How the Boler Trailer Became a Fiberglass Classic
NICOLE DELA CRUZ (@GONE.SCAMPING)
THE "EGG ON WHEELS" IS REVERED BECAUSE ITS SIMPLE AND LIGHT.
RAY OLECKO HAD a plausible claim to the title of Most Interesting Man in the World. Born in rural Alberta in 1930, he dropped out of secondary school to join the circus as a carnival barker. As a teenager, he developed a mean hook and boxed in the Golden Gloves Amateur Championship. In his 20s, he did a stint in the Royal Canadian Air Force and then, in his early 30s, paid the bills selling used cars. At heart, though, the man was a designer, and his most noteworthy and influential creation was the Boler fiberglass travel trailer.
Before he got to that, Olecko gave the world a better slingshot. In the ’60s, slingshots were still revered as practical weapons by a subculture of skilled hunters and sportsmen, of which Olecko was one. His innovation was to turn an awkward wooden tool into an ergonomic device made of fiberglass and epoxy-based resin. The Boler slingshot (borrowed from the Spanish bolas, a slingshot-like weapon) came right-handed or left, with a leather holster, for $5.95. After that, Olecko took fiberglass and ran with it, creating and marketing a fiberglass septic tank, followed by a remarkably septic tank–like trailer. The first Boler travel trailers rolled off the line in 1968 and sold for $1,495. Then, in the early ’70s, Bolers came to the U.S., where they were soon rebranded as Scamps.
Boler-cum-Scamp trailers were revolutionary for their simple design: just two molded fiberglass halves joined together, often called an “egg on wheels.” The trailers—progenitors of contemporary brands like Casita and Happier Camper—were smaller and lighter than wood or aluminum options. That’s why fiberglass buffs like John Holderfield, who’s been “scamping” across America for seven years, still prefer them today. “You’re not carrying your home around behind you—it’s simple and light,” says Holderfield, who shares his Scamp adventures with some 17,000 YouTube subscribers. Plus, he says, they’re lower maintenance and less expensive than most other trailers: “You’re not keeping up with the Joneses, spending all your money.” More time and focus on hitting the road. As it should be.
