Portable Shelter

Gimme Shelter!
Here is my Boler's new shelter for the winter:

72 Boler in its winter den

I had some sheets of 9/16" Aspenite, full and part sheets or scraps, that I put down on the ground, over top of a polypropylene tarp.  This has given me a pretty nice floor for the inside of the shelter.  I've done this once before with a previous shelter and it kept the level of moisture down considerably through the winter.  I also ran power out to the shelter, and now I have a duplex outlet, light switch and light.  I have absolutely no idea how many jobs I'll be able to get to over the winter, but I'm hopeful!

72 Boler on axle jacks

I've taken some of the load off the new suspension -- I cranked the tongue jack down to the bottom, put axle jacks below the back end, and then jacked the front up 'til the trailer was level again.  Maybe it should be up a little higher, but I'm sure that taking even a little of the load off will help.  If I have to move the trailer inside the shelter at any point, I can do it easily.  In the photo you can see that I've also got the original trailer jacks under the "bumper" section, too.

Original Boler jack

Here's a shot of the original Boler jack, taken before I did the work on the frame.  At first I thought I would install modern crank-down stabilizer jacks like you would find on a new tent trailer -- like the kind I had on my '03 Coleman tent trailer.  But then I got thinking about which parts of the Boler could or should be kept original and which parts might be updated.  They would have cost a little over a hundred dollars to buy a complete set, and then they would have had to be welded to the frame.  I wasn't sure how to go about positioning them because the bottom edge of the fiberglass wall extends past the steel frame.  My former tent trailer's frame was below the side wall, and access to the crank /screw was easy.  So, I decided to keep the old jacks. They have character even though they don't provide any lateral stability.  I'll clean them up and repaint them.  They'll go on my winter list of jobs that can be done indoors where it's warm.