New to me good,old trailer

[So ska noname]

I am so thankful Don sold her to me. She's a 1959 Boles Aero Estrilitta. I think 26 feet overall including hitch. Plenty of room for all!! Just needs a little tlc: redo roof, replace a little ceiling, replace tile and we good to go!! Oh, a little scrubbing and some white paint inside. Not going polish her up like an airstream--just a little shine.

[Rich Thomas]

So ska, what dose Estrilitta translate too. Just curious and a little illiterate when out of my element (English) 

[So ska noname]

Ssk a is what my polish friends call me. That's Sophia in Polish. Estrilitta is what on metal label from manufactor Boles Aero neat door. Not sure meaning but I am curious now.

[Rich Thomas]

I like a good mystery. It's a cool trailer too by the way.

[So ska noname]

Thank you

[So ska noname]

I looked it up. Esteilitta is a combination of old French and Latin. Means little star. Derived from este and Stella.

[Rich Thomas]

Awesome little star, who knew, They don't put thought into things like they did in the day.

[So ska noname]

True. I am glad they did. This trailer has all kinds of neat things-- a pull out metal rod for dish towels or tableclothes, extra table leaves, a medicine chests two closets.

[Matthew Tritt]

Estrellita DOES mean little star - in Spanish. Estrella = star, ita is the diminutive tense.

[So ska noname]

Thank you...

[Matthew Tritt]

I owned a Boles Aero Nonparriel for a few years. Great trailers! They were very high end in their day in the Aiirstream class. I think my only complaint with them was that they have flat roofs and flat virtually always means leaking joint seams at some point. They also have aluminum frame members, which is way better than wood, but still not quite robust enough to safely support an adult without some flexing. The flexing can lead to depressions on the roof surface that hold water, and that leads to more potential leaks. I stripped the paint a prev owner had applied (over some dirt) and caulked all the seams, joints and through-hull seals and never had another issue. Beware of AC shorts to ground! Because of the metal frames there is a high potential of a "hot" trailer! Mine had this problem and it took a while to find the abraided hot conductor, which was in contact with a frame member and the rivets carried the voltage to the skin.

A good way of seeing if there is this kind of thing going on with yours is to Ohm the hot buss at the distribution box to (chassis) ground. Sometimes you can get a false positive reading in very high resistance numbers through light bulbs, electric water heater coils and so on, so just be concerned about LOW resistance readings. Always keep in mind that the person grabbing the door handle on an RV with a metal body and a hot short to ground becomes the de-facto ground conductor; especially in wet weather. Things can get very exciting very quickly. ;-)

[So ska noname]

That's good to know as I am up to electrical now while waiting on floor tiles. I was surprised to see a 1959 with brakes and a six way trailer hook up.

We stripped the roof also, re caulked all seams, then redid with aluminum roofing "compound/paint"; several patch jobs previously.

Was your electrical panel box under sink? I am not crazy about the location. Water and electricity do not mix.

And your fridge? Was it propane and electric? I have an elec plug in cabinet near fridge and furnance. Cannot trace it but believe is fridge. Will use cooler until the propane checked out.

[Matthew Tritt]

The elec was in the bathroom cabinetry, far away from dripping water. Fortunately.

The fridge was a Dometic 2 door 3/way that was really great. This was a late model - 73? - that was too big to pull with anything but the biggest American station wagons with overloads, anti-sway bars and the works. Brakes are REALLY important with those trailers, so make sure they are tip-top before you head out on the road. That trailer is actually the reason I ended up with a motorhome. I guess that with the great rear vision video systems these days a big trailer wouldn't be quite so intimidating! I can't seem to find my pictures of it or I'd post a couple.