Victorian Bo(w)ler

Special Anniversary Post

2011-11-01T16:08:00.000-04:00

Our Wedding Anniversary is tomorrow, November 2nd, and it also marks our second year with Tilley.
Sense would dictate that I would post something not today, but on the big day, or at least about the big day. Of course sometimes I don't make sense, but read on and I guarantee it will all make sense in the end....did that make any sense....any way....

I'm posting now because our special friends have made today their Wedding day!

Congratulations to Shane and Brynn!

What, you may ask, has this got to do with our work on Tilley. Well, Brynn put a little idea in Shane's head and he made us a little steampunk something .....

Say hello to our little friend. Shane knit us a Squid! Our squid was slated to go into our steampunk library, but they gave him to us while camping, and we love him so much hanging around in Tilley that he is staying there to protect our trailer from invaders....and air kraken!

Who wouldn't want a squid defense system?! And such a cute one too.

We're also celebrating another wonderful Tilley related event today. An article published in the Steampunk Chronicle about the beginning of our beautiful relationship with Tilley. You can read it HERE

It's been a wonderful and auspicious day for our friends, ourselves and our fabulous Tilley!

Electrifying Tilley (2)

2011-06-27T11:40:00.002-04:00

What follows involves a little temporal jumping around and I hope to add some more photos later.

The push was on this weekend past to get the electrics in Tilley finished up for an impending camping trip. As detailed in previous posts, when we first got her, Tilley's electrics were in a state with 12v AC and 12v DC trailer circuits, 12v DC running lights and even a 110vAC circuit all going into a single un-fused connector box with a terminal block pop riveted to its lid. That has all changed with the running lights on their own panel, the 12v DC trailer circuits on their own fused panel connected to the deep cycle battery and the 110 v AC on hold until further notice.

Locating the battery box was a bit of an interesting exercise. I have seen many Bolers with tongue mounted batteries and others with batteries located in the front stowage area. I was not too keen on this as we already have a 30lb propane cylinder up front so I was reluctant to add more weight there. Under the sink would have been ideal as there is good ventilation there and I had hoped room for the battery where the Frankenstein's monster of an AC transformer was located. Sadly there wasn't quite enough room for a 27 series battery box and as it turns out, the last thing you want to do is put a wet cell battery near where sparks might be generated by the electrics. In the end, I put it in the rear left storage compartment. with flex cable running to the electrical panel. The weight is more or less over the axle and is about the same as the weight of the original water tank so handling should not be affected. Now the rear side storage bins are pretty much sealed which raises the problem of ventilation. I was reluctant to cut more louvre holes in the trailer. so I went looking for other solutions.

I didn't really find anything helpful in the travel trailer sites so I did some thinking about other types of vehicle that needed ventilation. Boats! I thought - tight enclosed spaces with lots of nasty fumes to get rid of. Now where to find boat stuff? Years ago, my father took a good chunk of a lifetime to build a motor sailor out of white oak and marine plywood. In doing so, he spent a lot of money at a local boat supply company. With little hope it was still in business, I went on line and found it still was.

The Chandlery. is the Naughty French Postcard of my Boler modding world. While I had been doing most of my shopping at the automotive supply store, this store sells the same things in greater variety and sometimes at less than 1/3 the cost. One does have to be to careful stay away from some of the much more expensive marine grade equipment like salt water rated electrics, but then there are treasures like this:

A purpose designed vent in chrome plated brass - for $12. One small hole, a fitting, some hose and a little epoxy putty later and the battery box now has its own built in venting system to the outside world.

The main job on the books for this weekend past was to get the lights wired up. Again as mentioned in previous posts, the wiring to the pantry side especially was interesting. with wires changing colours and gauge as they went from fuse panel to fixture. I did a quick total of what was already on the circuit, rounded that up to 10 amps and did the standard double for safety. The 18 gauge wire that wasn't buried was barely rated for the job. Knowing that I will want to add canopy lights, a 12v socket and other goodies in the future, the existing wire had to go. Blue Seas systems has a handy little tool to calculate wiring requirements based on load, wire length, operating temperature and other factors. Based on paranoia and the assumption I might want to put some heavy loads on the awning side of Tilley - maybe a sound system or something similar, I bumped up the maximum possible load to 30 amps (or only about 3 hours of use before the battery goes completely flat!) and came up with 12 gauge wire. So that is what went in. There are many advantages to getting a professional to do the work, like the trailer socket described earlier, but one of the advantages in doing it yourself is that you can up the specification without worrying about profit margins.

Of course, no desire to do the right thing goes unpunished so to actually replace the wiring required removing the two rear seats. This almost put me off until I discovered the woefully inadequate piece of 20 gauge wire that made up part of the previous magical colour changing wiring system. Another joyful discovery was that to make the wire bins fit in the pantry, they had been cut with a hacksaw or more properly hacked with a cut saw. Getting the one bin in and out to re-wire and install the terminal block was a bit of work and involved a little coarse language. A longer term solution will be required. The last job remaining before our trip is to hook up one more light - some epoxy putty to affix the cable run for this is setting up as I write.

Future projects will be the solar panel, an inverter and a battery isolator so I can charge Tilley's battery from the car. Then there are those solar powered ventilation fans from the Chandlery, and the 25 LED mast head light that would make a nifty TARDIS like homing beacon for Tilley and....

Till next time.

Electrifying Tilley

2011-06-19T18:21:00.002-04:00

This past week Pat was able to get the car in to the lovely gentlemen at a Ziebart garage near us. They installed a brand new brake and lighting electrical wiring system for pulling Tilley. This weekend Pat decided to test it and make sure everything was connected and working properly and working between the car and Tilley. Of course things are never easy. There was a mess up between what was supposed to be blinking or glowing and what actually was. He had to take the brake light and side light wiring apart to find out why this was happening.

Luckily it was a simple case of right wire in the wrong place and it had nothing to do with the work we had just paid for. He was able to get it fixed very quickly once the mystery was solved. Then he moved on to the next thing needed in order to get Tilley electrically self-sufficient.

As Tilley is very small, she is currently covered in tools, wire and other bits and pieces Pat needs to put the electrical puzzle together.

Tools and meter sitting inside one of the seats as there is no room anywhere else to put them.

Pat was able to make a lot of progress this weekend. He took out more old wiring and old lights that we won't be using. He also rewired a lot and added a brand new fuse box.

New fuse box....so shiny!

Pat looking like a pretzel as he works on installing the new fuse box and cleaning up the mess of old and dangerous wiring that was in Tilley when we bought her.

Whether house or trailer, we seem to have a knack for getting old places with lots of spirit and potential, but that were muddled with to the point of being a death trap. I'm sure Tilley smiles (in her own way) every time Pat enters in with his tools, knowing she is getting the love and attention she deserves.... and I smile knowing that we won't be sleeping in a death trap.

Power for Tilley - It has Begun

2011-06-06T12:38:00.002-04:00

In my last post in April I mentioned that Pat would be getting down to business within a couple of weeks. Well the old saying "life is what happens when you're busy making plans" came to pass. Life took over and poor Tilley had to wait until this past weekend to continue getting her electrical makeover. During 'life', Pat did do a lot of research to find out where he could purchase the right battery for us, as well as all the bits he would need to get our beautiful brass lamps (that we ordered and received in January) installed.

He found he was able to get our battery and a charger at our local Canadian Tire.

Luckily we have quite a huge Canadian Tire store near us and they had everything he needed for installing the lamps as well.

Gratuitous photo of Pat enjoying a break and his lunch while checking to see how well wifi works in Tilley...

After Pat's well deserved break, he went back to work installing our new lamps. He made an interesting discovery: (the story from Pat himself)
"I wanted to test the new lights using the existing 12 volt AC wiring. The wires started off as yellow and brown at the panel but by the time I got to the cupboard - they had become two white wires - not very helfpul for DC.

Based on the design I had thought that the tin can supplying 12 volt AC was original equipment so I was reluctant to take it out. However, the outer sheathing protecting the insulated supply wires had come off and I have no plans to use 12 volt ac in the future so I thought it best to remove the transformer carefully and put it away with the other original parts we have changed. The can was held to its moutning bracket with wood screws. When I removed these, there was a loud clunk from inside the can. When I opened the can I found a larger donut shaped transformer mounted in the can with a bit of broomstick with some insulating foam wrapped around it. This was obviously not original manufacture and not original Boler as born out by the "Transformer for residential track light" sticker I found inside the can. Needless to say the can was removed and will end up in the bin - after I figure out if the copper is worth selling :) "

Unfortunately he had cleaned it up by the time he told me and I was unable to get a photo of the crazy muddle he found. I did however get photos of the wonderful end result...

When closed this way they are very tight and won't move when travelling.

They easily open up and the head swivels to point where you need the light.

Aren't they gorgeous!

The next stage will be to finish the wiring and connect it all to the battery, as well as to make a space to house the battery. I'm very much looking forward to reading, eating and perhaps playing a game or two in the evenings by the light of our new lamps.

Power for Tilley

2011-04-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

Earlier, we decided on a 12 V battery as one of the power sources for Tilley. While Pat intends to wire her so we can plug her in at various camping spots, we don't want to rely on this all the time. Also, we want to be self-sufficient and more environmentally friendly with our energy use. To this end, we did some investigation on the use of solar power for trailers.

We looked around a little here and there, but didn't see anything useful, portable or that wasn't wildly expensive. Then a few weeks ago we decided to go and gawk at the mammoth RV cousins of our little Tilley at our local RV show. There we found the goliaths and krakens of the RV world. Huge monstrosities that could house a small village in each one.

Then, tucked away in a little spot between two of these behemoths, was a little table that caught Pat's eye. The poster said "Go Solar RVing". We stopped dead in our tracks and went to speak to the lady standing there. What we found was exactly what we were looking for! They have just what their card says... thin, flexible, light weight solar panels...and they don't cost an arm and a leg! We had a lovely chat with the lady, who was soon joined by her husband. They were both delightful and not your usual pushy sales people. They were very knowledgeable about their panels and solar power in general. The other wonderful thing we found out was that although the panels are manufactured in the US, the couple live and sell the panels in Canada. Their website GoSolarRVing.com has all the information you need to choose the best panel(s) for your trailer, cottage, even your tent. However you prefer to live in the great outdoors.

Pat will be finishing the wiring and installing the interior lights in the next couple of weeks. After that, we will have to decide on the type of panel we want. We're torn between their folding panels

and their rollable panels

Either way, we can't wait to get one and save money, help the environment and just generally make Tilley even more self-sufficient and amazing!

New Pretties for Tilley

2011-02-23T08:17:00.000-05:00

Back to more of the design aspect of our work on Tilley...

I was out at our local Canadian Tire to get a few things for a renovation of our back room - sandpaper, wood filler, stain blocker, the basics. I happened to notice that they were having a huge sale on all of their winter things....and....they were unloading all their new spring items!

Last year when we were looking for general houseware items for Tilley I was looking online for some nice dishware. I was also looking at every possible store in our area that would carry the same thing - unbreakable but stylish dishware. The online pieces were beautiful but expensive and by the time we were looking in stores, most of their stock was already sold. We would find something we like, but they would only have one or two pieces left. Most annoying.

As I noticed that the Canadian Tire spring stock was being unpacked, I also noticed that the spring outdoor dishware was being unpacked.....and "Oh Glory Be" I found it!

If you look a little farther back in our posts, you will see that we had decided on green for our glassware and dishware and had found ourselves some lovely cups and goblets. Well now we have dishware to go with them! I absolutely love the Victorian style botanical pattern and perfect green. When I first saw them I was thinking "nuts they're porcelain" and I had to actually walk up close and tap them to see what they were. I was incredibly pleased to find they are melamine. I purchased four of each so we can accommodate guests as well. I am very much looking forward to using them this season!

Electrical Work, an Update

2011-02-21T11:32:00.001-05:00

Now that Pat is finished with the safety aspect of our lighting, he can begin working on installing the reading lights into Tilley as he mentioned in an earlier post. We also still need to redo some wiring for our outside door light and get our 12v battery. We'll be able to get some serious work done soon as the weather warms up.

For now, here are before and after photos of Tilley's new tail lights.
Before
(yes, they were being held together with tape)

... and After

So much better and safer. The LED lights are going to make her shine!
More coming soon....

Intermission

2011-02-08T22:04:00.002-05:00

Pat has started working on Tilley's electrics. He even took some nice photos to share with everyone. Then I asked him to clear off the card....of course forgetting about the photos. Sorry! So until he can retrieve them so we can show you what he's been up to, I would like to share with you a couple of Canadian sites dedicated to the Boler:

The first is Bolerama The site is dedicated to the preservation of Boler trailers. It was established in 1999 by Linda Vanderwiel in Saskatoon. There is a great history page. It has an interview with the father of the Boler, Ray Olecko. It also provides a forum, a page of rallies across Canada, photos, tips and even manuals!

Another site is Boler Life Here you can find how to's and information to restore and repair your Boler with lots of before and after photos. You can even buy Boler decals.

There are also two Facebook Groups for Boler lovers : The Boler (US based) and I own a Boler (Canada based)

Some of the restoration work people have done really shows the love owners have for their Bolers.

Check out the beautiful exterior work on this Boler owned by Mark Bergen.

There are a lot of people who like to restore their Boler to match their fabulous antique car!

(photo and owned by Beverly Wayne Armstrong)

Cheers to all you Boler fans out there!

Coming Soon II

2011-01-11T13:23:00.002-05:00

Manly? Yes

Well electrical any way. One of the things we noticed when we first bought Tilley was that the tail lights were very dim and one lens cover was cracked. A little research showed that the dimness was a common complaint. Our choices were to replace the lens cover and maybe work out something with the existing bulbs, or go with new LED tail lights. Bolers have always been a little quirky and one of these quirks is that they use School Bus size tail lights. Big monster 7" tail lights. Big monster LED tail lights the size of small dinner plates with 31 LEDs and the ability to leave streaks of blood red light behind Tilley like something out of a TRON re-make as she boots down the midnight road.....

Ahem - for safety's sake we decided to go with new LED tail lights that would maximize safety and would make Tilley safer to tow safely. So off with the old lights (which will be kept in case we ever want to restore to original specs). What were these monsters held on with? Four little 1/4" long screws into the fibre glass shell. That's not going to work on the new lights - the mounting holes are 1/4" wide. So it's back to the hardware store for some nice 1/4" stainless steel bolts. Sadly brass was not available in a long enough length. So it's stainless bolts with big acorn nuts for Tilley - she's beginning to look a little butch.

The new reading lights were a different story. They were designed for household use so I bought all the right mounting plates and other bits required. But a fibre glass trailer cupboard is not 1/2" drywall so a re-think was required. Upon disassembling the Italian brass light bases, I found a Y shaped mounting yoke in solid brass. Perfect - 6 brass screws and washers and we are in business.

Next up - putting it all together.

Coming Soon...

2011-01-11T07:59:00.000-05:00

In our October 24, 2010 post "....And the Votes are In!", I mentioned that we had decided on the light fixtures and had ordered them. Well, just before Christmas they arrived. They are more beautiful in person than online, and heavier too.

Now that the holidays are over, it is time to get back to work on Tilley. During the next few cold months the goal is to work on the electrical components - incorporate a 12v battery, redo quite a bit of the wiring, add in the lights we had custom made, as well as replace the old and broken tail lights with new LED ones.

For more details I now pass you to the mechanical/electrical minded half of us - Pat - who will post The Manly Explanation of what we'll be doing next.

Sweet Surprise!

2010-11-03T12:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, November 2nd, was our official, legal wedding day. In 1990 we tied the knot and became our new selves of "Pat and Lee Ann". I say that because whenever anyone refers to us it is never Pat, or Lee Ann, or the Gillilands (which would be silly anyway since I kept my maiden name), but always Pat and Lee Ann. It's not that we are glued at the hip, but we were friends with similar interests before we got married and we still enjoy doing fun things together.

Of course, this year being our 20th Anniversary, and as you all already know, we bought Tilley as our gift to each other. Our fun thing to do together for the next 20, or 30, or 40 years.

We have been putting all our anniversary gift funds into making her our steampunk haven for two. As well, yesterday was a week day and we both had to work and do regular every day taking care of business chores. So I was of the impression that we would be having a quiet evening watching something interesting on the television with the girls. Well, I was greatly mistaken.

My lovely husband set up a little surprise for me. Here is a hint...

The candle is sushi shaped, one of our favourtie foods (which you can see in the photo, as well as umeboshi). Some lovely ladies at a now closed Japanese grocery store gave us the candle for an anniversary a few years earlier.

Have you guessed?!
He made some of my favourite Japanese dishes and set up a romantic dinner for two in Tilley.

As Tilley is now parked in our garage and it's November in Canada, he even warmed her up before he surprised me. We had a wonderful, quiet, special meal in our lovely santuary. We spoke only of us related topics. It was fantastic!

Here's to many more wonderful future anniversary dinners in Tilley (whether in the garage or on the road).

Happy Anniversary Honey!

....And the Votes are In

2010-10-24T09:17:00.000-04:00

We have recently been discussing what to get each other for Christmas this year. We knew we wanted to get something for Tilley as well. It was a hard choice between getting some lovely elegant melamine dishware from Bongenre or lighting from Arevco Lighting as talked about in the post before this.

Well, the decision was made yesterday. We live in a quaint neighbourhood where you can walk to various wonderful stores, and since our girls were both away, and it was a lovely autumn day, we decided to go on a stroll to check out one of our gift options. We went to Arevco Lighting - it is literally a 10 minute walk from our house - lucky aren't we! We spoke with the lady of the establishment and told her of our recent lighting style research for Tilley, which included our favourite from her store. The only problem was that we did not see it displayed! Well, to our great joy she informed us that they make them! The parts come from Italy where the brass is cast and they do the rest.

Pat's main concern was whether it would work on 12 volts as one of his plans this winter is to integrate a battery power system into Tilley. With no hesitation she informed us that the transformer could easily be left out and work perfectly well with the system Pat will be putting in....and the lights would then cost us less as well.

Needless to say we have decided, wholeheartedly, to get two of these fantastic lights as our gift to each other. They will be custom made to our specifications and will be in "dark antique". The order is in and the down payment is made!

Cold Weather Creeping In

2010-09-16T22:33:00.000-04:00

As the weather has been terribly rainy and cold the last while in our neck of the woods, Tilley has been nestled snug in the garage and we have not done any more camping. At the same time, we have been incredibly busy on the homefront and our energies have gone elsewhere.

Of course that's not to say we haven't been thinking about her, it just means we will be doing a little less for the next while as life settles into back to school and some of our favourite autumn and winter holidays. We plan to get back to work on Tilley in the winter. We still have a lot we want to do with Tilley like....do we fix the old refrigerator, get a new refrigerator, or simply add more storage in it's place, how to paint the exterior, how to paint the gas tank (after we buy a new one), and very important - new wiring and battery.

Wiring is very important because we want to install some fabulous lighting. Here are some options we have been investigating - something like this

Or this

But our favourite is this...

...and lucky for us it is for sale just down the road from our home at Arevco Lighting. We have bought from them before and their light fixtures are all beautiful, well made pieces. Now the question is do we get it in "polished brass" like above or in "dark antique" like below????

We'll be sure to let you know as soon as we decide.

Most Often Heard

2010-08-17T07:43:00.000-04:00

Tilley is currently taking a short siesta, but that certainly doesn't mean that she is forgotten. Over the past few weeks we have had so many questions: How is Tilley? Have you been enjoying Tilley? Have you done anything new with Tilley?.... I could go on and on.

Tilley seems to have taken on a life of her own. Twice very recently we have had people look at and then give us something while saying "That would be great for Tilley". Yes, it's true, she's getting gifts now.

The first was at a swap meet a few weeks ago and we were looking at this...

...and a friend near us said "I think that would be great for Tilley". Well, of course, we agreed and took it for her. It is solid metal (we think maybe brass) and looks to have been a wall sconce at one time.

The next item came when my dear husband went to a lovely artist and corset maker friend by the name of Robin Dostaler to pick up a brooch she had made for me. He arrived to find her with the brooch and this

She said it was something she has had for a long time and it came from her family and she just felt it was perfect for Tilley.

I am a little flabbergasted that people are gifting our trailer. On the other hand I am very pleased that she has taken on a life of her own and that her personality inspires people to help make her more beautiful.

Note: We are not above accepting lovely things for Tilley - thank you!

Have Tilley Will Travel

2010-08-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

Last week we finally had time to take Tilley on a long journey for an entire week. We took her to our friends' campground, Raven's Knoll. It was great to finally take a break from fixing and decorating and actually live in her. One word to describe the experience - Sumptuous!

Evening photo of our set up. We decided, as it is quite hot in our area right now, to not cook inside but to cook outdoors on our three burner stove. Notice the kettle on top ready for tea.

On the inside we were ready for comfort. Every person who came by wanted to see her insides and we proudly showed her off. Many people were talking of looking for a Tilley of their own after visiting ours.

Here is our eating area during the day, notice the lovely pillows on the benches, you'll see them again soon. The books on the table will hopefully one day be set on a self above the window behind them.

In the evening, the same space is transformed into our incredibly decadent sleeping area. The pillows you see in the first photo are feather and the covers come off. Just add bamboo pillow cases and Voila! they do double duty.
You can see the cushions that go from bench to bed, but on top is a feather mattress. On top of that is the softest, warmest blanket we have ever owned. The pillows, covers, mattress and blanket all come from a little shop called Quiltsetc

Best sleep we have ever had camping...ever!

Time for a Quickie

2010-07-15T07:46:00.000-04:00

Since our last post about Tilley, we have not done anything new to her, but we did take her camping. We spent three wonderful sunny days at a friend's campground near Eganville, Ontario called Raven's Knoll. It was a joy to park and be finished with set up (of course the girls still had to set up their tent, but they didn't seem to mind so much). We had a number of visitors come to visit and there was much Oooing and Aaahhing. Our bed with the new feather mattress and feather pillows was extremely comfortable and we had the best camping sleep of all time.

We will have another opportunity to live in Tilley (and this time for a full week) when we attend Kaleidoscope Gathering. We will be attending to give a Steampunk 101 workshop and hold a steampunk cocktail party on the Friday evening.

I leave you with a photo and a query

Brass and glass outdoor thermometer - we know we can attach it with earth magnets or screws to one of the larger windows. The questions are - do we place it outdoors for an accurate measurement but possibly lose it by theft or inside for safety but not quite an accurate temperature reading....and/or.....do we use screws for more permanency or earth magnets so we can put it away for travelling.

We hope to have many photos and stories to tell upon our return from Kaleidoscope Gathering.

Until then....ta ta for now.

A Few Baubles for Tilley

2010-06-27T14:48:00.000-04:00

While Pat was performing his manly and practical alterations to Tilley, and other than the practical (and beautiful) painting of the wheels, there were some lovely adornments bought for Tilley that have now been added to her interior.

Some more practical than others, we purchased a few kitchen items to make cooking more enjoyable and our table arrangements more beautiful.

The serving dish and green pitcher in the back are unbreakable, the spoon is bamboo, the pan is by Kitchenaide (one of my favourite brands). The goblets have green stems for a very special reason...

When we were first married, I found these antique green stem liqueur glasses (only one in the photo but we have 6 in total) and fell in love with them. They were one of our first major, decorative purchases as a couple. The unbreakable goblets were bought as an ode to these little beauties. We also purchased tumblers in the same green.

We enjoy lovely cutlery and so a new set was purchased just for Tilley.

If you look closely you can see that the handles are shaped like inverted hearts. Tilley is, after all, our Anniversary gift to each other.

Another wee piece we purchased to make Tilley just a little more posh was this lovely brass foot from one of our favourite shops, Lee Valley Tools. It has been added to cover the rubber tip on the table leg. Much nicer than rubber.

We were finally able to add in a lovely lamp/candle holder we purchased a while back. It is from Lee Valley Tools as well and is a Victorian reproduction. One good thing about the lamp/candle holder is that it comes in two parts

The first part attaches to the surface of your choice. We have chosen to attach it to the side of the kitchen area cupboards. This is wonderful, because when traveling, we can remove the heaviest part of the holder and store it away. When put together...

...We have a lovely piece of artwork on its own and a practical holder for lamps and small candles (in the photo there is a porcelain dish and a flameless candle. The other lovely thing about this holder is that it swivels and so can be moved out of the way for guests sitting on the couch below.

Finally, I have saved the best for last.

"What?!" you say, "strips of velcro, how is that decorative, artistic or even worthy of the title 'bauble'?". Well, it is the first part of an art installation. When one is traveling with a trailer, everything must be stored securely so as not to be jostled and broken. We bought some lovely original art for Tilley and this way we can have them away and safe when moving her and then displayed when we are set and still.
And here they are, attached to the velcro. They actually came with velcro already attached on their backs, which gave us the idea on how to hang them in Tilley.

They are done by a wonderful artist named Daniel Martelock. He is a local Ottawa artist and his steampunk works are fabulous. Here is a close up of his wonderful art that we will be proudly displaying in Tilley.

Trust me, there is more to come. I have more luxurious plans for Tilley.

Wheel Pain

2010-06-20T21:52:00.000-04:00

When we bought Tilley it was decided to store her in the garage. What we found is that she is 2" too high and so each time we would go to park her Pat would have to take quite a bit of air out of her tires and then we would have to pull her in on flat tires. Of course the opposite would happen every time we needed to take her out again. Not good for Pat or the tires.

So Pat found a brilliant solution online, which we will talk about a little later. First he would have to remove Tilley's original tires. Suddenly there was a problem. There was a wheel lock on each tire. A wheel lock that needed a key. A key we did not have. Pat was optimistic that there would be no issues since the locks on the spare tire came off easily without the key. But of course that never happens in real life.

This was the state of the tires - flat and locked on.

Pat worked hard on removing the wheel locks all Saturday and some of Sunday as well. He ran out of removal options. He even bent the pliers. He ended up pounding them off with a cold chisel and hammer. Finally he was victorious!

Pat looking tired but with a sense of great accomplishment after having defeated the evil wheel lock.

The wheel lock did not come out looking so good.... (sorry about the blurring)

Now that they were finally off, we decided we might as well spruce them up. I like to spruce things up, so I took on the job of making them spiffy.

Before sprucing up - they were dirty and basic white - they really needed a new look.

After cleaning all three tires and prepping them, I got down to the business of painting them. I used the same paint and technique that I used on the stove top to make them look antique and worn.

Here is after a primer coat and the first gold coat of paint and then after a few layers of gold and charcoal coats of paint for the final distressed and antique finish. Much better than glaring white!

Now that the original tires were off (and spiffy) Pat could do the impressive and creative part of the wheel saga. Pat found online what were described as "storage wheels". They are wooden wheels, made smaller than the original wheels in order to store one's trailer indoors more easily.

Step 1 - Lay up a panel of recycled 2 x 4s. They are glued and pinned with dowels.

Step 2 - Measure, draw and cut the wheel disk.

Step 3 - Ta Da - circles of wood...

Step 4 - Cut the hole for the hub. Drill the holes for the bolts. Route away excess wood and test fit.

And the grand finale - Add a couple of reinforcing strips a la Asterix! And once again.... Ta Da!

The new wheels give Tilley the right height so it will now save Pat's time and the life of the regular wheels, but Pat accidentally found that they also roll a lot more easily on concrete than the regular wheels - beware of unintentional movement and be sure to use chocks.

Odds & Ends

2010-06-06T12:09:00.002-04:00

In just one week since having Tilley home we have been very busy.

Last weekend we took her out for her first sleepover. We have friends with land and they invited everyone for a weekend there. It's currently quite rough camping, but they were kind enough to hack out some flat land for us to park Tilley near the entrance...and so we did.

It was wonderful spending time with our friends in the great outdoors, and even better sleeping inside Tilley on our new feather mattress. It was wonderful!

This weekend Pat and I (but mostly Pat) added a few odds and ends to Tilley. First off, to add some extra comfort for future trips, I used some recycled stuffing, some second hand and dollar store purchases and a little sewing and voila...

Decorative and comfortable pillows. I will be adding a few more as the right materials come together. As the look we are going for is gentlemen's club,steampunk, posh, cozy....how's that for descriptive...you can rest assured that there will be no frills or lace involved.

Pat used his birthday money (gift card from Lee Valley) to purchase a number of bits and decoration pieces. One such piece we have dubbed moustachio. One of the finest looking of all time....

It is cherry wood. This is before staining.

And after staining....

....and in its destined place of honour.

I have saved the best for last. Pat bought some very important pieces that are lovely and practical as well.

First a puzzle....

Why would anyone put a hole in the center of a cupboard door???

Pat working hard on his secret project....

Teaser of instrument in cupboard door....and finally....

The cupboard doors with instruments installed. There is a hygrometer, a clock and a barometer. All very practical when in the great outdoors. Every explorer should have them.

There is more to come, but still in the planning stages. There is work to do on the electrics and also the propane cooker. As well, our refrigerator may not actually work so we will need to decide on whether to fix it, replace it, or use it to store our clothes.

....Until next time.

Behold the Magic of the Guru!

2010-05-29T07:40:00.002-04:00

We have our dear Tilley back! It was a long wait, but well worth it.

First, let us revisit the sad and pathetic condition in which we dropped her off at the guru's home....

Cream of Blah and peeling off the walls - not very cozy or plush in my opinion....

But now....

In this one you can see a copper horn that Pat had made a long while back and left at the guru's home. The guru repurposed it into a decorative way to hide the wires going to the top cupboards.

Yes, you are seeing it correctly - upholstered wainscotting - the man is brilliant!

The colour is actually called Oxford Oxblood and it looks like distressed leather, like an antique men's club chair.

The pièce de résistance! Part of the Steampunk Canada logo is forever a part of our Tilley...I almost cried!

Here we have put in the new handles, the current curtains and the cushions. The newly painted cooktop matches wonderfully with the copper horn.

And one last picture with cushions, curtains and the guru's fabulous work!

We highly recommend Brad McDonald for any interior upholstery work. He listened to what we wanted and added his creative flair. Make sure you have lots of time to leave it with him, but it's well worth the wait!

Teaser.....

2010-05-27T19:42:00.001-04:00

We will be picking up Tilley from the guru tomorrow....yes you heard right....tomorrow!

The first part (and a big one) will be done. We will be one step closer to our steampunk dream trailer for two.

You can trust that there will be many photos posted when we have her back in our hot little hands.

Not being able to wait on buying luxury items for her (read us), we bought a feather bed. It squishes into a zippered case that will fit nicely under one of the benches. At night, after we set up the bed and bench cushions, the feather bed will go on top of those and under the sheets to give us a cozy, soft, luxurious sleep....aaaahhhh I can just imagine it now......Oh, sorry about that....

The big reveal will happen in the next day or two... until then a little ditty (on film ) from Tilley

http://www.nme.com/video/Vesta Tilley doing Burlington Bertie

Inspiration!

2010-05-17T18:54:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we attended the Steampunk World's Fair. While there we were able to meet Jake von Slatt and tour his steampunked bus. It was a great place to get ideas for Tilley.

Here are a few things we liked the most

We liked his shelves. There are many books we would like to take for reading on rainy days.

We liked the embellishments. Making the space cozy and rich with pillows, trims and Victorian style pieces like the clock and globe.

Lastly, while we most definitely have no space for a bathroom, we liked the homey feel of the space and the wonderful lighting fixtures.

For a more detailed account of Jake's project, go here Jake's School Bus Conversion

We hope to have Tilley back from the guru in about 2 weeks. Once we have her back we can finally take our design ideas out of our heads and start putting them into reality.

The Waiting Game

2010-05-04T17:52:00.001-04:00

You know that anxious feeling you get when you have ordered something special online, or it's the night before Christmas, or your parents just promised to drive out on Saturday to get you your very own puppy, well that is how I have been feeling. It has been a few weeks now since we dropped off Tilley at the guru's house to have her interior done and we are still waiting. We know the demolition is done, we know the wiring and the leaks have been dealt with, we know the material has arrived and we know that he is working steadily on making her perfect. What we don't know is when she'll be ready. It's making me crazy! Not postal crazy mind you, but cranky, anxious, want to call him every day and ask "Is she done yet?" "Is she done yet?" crazy. It's not a pretty picture.

So to try and tame my impatient beast I decided to start thinking ahead to when we have Tilley back home. I like to do something I call imaginary retail therapy. How does that work? Well...as Inigo Montoya would say "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up". It is very much like window shopping, but with a plan in mind and more information gathering.

There are things we know we will need for Tilley after her makeover. Practical things like storage boxes, dishes, cutlery and so on and so on... The easiest way to do imaginary retail therapy is online. You can easily Google items of interest and see what pretties magically appear. Like these lovely storage solutions:

Or how about...

Restoration Hardware storage solution A little pricey, but so beautiful.

The other thing I have been searching for are plates (dishes in general) that are non-breakable and practical, but fit with the steampunk look. This is a little harder. I would like to get melamine or similar but not in crazy summer colours like bright orange or lime green - not that I don't love these colours but not for Tilley.

This I do love!

http://bongenre.com/patterns_detail_marvista.html

The Bongenre website is amazing! Bongenre Elegant Melamine Who knew you could purchase such lovely melamine dishware.

So to conclude - the therapy continues (with a little occasional dark chocolate thrown in) to help me relax until our Tilley is home again.

Secrets Revealed

2010-04-25T09:40:00.000-04:00

You know how...sometimes....you have an ideal scenario in your mind, like, say, that you have purchased a well loved trailer from a sweet couple in need of assistance at a bad time in life. And you think... what a lovely job they did on the trailer, so much love put into every stitch and paint brush stroke. Then the guru peels away the layers (literally) and you start finding strange anomalies that lead to questions like...why the foil on the insulation, why the extra ventilation, why the mould and why the extreme amount of electrical wiring and plugs for such a small space???

Theory to these questions - a grow op! Yes, the theory that has arisen is that our sweet Tilley was once a grow op. For those innocent souls who have never heard this term it simply means an operation set up for the growing of marijuana. You can find more information here http://www.nrps.com/community/marijuana.asp and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grow_houses I also found that we are not alone in our little Boler having a shady past http://www.flickr.com/photos/15127568@N00/199087041/

Now we have no idea if the owners before us possibly used Tilley in such a manner or perhaps the people before them. The owners before us certainly may have bought Tilley with the insulation and wiring already in place and thought "Hey! Extra goodies included in the price, how nice."......just like we did.

Luckily our guru is a gentleman of many talents and has already removed the foiled insulation and the mould and will be removing the excess electrical wiring before recovering the interior.

Which brings me to some good news not involving illegal substances - the material he ordered to redo Tilley's interior has arrived! We should have her back within a week or two! She will be dressed and ready for the first of the steampunk accessories we have waiting for her....and you can be sure there will be no plants of any nature within, just myself and my mechanic.

Extreme Stovetop Makeover

2010-04-18T18:12:00.003-04:00

When we first went to see Tilley, although we were all dewy eyed and in love with her, we noticed she was looking a little rough around the edges, showing her age, like an weary courtesan early the morning after a rough working weekend.

One of the reasons for this was her stovetop. Tilley still has her original stovetop and the previous owners had painted it white...but not very well...the paint was peeling and we could easily pick it off with a finger nail. But no worries, we have found that, with all the old things we own, the previous owners never gave them the attention and respect they deserved and would do a slap dash job of any repair or "beautification". We have many times had to scrape back the debris to find the diamond in the rough and do the hard work of making it shine. You could say we are old hats at restoration. So the scraping began....

Does the poor thing not look sad and begging to be saved from it's peeling, caked on makeup.

Pat and I took turns first using a wire wheel on the drill and then a scraper, then some steel wool and finally some light sandpaper to smooth it. We, as well as the picnic table, were covered in white flecks of paint.

Finally clean and ready for phase two.

We had decided not to use just your regular heat resistant barbeque paint (it is only available in boring black, white or silver) but to use engine paint. It comes in a rainbow of colours! We bought antique gold and charcoal. After four light coats of the gold, I layered in some charcoal to age it....and here is the result

The photo is a little bright so it is hard to appreciate the aged look, but it will look wonderful when finally part of our steampunk decor.

Nightmare!

2010-04-15T18:42:00.000-04:00

We are still waiting anxiously for our friend Brad to finish Tilley's interior. All we know is that he has ideas in place and surprises in store for us. To me it really feels like being pregnant again. Not the big, heavy, bloated, sore, breathless, crabby feeling one has, but that anxious, waiting to meet your new baby and see what they look like feeling. Do they have all their fingers and toes, do they have hair, are they adorable.

Inevitably ever woman, and very often the father as well, will have a nightmare or two about the birth. The baby is a giant, or comes out being 40 years old, or has three arms. You get the picture....and it isn't pretty.

Well I had one of those about Tilley. I dreamt that we finally go to pick up Tilley. Brad is very excited to show us what he has done so I quickly enter and what do I see.....all the walls, the ceiling, everywhere is covered in vinyl with a pattern of hamburgers, hotdogs and french fries. ACK !! I said something in the dream like "what the...we wanted a gentlemen's club" and Brad says "I thought you meant like a sports bar".

(insert deep breath here)

I know Brad won't do this. He's a smart and talented person. But if I see even one hamburger anywhere near the trailer when we get there I may just turn and run.

My Precious

2010-04-10T07:31:00.000-04:00

Vesta Tilley (we have been calling her Tilley - quicker/nickname) has now been out at the guru's place in the country for one week. He has not only torn out all the peeling vinyl, but also all the strange bubble wrap as well. Thank goodness for his thoroughness - he found leaks. Lucky for us it has been raining here recently and he found exactly where they are....and he is going to fix them for us. He is a man of many talents. We love him!

While Tilley has been in his care, we went to a place of great evil. A place of great temptation. A place of many many pretties..... Lee Valley Tools. http://www.leevalley.com/ We are very lucky that we live in the same town as the main and original store and yet unlucky because we are not millionaires and able to buy everything that they sell...oh well...one can dream.

Tilley originally came with wooden knobs on every cupboard and drawer door. Blah! It's not that we don't adore wood, but for knobs there are so many fantastic options. We picked up some new ones that reflect our style a little better.

Luckily for us we were buying with a generous gift card we received at Christmas, and had been saving knowing that we were going to buy a trailer this year and that we would be doing a steampunk interior. After picking our lovely handles and knobs we also found two 'necessities' that will be added when the interior is finished.

Although we made a very good dent in our gift card, we still have a little for future pretties. There was an old style barometer and a wonderful small clock that need a good home....

A little light music.

2010-04-06T18:07:00.001-04:00

As befits an entertainer of Miss (or is it Master?) Tilley's renown, a number of her performances were captured on Edison wax cylinders. A number of these have been cut to mp3 and made available to the public by the University of California, Santa Barbara under a Creative Commons license:

Vesta Tilley - Wax cylinder recordings

Enjoy!

Off to See the Wizard

2010-04-04T19:10:00.000-04:00

There is a lot Pat and I can do, but vehicle upholstery is not one of them. Of course I am sure we could do it if we had the time and patience, and desire, to learn...but we don't. We have the funds and the resource to have a professional do it for us and that makes us very happy.

What we can and did do was strip the interior of it's cushions, curtains and covers so that our upholsterer could get to the issues that need to be remedied...such as these

The vinyl that the previous owner put in has come off at the seams. In some places it must have been hanging and they cut it off. There is insulation underneath, but it is covered in a tacky glue.

The other issue is the colour. Cream of Wheat is NOT my favourite colour. It is neither cozy nor chic. The plan is for the decor to have the look of a gentlemen's club, so it needs colour and warmth and it needs to be POSH...Cream of Wheat...not so posh.

Our upholstery wizard / guru is our old friend Brad MacDonald. He has been doing upholstery for many years and he is also an artisan and a steampunk at heart. He knows and understands steampunk and he knows us well. We have given him our colour preferences and given him carte blanche to work his upholstery magic on the interior of Vesta Tilley.

The results promise to be extraordinary and marvelous!

What's In a Name

2010-04-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

What do you name a boler when you plan to steampunk it and make it a haven of sumptuous elegance. When it is to be our home on wheels, an escape pod, an adult retreat. A special place for both husband and wife, man and woman, Countessa and mechanic.

My feeling at first sight was that the trailer was a she, perhaps because of the shape, all round and smooth - just a feeling. One would think logically a woman's name would be appropriate. But then we found out that the inventor, a Canadian by the name of Ray Olecko, had called it a boler because he thought it looked like a bowler hat. Now Pat was all for giving it a more manly moniker. Now I was conflicted. I had a feeling, but you learn in a long term relationship to compromise.

After much thought, and back and forth deliberation between us, I had a eureka moment. What about naming it "The Gentlemen's Club" or after a real gentlemen's club, but with one provision. It had to be a gentlemen's club that allowed women. I know, quite a big order, but I had to investigate.

There is a lot of online information on past and current gentlemen's clubs. Wikipedia was a tremendous resource of naming possibilities. The best part was the lists they have set up. I specifically looked at this one - List of London's gentlemen's clubs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_London%27s_gentlemen%27s_clubs It was wonderful for showing "women admitted as full members since". Of course, the results were as one would expect, not very promising, or the name of the club that allowed women was one I didn't like.

Then I found a name and club that both Pat and I liked - "The Eccentric Club". They began allowing women in 1984, recent yes, but still they were allowing women. So I decided to look more closely into the details of the club. The club itself has been around for a very long time, 1781 to be exact. It has had many incarnations and opened and closed a number of times over the centuries, most recently relaunching in 2008. It is a firmly planted British establishment for creative thinkers - from the website http://www.eccentricclub.co.uk/ :

"for centuries it served as a meeting point for many great and original minds, pioneers of thought in artistic, literary, theatrical, scientific, legal and political circles, providing an amicable environment for their recreational and creative pastime as well as a testing ground for novel and controversial theories and approaches to the issues equally important to British society and all of the mankind"

I thought - this is it. Or so I thought....but then I noticed a page link "Are we Gentlemen-Only ?" Of course I had to examine this further before committing ourselves to naming our new home after this club. What I found amazed and astounded me!

According to this page, women were only officially recognized as members with the relaunching in 2008. However, during the Victorian period there was one, only one, woman who was unofficially allowed as a member in their hallowed halls. Her name was Matilda Alice Powles. The reason she was allowed - she would go dressed as a man.

Matilda Powles (stage name - Vesta Tilley) was a famous male impersonator and music hall singer. She was very well known and well loved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_Tilley

Her life is amazing for the period in which she lived. She had a career, money, she married the man she loved and she even became a Lady. She died in 1952 at the ripe old age of 88.

I was stunned, and as must be obvious by now, enthralled by her. She represented men and women with grace, dignity, style and a little quirkiness.

Needless to say you can guess at the name of our new home..... Vesta Tilley

The longest yards or Backing Miss Boler.

2010-03-30T13:21:00.005-04:00

Arriving at home, the last step in my trip was to park the new baby in the garage. Our road can be a little busy at the best of times but it was a Friday afternoon and in general the traffic was light. However, I had forgotten about the telephone pole on one side of the drive and the street sign on the other flank. Carefully waiting until the street was clear, I pulled across the road in an attempt to line up the Boler for a straight run back. No luck and of course the road suddenly filled with angry traffic so back around the block for another go. After another couple of attempts were thwarted by traffic I thought "Screw it" and parked the trailer on the road by the drive, planning on further attempts later, perhaps at night when there was no traffic. I still had plates to get so I cranked down the front support, unhitched the trailer and moved the car.

Now a brainwave or an attack of the stupids took place and I lifted the tongue of the trailer. Yes - I lifted the front of the trailer by hand. Did it hurt? Yes - but it didn't kill me and I was able to get the Boler into the drive. After tea and muscle recuperation time. I tackled the next step - getting the Boler into the garage to be able work on it and so we could park the car in the drive.

My garage door is 83" high and the Boler is - you guessed it 85" high over the roof vents. There are those who say studying history is a waste of time. I disagree. Tucked away in the back of my brain was a historical factoid that aircraft manufacturers in WWII England were faced with the same problem when moving bomber airframes from one factory to another for completion. The road between the factories had a bridge just too low for the frames to pass under. The solution - let the air out of the tires of the trailer. So - all that air I had just put in manually came out with a whoosh and in the Boler slid. I will have to make up some shop wheels on old rims for future use.

The last step was to get the official plates. All I wish to say on this is that

the VIN for the Boler apparently belonged to a home-built trailer registered to a dead man.
some ministry of transport employees are very, very helpful indeed.

Driving Miss Boler - the long road home

2010-03-30T13:04:00.001-04:00

Once we had finalized the paperwork for our new baby, the problem was how to get it home.

The first problem was with the electrical connector. We had an OEM hitch and wiring harness installed on our Forester - cost more than doing it myself but worth it from the safety perspective. The OEM harness came with a flat 4 pin connector and the Boler has a 7 pin round connecter. A problem easily solved by a quick trip to Canadian Tire. But...... 7 pin on the vehicle and 4 on the trailer - no problem. Four on the vehicle and 7 on the trailer like I have? Sorry don't make them. So pair of connectors and a couple of wiring diagrams later and I made one up myself. Loading my test gear and extra wire and other bits into the Subaru and off I went.

Fifty minutes later and I arrive at the Boler's old home. I hooked up the adapter and everything worked first time. After checking all lights three times and duct taping the ersatz adapter to the frame, I was ready for the next step.

Being a thinking ahead (read paranoid) type, I expected that the tires were a little low after sitting all winter. Sure enough each was 10-15 pounds under suggested rating. Many minutes and two sore arms later, they were back up to minimum pressure using a hand pump. A 12 volt compressor is going on the Christmas list this year.

With working lights and good tires all that was left was to get her home. Aligning the hitches went smoothly as did hooking up the safety chains. And off we went. What can I say? There was a tiny bit of lag in acceleration and certainly I knew I had extra weight when braking otherwise the trip home was very smooth. The last 20 feet was another issue all together.

Our Gift to Us

2010-03-29T21:21:00.000-04:00

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary we wanted to do something really special. As we have entered our "mature" years, we decided that camping in a tent was no longer the enjoyable past time it used to be. On the other hand we could just skip camping all together and go on a trip far away to a foreign land....but of course after our foreign adventure we would still return to friends and camping opportunities....and a tent.

So we decided to invest in something for camping that was NOT a tent. We thought about a tent trailer, but canvas is not water tight, and one of the things I have always hated about camping is those late nights of listening to heavy rain hitting the top of the tent and wondering and waiting for the first leaks! This does not make for a restful sleep. It was finally decided that we would get a hard fibreglass trailer.

Next we needed to decide on size. We are light packers to begin with, so we really did not need something with all the amenities - like a livingroom with hydralic walls that opened out to give you even more room. Then we saw the Boler trailers. Compact, fibreglass and Canadian made. Small and compact and easy to move. Lovely.

Fun fact - the inventor named his trailer the Boler because it reminded him of a bowler hat. How perfect for a couple of steampunks. Thence the name of our blog Victorian Bo(w)ler.

On March 25 we found our dream Boler. By the next day we had paid for it, had it registered and licensed and home!

And here she is

Say hello to our little friend.... until next time.