Jan 12 2008
Innovative Lighting Universal Box Light Insalation
One of my vivid memories from childhood is that of my father endlessly working on the trailer for his Hobbie 18. It was a rusty orange old trailer which I can remember him rewiring the lights on at least 3 times. Inevitably he would have a bad ground or get wires crossed so that the right light would blink with the left turn signal. Well as is inevitably the case I have become my father and it is time for me to work on my own trailer, and the first item of business. . . is the lights.
Since I purchased my San Juan 21 I have been using pathetic (and illegal) magnetic stick on lights which came with the trailer. I have purposefully not attended races where I would be driving after dark as I had no licence plate light. This coming year in my pursuit of a working sails fleet #1 championship, I will fear no darkness!!!
I purchased a Innovative Lighting Universal Box Light Kit with LED taillights (good for 100,000 hours of service… that is over 11 years of constant running before they burn out!) from Fisheries Supply and set to work on a cold but sunny Sunday afternoon. My first question was… Do I run the new wires which came with the kit, or use the existing wiring still inside the square tube frame of my trailer? After inspecting the old wiring I found it was corroded inside the insulation and had to go.
The next question was how do I pull the wires through the box tubing of the frame? My first attempt was to use the old wiring as a guide. I attached the new wires to the old and began pulling from the old wires out the back of the trailer. Murphy started laughing and the old wire broke off well before the new wire got to the exit hole I needed to route the wires through. Hmmm, now what? Well I have about 18 feet of bending square tube to run through and a ½ inch exit hole just above the axle. . . if only I had some type of snake to . . . wait a minute I have a plumbers snake up in. . . but plumbers snakes get covered in. . . aw who cares, it never seems to bother the plumber. The snake worked like a charm and I quickly pulled the two new main wires down their respective sides of the trailer.
Next I needed to remove the old lights which had been defunct since Michael Bolton had a hit song. The bolts were completely rusty so I got out my trusty saws all and merrily sheared them off. I love power tools! I quickly attached the lights and licence plate holder. I twisted some wires together and plugged in the trailer expecting to bask in the satisfying crimson glow of my new LEDs. Nothing… I crawled around looking and eventually found a loose ground on the trailer. This was quickly fixed and the my lights were active. Then I tried to get the licence plate to work. Nothing… This time I seriously cant fiure it out.
Eventually I break down and open the instructions. Nothing at all on how to get the licence plate lit… but the kit dose contain a diagram which notes that for Trailers over 80 inches there are many more lights needed. Hmmm, I wonder how wide this trailer is. . . 90 inches. . . Back to the store.
Andy, if the first item of business was the lights, maybe the second should be the wheel bearings. Repacking the bearings with grease now might save you from an incident like the one you might remember from your childhood when one of the Hobie 18 trailer wheels froze up on the way back from sailing on Hood Canal. I hope you appreciate the volumes of empirical evidence I have gathered for you to validate Murphy’s Law.
I distintly remember a trip where we came home without our sailboat… I am planning on getting new hubs & bearings soon. I will need them if I wan’t to attempt Western Nationals at Coos Bay Oregon this year.
Thanks for the memories, and the valuable life lessons.