Trailer Wiring Placement Questions?

[madjack]

Dear MJ,

No problem, had a tough week battling AT&T and was a little sensitive, ha.
I think we agreed that conduit of some sort is a good thing

Cheers,

Gus

...yep, never leave wiring hangin' or exposed to any kind of chaffing...just askin' for problems, iff'n ya do!!!!!!!!
madjack

[bobhenry]

[) my suggestion of using some sort of tubing to enclose the wires is so very different from your suggestion of using pvc conduit.

Cheers,

Gus

We don't all live in sunny California. Ice and slush gets heavy on the underside of our vehicles in the winter. Yeah I know it shouldn't be a problem for a teardrop because they are a summer camping vehicle . WELL .... several of us are headed out in January for a shiveree so I am glad my wiring is in a protective chase. The poly tubing would be great if cable tied every foot or so. Like the pvc it provides insulation and is non conductive in case of a bare wire. Where it differs is the pvc pipe is semi ridgid and will require fever ties to affix it to the frame Tees and elbows can be utilized to distribute circuits off of the main run for intermediate clearance lights ect.
A small squirt of silicone caulk or a squirt of spray foam insulation will seal the open ends and still be removable in case of the need to change out wires.

[eamarquardt]

PVC pipe gets brittle when exposed to light (probably not a problem under a TD). The drip irrigation tubing is really cheap, they have tee's and stuff, but probably would require more attachment points. I like the foam/silicone idea for sealing the ends. On my utility trailer (overkill) I used fittings with compressable grommets where the wires come out of the conduit. Maybe the drip tubing isn't popular (easily available) where you live but here in So. Cal. (all of which is really just short of being desert except in the mountains and where it really is desert) but here it's easily available as are the fittings. You're right, So. Cal. is easy on vehicles.

Good to share ideas.

Cheers,

Gus

[davefullmer]

Gus wrote:

Great minds think alike. I now fold the tape back upon itself to form a small tab you can grab when you want to take the tape off.

Gus, I am too lazy to take the time to fold it back. Just twist the roll a couple of times and pull. Folding back is for particular guys, not me.

"Overkill" may not be the best if weight is a concern, but ease of maintenance and safety are more important to me.

Doesn't seem to me that you could add enough weight with "overkill" to make a difference. Now putting in extra cross members in my frame would do it.

Remember the reason for the season,



Dave

[eamarquardt]

Although I was diagnosed as having OCD when I was in the hospital detoxing from methadone (for pain, but that's a long story) I (and the world class psychologist that evaluated me after the hospitalization) don't agree with this diagnosis.

In the Marines, we called being "particular" "attention to detail". Just might keep you alive when the "metallic density" of the air gets higher than you'd like.

Next time I tape something up, and a knife or sissors aren't handy, I think I'll twist the tape a couple of times and just pull to break it.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Gus

[davefullmer]

Hey Gus,

Don't let me contaminate you with my laziness. I like to see people take pride in their work.

Now if I could just get enough nerve up to take a picture of my shop, I would be sure to win Doug's "out of control" contest. That is if I just had some of my TD made up to put in it. That is if I could find room to put it in it.

Dave

[Alfred]

Now that I see the other guys' white glove shops, I am thinking maybe I entered the wrong one of the two contests (Grin)!

AL in Asheville

[eamarquardt]

If you've seen the pictures of my shop (garage) in my album I don't know how you can think you are at the bottom of the dog pile. It's a bit like a submarine, every cubic inch is utilized.

With the exception of the table saw, router table, and planner (which are all on a custom dolly I usually move to the driveway to use so the mess is outside), I can walk up to any machine and turn it on.

I also suscribe to the idea that it doesn't count if you don't know what you have, can't get to it, or can't find it so I try and keep things organized so that you can get to everything by moving only one other item at most (a worthy goal not always achieved).

With the exception of the lathe and mill (the mill will eventually be on wheels but the lathe should be verrrrrrrrrrrry level so shouldn't be on wheels) everything is on wheels and I can empty out the garage in 20 minutes, hose it down, and put everything back in another 20 minutes.

It always helps to have a goal.

Cheers,

Gus

[angib]

Having worked on a lot of yacht trailers*, I'm of the opinion that anything that can keep water out is also perfectly capable of keeping water in - 'watertight' junction boxes half full of water are common.

I think there's a lot to be said for drain holes everywhere, but mostly I like to see single continuous wires from one fitting the the next - splices and joints are always the problem, never the wires.

Andrew

*Not the sort that go in the water - our yachts had a keel so deep that you could walk under the hull without ducking, so even very big trucks with snorkels couldn't go that far down a slipway!

[eamarquardt]

I used to have a 38 foot sloop that had a design defect that caused the keel to leak. When I pulled the boat to fix it myself the yard emphatically stated that they would not lift the boat off of the keel unless they were comfortable with the cradle I had built to support it (all 6600 pounds of it). I had seen their work (2X4's) toenailed into the lead keel of another boat and felt it would be easy to do a better job. I used RR ties like lincoln logs, pinned them together with 1/2 steel rods (driven into predrilled holes), and for added measure, put a come-along around the ties at the fore and aft ends of the keel.

When I was done, they were in awe and asked if they could have the RR ties when I was done. I told them no, as I needed to put them back in my landscape in the back yard, but did tell them where I bought them, ha.

It has been my experience that drain holes are not effective in the bottom of a sailboat (when I changed the depth finder transducer with the boat in the water, it was unbelievable how fast the water rushed in, thank goodness for underwater epoxy (it really works)).

Cheers,

Gus