Re-imagining a 1948 Boles Aero Trailer

  The Floor Sandwich The flooring system I'm installing (not quite done yet) is a sandwich of materials. The bottom or outside layer is 0.025" 5052H32 sheet aluminum. This sits directly on the steel trailer frame which is coated with POR15 which I'm counting on to moderate any galvanic corrosion between the steel and aluminum. The 5052H32 is fastened to the frame with 1/8" stainless steel closed-end pop rivets spaced around the outside edge about every 12".  The closed-end rivet will prevent water from entering through the typical mandrel hole in the pop rivet. There are three 48" wide aluminum sheets laid "east-west" (north being forward) and they overlap by about 3". Where they overlap I used a double bead of Sikaflex 221 sealant-adhesive, then I fastened the sheets together with 1/8" closed-end pop rivets. Above each frame, on top of the aluminum, I laid down 1 1/8"tall  x 1.5" wide kiln dried fir (ripped from 2x4 lumber). Th...

  Installed 0.025" 5052H32 Aluminum Outer Flooring Layer For review, when I removed the old flooring I found: an outer layer of roofing felt paper; 1" wood cross members on top of the steel frame; and 1/2" plywood floor. Sandwiched in between the roofing felt and the plywood was (nasty) Kimsul cellulose insulation. I'd need to replace the whole thing. I read a bunch and saw what lots of other people and manufacturers did and do today. In the end I've come up with something that's a bit unconventional, i.e. I haven't seen anyone else do something precisely the same. Plywood is still the standard. Airstream just transitioned to a composite product for the 2021 model year.  For insulation I've seen everything from nothing to insulation with blown in insulation, batting type product, or rigid foam products. Some people just lay down plywood. I'd say this is actually the approach of 80% of trailer renovations. It's cheap and easy and the lack of in...

  Wiring up the exterior trailer lights (stop, turn, marker) and electric brakes is pretty mundane but it was going to be so much easier if I did it before installing the floor. There are lots of different tow vehicle to trailer plug arrangements but today's standard is a 7-pin connector. My trailer really only needs five: 1) electric brakes; 2) right turn/brake; 3) left turn/brake light; 4) marker lights; 5) ground. The other 2 that I don't plan to use are: 6) backup light; and 7) 12V auxiliary power. I actually included wiring for the 12V auxiliary power but didn't hook it up since I plan to have solar charging and the batteries function better with a smart charge controller. But the wiring will be there if I change my mind later. NOTE: the each turn/brake wiring is a single line (one for each left and right sides). The tow vehicle sorts of whether to blink or send a steady signal (indicating braking). This confused me and can influence your lighting choices. Most modern ...

  The screens in the Boles were all pretty well intact but the metal had rusted so I decided to replaced them. I did a little research and found that you can't use the typical materials that are used on window screens today (ie fiberglass) because it needs to crimp into a small channel. There's no bead to hold it in place. Wanting to avoid rusted screens I looked into stainless steel, but it's incredibly expensive. So I decided to try aluminum. I'd read that it wouldn't crimp properly, but I thought it was worth a try since it's only about $10 for enough material to cover all the windows. You can choose a wide variety of options like color, but I chose a dark color that wouldn't reflect so would be easy to look through. It was readily available on Amazon. It might be available at larger big box stores as well (although our local Home Depot didn't have it). With the Air-O-Lite windows you need to remove the open/close mechanism to remove the screen. It...

  Newly installed Fantastic Fan The lid on Rosie's old vent had torn away from the hinges and was just strapped down with some wire. It also didn't have a fan so the airflow would be somewhat limited. So I decided to replace it completely. Fortunately it was a standard 14"x14" vent so there are seemingly endless choices. I really wanted to stay with the original look but the best I could figure out was a replacement metal vent with a small retrofit fan. I investigated fabricating something better but that would take more time and energy than I wanted to invest on a vent right now. So I gave up on maintaining the original look. I did some research online and chose a MaxxFan by MaxxAir. It had the best reviews and the mechanism was reported to be rock solid. But...I checked the installation details and the MaxxFan requires a ceiling thickness of 2"+ inches and Rosie is just 1.5". I could have trimmed it with something nice looking but there is limited headroom...

  The new Flexiride axle showed up in 7 days! I ordered it on a Monday during my lunch hour and they fabricated it to my specific dimensions, shipped it to my house and it arrived the following Monday. Unbelievable. I'd read a post on a trailer website and someone else mentioned the same experience, but I thought it was a fluke. I will say that they ask 7-10 days for shipment and then however long shipping takes. In any case it arrived before I'd successfully removed the old axle. I did get the old axle out after 2 days of futzing around and then used my grinder to remove all the old weld material in preparation for the new installation. I was curious what the old and new axle weights were so I weighed them. Between the axle and the brakes it looks like Rosie went on a diet of 35-40 lbs. I positioned the new axle roughly where it needed to go. I marked the centerline of where the spindle needed to be positioned and evened up the side to side distance. These are mostly rough mea...