Trailor maintenance

[Seth Livzz]

After restoring my 21" Hawaiian i'm ready to start on the original single axle trailor. All the lights will be replaced, new steps fabricated, new winch, tires, bearings etc.
There's metal framework around the fender area that originally were just topped with carpeted wood. Needless to say it didn't take long for the wood to rot completely away. Should I buy some marine grade plywood, cover it with carpet and be done with it?
How should I splice the side marker lights into the wiring harness? I don't know of any easy way to splice into the wires and solder them without risking water getting into the insulation eventually. Even heat shrink tubing isn't totally waterproof.
TIA
(edited cuz I found my answers to the other questions)
[This message has been edited by Seth Livzz (edited June 24, 2002).]

[miller19j]

Originally posted by Seth Livzz:
How should I splice the side marker lights into the wiring harness? I don't know of any easy way to splice into the wires and solder them without risking water getting into the insulation eventually. Even heat shrink tubing isn't totally waterproof.
There is a heat shrink tubing that is almost totally waterproof. It has an adhesive inside that activates (expands) when you heat it and then hardens when it cools down. You should be able to find it at an electronics parts store. It looks like regular heat shrink but feels tacky on the inside. If you have a good solder joint underneath it, the joint will outlast the wire.

[HavasuDreamin']

Originally posted by Seth Livzz:
Needless to say it didn't take long for the wood to rot completely away. Should I buy some marine grade plywood, cover it with carpet and be done with it?
TIA
[This message has been edited by Seth Livzz (edited June 24, 2002).]
If you use marine grade plywood, make sure to coat it with fiberglass resin. This will help it resist water. Good Luck

[diggler]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Seth Livzz:
[B]After restoring my 21" Hawaiian i'm ready to start on the original single axle trailor. All the lights will be replaced, new steps fabricated, new winch, tires, bearings etc.
I just did the exact same thing to my trailer... new paint/electrical/winch/carpet-bunks/ etc....
I found that using regular plywood and coating it with resin, or even painting it with Thompson's Waterseal worked great. I even got the carpet cheap from Home Depot.
The electrical, I just completely redid by buying new wires and lights. I found that splicing the wire was not a big deal when connecting two-one wire. I used the liquid electrical tape as the shrink tube wasn't going to be effective due to the different thicknesses on both sides of the splice. This seems to work fine submerged even. If your trailer is as bad a shape as it seems, you might really want to check your leaf springs also. They rust to the point of being immovable and more prone to failure.
Good luck....