The Boler Rollercoaster

These past couple of days I've been excited, overwhelmed, furious and about ready to throw in the towel on my Boler renovations. I'm not entirely sure what made me think I could buy an old camper and renovate it; I don't even know my way around the tool shed. Working with a drill, to remove rivets, almost drove me over the edge. I thought I could just pick one up and start using it like a pro, not so. However, with some perseverance I became a rivet-drilling fiend and am now comfortable with the drill. Phew.

Window with rivet covers	Rivet covers removed
Window detail	Rivet detail

Three of the windows need to be removed to fix the cranks and  leaks. I started taking the first one out with much trepidation. The first photo above is the window without the rivet coverings removed. Silly me thought there were only four rivets to drill out, until I removed those plastic covers. Once off I was faced with 30+ rivets for each window. Having to remove that many rivets was bound to either make me give up or turn me into a pro. Thank heavens I managed to get a hang of the drill.

Once I managed to get the window out I had the task of taking it apart. The screws holding the frame together were so old and and rusty I ended up breaking the heads off two, leaving the shank stuck way down in the canal, making it impossible to use those canals to put the window back together. But, that’s another problem for another time. I still have the rest of the window and accessories to remove from the shell before it gets painted. Here’s some images of what I’ve done to the outside thus far.

Awning	Awning rivet detail
Caulking removed reveals all the colors it has been.	Window, awning rail, table rail and rain guard over door removed.
Removed pieces that need to be stripped of layers of paint.	My tool box, so far.