Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/21/how-to-completely-renovate-and.html
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Looks super nice. We just purchased a 1987 Scamp – fiberglass “eggshell” camper similar to Boler – but it’s in good shape and I would hate to have to do an overhaul like this one. So much work!
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Beautiful.
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Nice! My dad bought an old 2 bed Scamp from around that era in the 90’s… then proceeded to take all four of us around the entire western US in it. It was less than ideal for the task to say the least.
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Man that thing is fucking sweet, i’d love to have something like that 
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Haha, yeah there’s barely room for me and my spouse. Still, it has a toilet, shower, A/C, propane furnace, propane/electric fridge, propane range, double sink, and a microwave. Amazingly, the early models also included an oven! You could roast a (small) turkey or ham while camping.
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I’m guessing it was a 16’ with a front bunk bed instead of the bathroom
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Gorgeous. OP seems to like midnight blue. 
Can’t say I blame him.
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Hows the interior? I’ve been in a lot of old campers and they often don’t need “restoration”. Just some tweaking to the guts. And that sort of thing is pretty easily done. Though I image if its been kicking around for 32 years its been done at some point. The insides of campers aren’t exactly known for their durability.
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I’ve been low-key looking for one. These and the Casitas tend to be so expensive, even in well-used shape, that it’s not economically feasible to buy one and then sink more money into it.
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It’s in great shape considering its age. No leaks and structurally sound. The previous owner kept it in a shed. He was a tinkerer and did a number of add-ons, some of which were probably not necessary (110v non-GFCI outlet in the bathroom?). I’m already doing some tweaking – newer lighting, gelcoat touch-up, better door seal.
The OP really had no choice with those rotting floors. I think the key to these old campers is simply keeping them dry inside.
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Boler fandom:
There’s a company in BC that makes an updated version:
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Oh yeah, even used fiberglass campers (Scamp, Casita, Boler) are pretty expensive. It’s weird because they are also known for being cheaply made.
We watched the lists for more than a year before we found ours – even still, we didn’t get the exact floor plan we wanted. We were looking for one with a bathroom and a side dinette; with that layout, you can leave the main dinette in “bed mode”, while still having a place to sit and eat inside. Ours has no side dinette. But we can live with that. Also, it was only 4 hours drive from where we live. We paid $8000. I haven’t sunk a lot of $$$ into it (yet). I will probably drop some dough on a cover for UV and winter protection.
“Pricing starts at $24,900.” 
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It’s a little irritating, even older aluminum campers have gotten ridiculous. Old Shastas with roof leaks that would literally need to be completely disassembled, reframed and have some of the aluminum siding replaced, are going for multiple thousands of dollars.
I blame the glampers…
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We got the “deluxe” model, which means lots of wood. The previous owner installed a window A/C below the sinks
Originally there was a gas oven above the fridge. Previous owner replaced w/ microwave
3-burner gas range under the cover. Bathroom behind the mirrored door. So much wood!
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On the plus side, these things really retain their value. I have (almost) no doubt we can resell our camper in a few years for what we paid for it, or close.
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Indeed. Most of the DIY ones tend to be the teardrop type, which seem too small and have that outdoor BBQ module on one end, meh.
eta: $24K+ seems to be a popular price point:
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Oh yeah, there was definitely no bathroom! Now that you mention it, I remember he got some sort of plastic portable toilet that we kept in the closet-thingy. Man, that was poorly conceived.
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Just for comparison, here’s a 1972 Boler 13’ for sale right now in Minnesota, in much better shape than the OP’s, asking nearly $10k! And, a 1971 in Denver for $6,000.
Not cheap! Especially for nearly 50-year-old trailers
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Hmmm… very very vague cursory search on what it’d cost to build your own camper trailer ranges from $600 to about $3000. Not sure if that takes into consideration having to rent tools one might not readily have, but if one’s time is more valuable or isn’t very handy spending about $6k on a camper seems reasonable to me. That said it would be pretty sweet building your own.
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