Chapter 3: So what's under that wood anyway?

When we first looked at the Boles Aero, this was the view to the bed. A queen sized mattress sitting over storage cupboards! Awesome! 

We tore into it the first night. Good news: when we plugged the power outlet in, everything lit up! Other news: when we pulled out the mattress and the plywood boards it was sitting on, here's what it really looked like.

A bit of dry rot, wet rot, funky rot and other. Rot. Here's what's great about a Boles Aero: the frame is aluminum. Aluminum oxidizes, but it doesn't rot, like wood frames on other trailers of its vintage. And so, peel back the rotten parts, replace them, and go camping! At least that's my understanding of it.

Here's Fred unscrewing the sills around the window to see what's under the paneling...

Stubby has to help.

The inuslation was a paper product, sort of loose (at one time) corrugated stuff, but it was mushy and icky. We'll put more of that modern pink foam insulation here, like on the other repair at the front.

More moldy insulation...

But right, here's the good stuff, the intact aluminum frame and the pretty good skin.

 

Summer's almost here, and so it's time to air this thing out and start figuring out how far we want to tear it apart.

Chapter 2: South of Oregon City...

So what happened next was Silas and Trigger and Lynne showed up in their giant Suburban and we drove the half hour to the top secret location in a slow drizzle. Rain through a fir tree for three years does this to white paint.

Fred paints stuff, so he notices things like the fact that the white paint had been applied with a roller. 

 

I guess, sitting out there all cold and lonely,  it could have looked like this...

.

 or if the blackberries had their way, like this...

But no! It's fine!

Meanwhile, inside the Boles...

We'll take it!!

 A few weeks later, we went back to get the Boles Aero, on a warmer, sunnier day. It was a production involving tow ropes, flat tires, and much hilarity.

 Fred paid the guy who lived there $20 for a marine toilet that was sitting in the front yard. He said it was broken and he was going to use it for a planter. More on that planter later...but soon enough, we were on the road!

 and then here we are at home!  Looks great with our fifties ranch house. Color scheme even matches.

 

First thing Fred did was give it a good scrub.

 I love how two dimensional it looks when you look at it full sideways!

Chapter 1: Silas sets the hook...

Here it is, the first picture we got of the trailer that Silas thought would be perfect for us. It's a 1952 Boles Aero, the Miramar.

 He sent us these pictures back in April sometime, and said we should go check out the trailer, a field trip out of town. It had been parked under some big Doug firs for the past three years.

I couldn't really tell what was going on in these pictures, but Fred knew, and said it was a before and after thing, where the before was Silas tearing out the rotten wood, putting in new insulation, and getting it ready for new paneling. 

Oh, really? Ok.
See, Fred knew what all those drippy blotchy marks on the wood meant. He knows all about dry rot and wet rot and caulking on windows that used to open, but don't anymore...maybe they're sealed for a really good reason? Uh huh...

 

But all that didn't really register with me. This is what I saw: the tiny little white fridge. How cute is that??

Here's the thing that really made both of us kind of fall in love.

The range. Her name is Dixie. Fred wants to roast a chicken.

Like, right now. 

Darn you, Dixie! So cute!

You and the little green vinyl dinette.

We're gonna take you home and fix you up!!