So between work and family I've been trying to hit work on the trailer. To my great surprise that last round of sealing I did seems to have finally stopped the remaining small leaks. If the weather is rainy I try to attack an inside project and then when the sun comes out I hit the outside stuff. None of it is finished which is why I haven't posted anything. I'm feeling like everything lately is one step forward and two back.
This marker light is on by the way - it's the only one working...
The rear marker lights on the trailer leave something to be desired.
I'd ordered some LED replacements a while ago but just didn't want to tackle that in the fall. I found them and tested them out to make sure they worked.
Once I tested one I realized the actual LED's were probably different colors instead of just covers and it's a good thing I did as the LED's were five red and five orange - bullet dodged there. From there I had some gray butyl tape - similar to what I'd used on the vent caps a few pages ago. This ribbon version is used to seal windows and narrow things. It seemed like a less messy way to seal them to the surface than Sikaflex or some other version of caulk.
Then I gathered my collection of wiring tools. The two on the left are worthy of note if you're not familiar.
First are these:
I first saw these at the electronics desk of an engineering firm a friend worked at. They struck me as the most magical Rube Goldberg pliers that could ever exist. They basically cut and strip in one squeeze. To this day they give me pleasure to use. Cheap versions can be had on Amazon for $7-8 and
I got mine from McMaster who never tells you who makes what they sell but it's always very good quality. Mine are 20 years old at this point and are still going strong so that extra $20 was worth it I think.
Next up are the crimping pliers. I was never a fan of crimping because in college I worked at a high end hifi shop and we silver soldered everything and used color coded shrink tube and it was pretty. Pretty made sense to me, I was a photographer. Chris, at my old shop, explained that crimping was in fact a better connection because it was mechanical. Much like wire nuts in home wiring. Like wire nuts it's also faster. I still don't like it but I accept it.
The key however is that you need the
right crimping plier for the
right connection and they're all different.
These pliers are for crimping many different connectors by virtue of changing the jaw clamps. If you've ever used the cheap pliers that come in the little kits of auto connectors (similar to the yellow pliers above) you know that you can crush the plastic insulator and then gently tug on the connector and it slides right off. It's the curse of the cheap tools.
I still don't find that as pretty as a soldered connection with shrink wrap over the base but I'm standing on a ladder in the driveway so soldering isn't an option. I also don't have as much love for this trailer at the moment.
I used self tapping stainless screws, cleaned as much of the rust off the aluminum that was left from the old marker lights off and then tested each light as I installed it. Each one worked perfectly right up to and including the last one. I installed all the caps and then went to do one more final test to bask in the glory of five LED marker lights and...
I now have no lights.
Not just the markers but no tail lights now either. I guess that should be funny in an ironic way. The front markers that I haven't replaced are still working - figures - and they should be on the same circuit as the other markers so I'm sort of baffled. That's another one step forward and two steps back thing that's been plaguing me lately.
So I'll try to sort that out tomorrow, make some other progress and try to update this again soon.
On the van front axels have been found and are en route. I ordered tires and wheels today as well deciding that I'd rather get new wheels of the correct size than try to make the other ones I already bought work - another step backward but at least two forward. It's looking like June should be a busy month for the van. Nothing to really take photos of at the moment so I'm not doing much with that thread yet.
Gregor
