so were glued back on. We found an identical light cover, so all is well, but we learned a valuable lesson....take down all glass ceiling fixtures, take off the toilet lid (and be sure to drain all the water out of the toilet bowl and tank...it holds 3 gallons).
Once home, we got on the internet and began looking for products and items to replace/fix/restore on the list we had made up:
1. exterior thin window gaskets
2. remove peeling plasti-coat from aluminum siding
3. re-plumb...including new water heater.
4. order awning (couldn't find the original in the barn)
5. order hubcabs (one was missing, one was too rusted to use)
6. deal with oxidized areas on exterior siding
Fortunately, the web is full of vintage trailer sites, Boles Aero sites and so it just took time to sift through all of it. The big question, was to polish out or not polish out the aluminum. Because a mirror finish is not what we want, as it was not like that originally, we are trying to find products to minimize the white blobs of oxidation, and so far, none have worked. We don't want to acid wash the siding, as the whitish tone you are left with doesn't look right (we saw one done this way at a trailer rally). That issue is on hold for now.
Vintage Trailer Supply had the gaskets, the plasti-coat remover, the awning and other fun goodies. Hubcab Mike in the city of Orange, CA. has a million hubs and so that was easy. Our plumber worked with me and we re-did the toilet tank innards, put in a 6 gal. water heater (bought at Lowes) and put ABS underneath. I opted not to add a holding tank, we will just have to look for RV parks with a sewer connection.
I took apart the Duo-Therm diesel furnance, cleaned out the old gas/oil that had turned to sludge, scrubbed out all the mouse yuk and re-assembled. Added new diesel, fired it up....worked great. I even had the original booklet from the company for the furnace that came with the trailer, which was a big help. The company is STILL IN BUSINESS. Called them, but a big joke trying to talk to anyone there who knew a thing about one of their products from the 50's. Ha Ha.
Meanwhile...back at the ranch-------
Lori was working on some interior issues. The first was sanding, sealing and varnishing the interior of the mouse damaged cabinets and drawers. Thank goodness we own a powerful air hose. I'll let her tell the story:
Just when I thought I had found every last nook, crevice and cranny that had mouse poop or old wheat packed into it, I would still smell "mouse". So the hunt was on. After, what I thought was a job finished, namely, the upper kitchen cabinets, I discovered a whole cache of more poop and wheat behind the back bottom 1x1 in the cabinets. The air hose came in for the job. There would have been NO way to get that out without a blast of air. Plus, the mice had packed the kitchen drain and pipes under the sink with nests and the interior of the toilet bowl that you can't get to. I had to run a hose down the bowl to help get to it all.
My biggest challenge was the 2 dinette couches. The original upholstery was in perfect condition, but the mice had pulled out quite a bit of the old cotton batting that was used back then, plus had nested underneath and urinated on the burlap cover over the springs. Because these couches are free standing, moveable and have hinges that allow them to lay flat to make another bed, we took them outside and I had to manipulate them (and me) to get my arms through the springs and vacuum and cut away the burlap. The air hose was my best friend, as was my grandmother's old rug beater. It was beat, beat, beat, vac, vac, and shoot with air from underneath. Clouds of dust would poof out, and I would continue the drill until it was clean. I used a foam type upholstery cleaner on the fabric. I restuffed the underneath with poly batting (boy was that a job! Working my hands in and around the springs was no fun) and re-stapled fabric to cover up the springs. I won't tell you how many dead mouse carcasses I found in there.
The original drapes and sheer curtains had been removed in 1974 and stored in a box in the trailer, but smelled of mice. Hardly any mice damage to them. I didn't think they'd survive the dry cleaners, so I washed them in cold water, in Woolite in the hand wash cycle IN MY WASHER, hung out to dry, pressed them and voila....clean drapes and curtains....no shrinkage, no damage, no fading. Gotta love it! They all went back up on the windows and look just great, as you will see in future pix posts.
The rest of the interior was just standard housecleaning type work, a quick floor finish on the perfect asbestos tile (12x12 squares, not sheet goods) and presto, the interior is back to 1955 perfection.
The only minor issues we discovered once home were that one of the glass ceiling light covers had come loose and fallen and broken and sadly, the perfect porcelain toilet lid had wiggled loose of its screwdown and bounced off and miraculously only chipped two front edges. The 2 chips were laying there, so were glued back on. We found an identical light cover, so all is well, but we learned a valuable lesson....take down all glass ceiling fixtures, take off the toilet lid (and be sure to drain all the water out of the toilet bowl and tank...it holds 3 gallons).
Once home, we got on the internet and began looking for products and items to replace/fix/restore on the list we had made up:
1. exterior thin window gaskets
2. remove peeling plasti-coat from aluminum siding
3. re-plumb...including new water heater.
4. order awning (couldn't find the original in the barn)
5. order hubcabs (one was missing, one was too rusted to use)
6. deal with oxidized areas on exterior siding
Fortunately, the web is full of vintage trailer sites, Boles Aero sites and so it just took time to sift through all of it. The big question, was to polish out or not polish out the aluminum. Because a mirror finish is not what we want, as it was not like that originally, we are trying to find products to minimize the white blobs of oxidation, and so far, none have worked. We don't want to acid wash the siding, as the whitish tone you are left with doesn't look right (we saw one done this way at a trailer rally). That issue is on hold for now.
Vintage Trailer Supply had the gaskets, the plasti-coat remover, the awning and other fun goodies. Hubcab Mike in the city of Orange, CA. has a million hubs and so that was easy. Our plumber worked with me and we re-did the toilet tank innards, put in a 6 gal. water heater (bought at Lowes) and put ABS underneath. I opted not to add a holding tank, we will just have to look for RV parks with a sewer connection.
I took apart the Duo-Therm diesel furnance, cleaned out the old gas/oil that had turned to sludge, scrubbed out all the mouse yuk and re-assembled. Added new diesel, fired it up....worked great. I even had the original booklet from the company for the furnace that came with the trailer, which was a big help. The company is STILL IN BUSINESS. Called them, but a big joke trying to talk to anyone there who knew a thing about one of their products from the 50's. Ha Ha.
Meanwhile...back at the ranch-------
Lori was working on some interior issues. The first was sanding, sealing and varnishing the interior of the mouse damaged cabinets and drawers. Thank goodness we own a powerful air hose. I'll let her tell the story:
Just when I thought I had found every last nook, crevice and cranny that had mouse poop or old wheat packed into it, I would still smell "mouse". So the hunt was on. After, what I thought was a job finished, namely, the upper kitchen cabinets, I discovered a whole cache of more poop and wheat behind the back bottom 1x1 in the cabinets. The air hose came in for the job. There would have been NO way to get that out without a blast of air. Plus, the mice had packed the kitchen drain and pipes under the sink with nests and the interior of the toilet bowl that you can't get to. I had to run a hose down the bowl to help get to it all.
My biggest challenge was the 2 dinette couches. The original upholstery was in perfect condition, but the mice had pulled out quite a bit of the old cotton batting that was used back then, plus had nested underneath and urinated on the burlap cover over the springs. Because these couches are free standing, moveable and have hinges that allow them to lay flat to make another bed, we took them outside and I had to manipulate them (and me) to get my arms through the springs and vacuum and cut away the burlap. The air hose was my best friend, as was my grandmother's old rug beater. It was beat, beat, beat, vac, vac, and shoot with air from underneath. Clouds of dust would poof out, and I would continue the drill until it was clean. I used a foam type upholstery cleaner on the fabric. I restuffed the underneath with poly batting (boy was that a job! Working my hands in and around the springs was no fun) and re-stapled fabric to cover up the springs. I won't tell you how many dead mouse carcasses I found in there.
The original drapes and sheer curtains had been removed in 1974 and stored in a box in the trailer, but smelled of mice. Hardly any mice damage to them. I didn't think they'd survive the dry cleaners, so I washed them in cold water, in Woolite in the hand wash cycle IN MY WASHER, hung out to dry, pressed them and voila....clean drapes and curtains....no shrinkage, no damage, no fading. Gotta love it! They all went back up on the windows and look just great, as you will see in future pix posts.
The rest of the interior was just standard housecleaning type work, a quick floor finish on the perfect asbestos tile (12x12 squares, not sheet goods) and presto, the interior is back to 1955 perfection.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The dirty work begins
My son and I began the work of clearing the personal belongs left in the trailer (sitting in there since 1974) before we could begin assessing what we had. The owner said to just burn everything, he had no interest in going through any of it. There were boxes and boxes of clothes and fabric (his wife was a seamstress), carpet covering the original flooring, old slipcovers on the dinette couches, food (yes, old petrified food) and hundreds and hundreds of mice nests in the cupboards. It was smelly, nasty work. It took 3 days. But, the more stuff we pulled out and discarded, the more the beauty of the original trailer came through. There were no spiders or other bugs, just mice. The dry climate up there kept the inside in great condition, no mildew or other issues that damp climate can cause.
After emptying it all out, we had a jewel! There were no chips, dings, scrapes or any visible damage at all to the floor, woodwork, appliances, formica, porcelain toilet, porcelain sink, walk-in shower, or furniture. We were just amazed. The windows all worked fine, the screens were perfect, as were the beautiful seafoam green venetian blinds.
My son dropped off the team and my wife joined the clean up phase. She is a CLEANER. We went to Home Depot and loaded up with haz-mat suits, masks, gloves, disinfectant, mice traps, rags, scrapers, and brushes. I will not minimize the mice infestation in this trailer, but fortunately, it was all hidden in the cupboards, no visible chewing or damage. They had so much nesting material and food from the barn and cotton batting under the couches, they just happily nested without having to chew wood. We did find out though, that mouse urine works like paint remover. The areas where they had been needed to be touched up.
While my wife cleaned and scraped up inches of mouse poop from the inside of the cupboards, I removed the tires and took them to Les Schwab. They were split rims, and had I given it much thought, I would have swapped those out for legal rims. In haste, and wanting to keep it all original, I had them powdercoated and new tires put on.
About day 6 or so, we decided to plug the trailer in to see if the wiring was all intact. We both expected a big POP, FIZZ, KABOOM, figuring the mice had decimated the wiring inside, but to our amazement, the lights came right on, the fridge started humming away (light in the fridge worked too) the clock on the stove started moving and the lights glowing against the beautiful wood interior made slogging thru the mice poop all worth it. The smiles on our faces would have made a great photo.
Once things were cleaned up as good as we could get them in a cold barn, with cold water hauled in from the spring down the road, we made a few decisions on some original stuff in and on the trailer. The first to go was the original twin bed mattresses and boxsprings. Even though they were in good condition, they were heavy and smelled OLD. Out to the burn pile. We found a local mattress store that has mattresses made in Portland, so we ordered new ones (no box springs) and I decided to shorten the platform of the bed that jutted into the back door opening. The three inches would make a big difference with the door, and not a big difference in the length of the bed. Five days later, we had new mattresses. The next to go, was the 250 lbs. of cast iron and brass plumbing from underneath the trailer. The trailer was a "park model" so it has no holding tank. We would get it re-plumbed back in CA.
After cleaning up and removing all the stuff in the way of the trailer's exit from the barn, moving day came. It rolled out without a groan or squeak. We were on our way! I'll be posting pictures soon.
After emptying it all out, we had a jewel! There were no chips, dings, scrapes or any visible damage at all to the floor, woodwork, appliances, formica, porcelain toilet, porcelain sink, walk-in shower, or furniture. We were just amazed. The windows all worked fine, the screens were perfect, as were the beautiful seafoam green venetian blinds.
My son dropped off the team and my wife joined the clean up phase. She is a CLEANER. We went to Home Depot and loaded up with haz-mat suits, masks, gloves, disinfectant, mice traps, rags, scrapers, and brushes. I will not minimize the mice infestation in this trailer, but fortunately, it was all hidden in the cupboards, no visible chewing or damage. They had so much nesting material and food from the barn and cotton batting under the couches, they just happily nested without having to chew wood. We did find out though, that mouse urine works like paint remover. The areas where they had been needed to be touched up.
While my wife cleaned and scraped up inches of mouse poop from the inside of the cupboards, I removed the tires and took them to Les Schwab. They were split rims, and had I given it much thought, I would have swapped those out for legal rims. In haste, and wanting to keep it all original, I had them powdercoated and new tires put on.
About day 6 or so, we decided to plug the trailer in to see if the wiring was all intact. We both expected a big POP, FIZZ, KABOOM, figuring the mice had decimated the wiring inside, but to our amazement, the lights came right on, the fridge started humming away (light in the fridge worked too) the clock on the stove started moving and the lights glowing against the beautiful wood interior made slogging thru the mice poop all worth it. The smiles on our faces would have made a great photo.
Once things were cleaned up as good as we could get them in a cold barn, with cold water hauled in from the spring down the road, we made a few decisions on some original stuff in and on the trailer. The first to go was the original twin bed mattresses and boxsprings. Even though they were in good condition, they were heavy and smelled OLD. Out to the burn pile. We found a local mattress store that has mattresses made in Portland, so we ordered new ones (no box springs) and I decided to shorten the platform of the bed that jutted into the back door opening. The three inches would make a big difference with the door, and not a big difference in the length of the bed. Five days later, we had new mattresses. The next to go, was the 250 lbs. of cast iron and brass plumbing from underneath the trailer. The trailer was a "park model" so it has no holding tank. We would get it re-plumbed back in CA.
After cleaning up and removing all the stuff in the way of the trailer's exit from the barn, moving day came. It rolled out without a groan or squeak. We were on our way! I'll be posting pictures soon.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Let me tell you about our barn-find!
Let me begin by a bit of history. My wife, Lori, and I have enjoyed camping for our entire married life. Our honeymoon was a week of camping, and our latest camp"mobile" was a teardrop trailer, manufactured in Oakridge, OR. After six or so years of taking that all over, we decided to bump up to a larger trailer. I was inclined to buy a new Airstream, but my wife was really wanting a vintage trailer. We both like classic cars, and so at Hot August Nights in Reno in 2010, we found a 12 ft. "canned ham" for sale....cheap. It only needed heavy lipstick, so we brought it home and did the work. Then winter came, we headed up to OR for two months.
Last summer our son, who helps cut wheat for a farm in eastern OR, saw an old trailer in the back of one of the barns on the ranch. He had sent us a pix of it, but we couldn't identify what make it was from the photo. While we were up in OR, we went out to the ranch, went into the barn, and saw it was a Boles Aero. We had heard the name before, but really didn't know much about them. It was aluminum sided, it said the model was an Ensenada. It looked to be over 20 ft. long. We opened the door and peeked inside. The beautiful birch interior was in perfect condition, no evidence of water damage, or any other damage for that matter. The body was in excellent shape, no dings or damage. I WANTED IT. The owner, actually the son of the original buyer, told us it was bought by his folks in 1955 and he would be glad to get it out of the barn, if we cleared out the stuff (big stuff) that surrounded it in the back corner. We would be in charge of getting it out, he'd sign over the pink slip. He had all the original paperwork too. He and his wife had lived in it briefly while he attended a trade school in 1974, but it had sat, unopened since then.
We went home, got on the internet and learned about Boles Aeros, the model we had, etc. etc. The more we read, the more excited we became about such a perfect 1955 time capsule. It turned out to be 24 ft. long, and it would need new tires to get it to roll out. We figured having 2 trailers in our family would work out just fine. Stay tuned for part 2 of the story.
Last summer our son, who helps cut wheat for a farm in eastern OR, saw an old trailer in the back of one of the barns on the ranch. He had sent us a pix of it, but we couldn't identify what make it was from the photo. While we were up in OR, we went out to the ranch, went into the barn, and saw it was a Boles Aero. We had heard the name before, but really didn't know much about them. It was aluminum sided, it said the model was an Ensenada. It looked to be over 20 ft. long. We opened the door and peeked inside. The beautiful birch interior was in perfect condition, no evidence of water damage, or any other damage for that matter. The body was in excellent shape, no dings or damage. I WANTED IT. The owner, actually the son of the original buyer, told us it was bought by his folks in 1955 and he would be glad to get it out of the barn, if we cleared out the stuff (big stuff) that surrounded it in the back corner. We would be in charge of getting it out, he'd sign over the pink slip. He had all the original paperwork too. He and his wife had lived in it briefly while he attended a trade school in 1974, but it had sat, unopened since then.
We went home, got on the internet and learned about Boles Aeros, the model we had, etc. etc. The more we read, the more excited we became about such a perfect 1955 time capsule. It turned out to be 24 ft. long, and it would need new tires to get it to roll out. We figured having 2 trailers in our family would work out just fine. Stay tuned for part 2 of the story.
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