After months of searching online, we found a fixer upper just across the border and in March of 2009 we became proud owners of a vintage travel trailer called a Boler. It was manufactured in 1976 in Canada. Although it continues to be a work in progress,
we've had some great adventures with our home on wheels.
Here's a little background info on Bolers:
"One of Canada's most sought-after trailers, the Boler trailer was named after the Bowler hat, which it strongly resembles.
Who came up with the Boler? The trailer, that is, not the hat. Ray Olecko of Winnipeg, Canada was the inventor. What motivated him to manufacture the first Boler was his fascination with fiberglass. First, he created a fiberglass septic tank and after that, he daydreamed about a light-weight trailer.
One night, while camping with his family, Ray came up with a blueprint of a trailer based on his own family's needs. He needed a kitchen and places for all four of his family members-- two children and two adults--to sleep. He drew his idea on a piece of cardboard which he later took to a fiberglass molder and asked the professional to create the trailer.
He paid $1,400 for the finished product. To dealers, this seemed high in comparison to the aluminum trailers that sold for only $895. However, when dealers saw how light Ray's Boler was due to the fiberglass material he used, and how easy this camping trailer could be pulled, they felt the price was right.
In 1968, 100 of these Bolers were built and the next year production increased to 150. By 1972, 220 trailers were built a year. When Ray sold the Boler Trailer Company to Jimmy Pattison's Neonex in 1973, production was around 10,000 units annually. Bolers ceased to be manufactured shortly after this."
--Excerpt from Love To Know Corp.
The layout of an original Boler.
Our Boler!
The great thing about these trailers is that since they are fiberglass, they are very light and able to be pulled by small vehicles such as our 1998 Subaru Impreza Outback. But before we were willing to pull it anywhere, it needed to be gutted out, beautified and leak-proofed. I learned some things during this process and the guys down at the hardware store became like family, but I'm happy to report the thing doesn't leak anymore and I got it put back together more or less the same way I found it.
Here are some of the "before" pics:
I found this grooooovy fabric at the thrift store and it just screamed Boler to me so I made curtains out of it and our color scheme was set!
Here are some of the "after" pictures:
As summer draws near (it is, isn't it?), work on the Boler has once again graced our "To Do" list. We have some big plans in July to drive down the coast to California, camping along the way and pulling our Boler with us! In order to do this it was time to dig it out of its winter nook; alongside the house where Michael occasionally used it as an office for grading papers, etc. Several rainy months nestled in the bushes made a scrub down necessary so we spend our sunny Saturday doing just that. Holden excels at washing the Boler. She helped us with this same project last year. The girl loves being soaked to the bone, regardless of water temperature or location.
Our hose happens to have sprung this great leak, which provides for endless amounts of fun!
It's all clean, on the outside anyway. Now for the not-so-much-fun task of wiping it down on the inside. I also tore out the old gas stove so will need to find something to fill the very large hole left in the counter. If time allows, I hope to get do a bit more decorating and tweaking but we'll see. Time has not been very allowing as of late. I won't name names but there are two short people in our household who make Boler projects hard to accomplish. It's unfortunate too cause the poor thing is in desperate need of a paint job and I have visions of large flowers splashed along the sides.....perhaps one day soooooooon....
Until then, I'll enjoy smiles from the short people.
