Upgrading Trailer Lights

[K.C. Walker]

Well, it's time to redo the trailer lights, once again. Dunking the wiring and lights in saltwater does not seem to lend itself to longevity. I'm thinking that it is time to try a light bar attached to the transom.

For those that use this system, how do you run the wiring? I'm thinking that I want to keep all the wiring out of the water this time. I was trying to think of a way to keep the wiring on the boat and not have it too vulnerable. Was thinking I might make the harness detachable on the winch post and run the wire down the mast held on with ball bungees.

Right now I have a hold down (that holds the boat) at the rear of my trailer made of wood that also is the mast support. It would be easy to attach lights to that. My trailer is 20 inches shorter than the transom. So, my present trailer lights aren't at the rear boat. I'm sure it would be safer to have the lights right on the transom. However, is there a law about having the taillights at the actual end of the boat?

Are these light bars that people use legal in most states?

Thanks for any thoughts!

[UCanoe_2]

My latest trailer light improvement took place about a month ago in the Auto Zone parking lot.

After fussing with the old incandescent light for a hour without success, I dug deep into the wallet and installed LEDs. They bolted on easily in place of the old lights. I attached the wiring with "suitcase" connectors and gooped the connections with silicone sealer for waterproofing. If you are a belt and suspenders guy, you could solder the wiring connections, insulate with heat shrink tape, and then goop with silicone.

So far, so good. My new lights have held up to 350 miles on the road (including some rough Forest Service roads and my 800 foot gravel driveway) and two launchings/retrievings, one in salt water. I use dielectric grease on my connector plugs, and make a point of unplugging the lights before launching. I have to clean the connectors a couple times a season. The awl blade on my Swiss Army Knife works great for removing corrosion from inside the female connectors.

I don't think the lights have to be at the end of the boat to be legal. Mine are about 3 ft. forward of the transom. The visibility is good, and I haven't gotten pulled over yet. Check with your local police.

I also have three reflectors on my rear mast support, lots of reflective tape, and a large red flag made from an old flannel shirt. Make your boat as visible as possible on the highway.

Personally, I think the removable light bars would be inconvenient. They would be just one more thing to rig and unrig. Sometimes you will need to move the trailer without the boat, so there would need to be some provision for attaching the light bar to the trailer anyway. The weak spots are the bulbs and sockets (eliminated with LEDs), wiring connections, the plug between the vehicle and the trailer, and ground connections. Try to have multiple paths to ground in case one fails.

[GreenLake]

Ground connection is a definite issue. I have one LED and one incandescent unit (was too cheap to replace both at the same time when I bashed in one of the units) and can now compare. The LED is consistently brighter but cuts out more definitely with marginal connections where the incandescent would be content to just go dim. I think it's been 4 seasons that I've had the LED and because it's a sealed unit I haven't had any corrosion issues (I have at least one saltwater launch per season). The incandescent unit had dielectric grease applied, which gets renewed when I need to change a bulb.

Failure point this year were connections upstream of the trailer, I redid them all, they had lasted about 2-3 seasons, with crimped connectors, as well as the ground connection on the car side. I hadn't thought of using sealant on the connection. I've tried shrink wrap and / or electrical tape over the years without lasting success. For anything on a moving vehicle / vessel I'd stay away from soldering. It's too easy to create the kind of transition where the wire will break right at the end of the solder.

[ChrisB]

KC,

I've used a light bar for decades. Just don't want to mess with the trailer light/saltwater intrusion problems. I'm not aware of any legal issues but I've never asked either. That said, I've trailered the boat in Fl, SC, NC, Ga, Al, and Tn with no hassle from the local authorities. My light bar consistes of a 2x4 that lays across the back of the boat and includes the rear mast support. I run a dedicated ground wire to the light bar and I use tail lamps that have the built in red side clearance marker lights. I have never worried about the amber clearance lamps on the forward end of the trailer. I've never seen a boat trailer more than a few years old that still had functioning side clearance lamps anyway. For long trips on the road, I drop the wire into the cockpit of the boat and bring it out the mast partner opening in the cuddy roof and forward from there. For local launch I simply lay the wire on top of the cuddy roof. The trailer tag is also on the light bar. This keeps the tag from getting bent up moving/tilting the trailer in my yard. A side benefit of the light bar is that it brings the lights up from under the trailer & boat and places them in the face of the driver behind you where they are easier to see.

[Mike Gillum]

KC,
Sealed LED Lights on the trailer cost a little more but are generally impervious to most everything.
Prior to launching and/or retrieving disconnect the lights so they don't implode because of the heat they generate versus the cold water you're dunking them into.
My previous experience has been that Light Bars always seem to be more trouble than they're worth.

[GreenLake]

+1 on disconnecting the lights. First thing I do on reaching the ramp.

[K.C. Walker]

Chris,

My trailer tag is always bent! Not only moving and tilting the trailer but running into it with my lawnmower, which has broken more than one taillight, as well. Thanks for your thoughts and experience.

Mike,

Impervious sounds good! That's what I want!

[Kleanbore]

I grew sick and tired of fooling with trailer lights instead of sailing, so I installed LED lights. The LED lights remove the bad bulb issue, but the grounding was a weak link in the chain. To solve that problem, I ran a ground wire to all lights and to the plug and the hitch. All connections are soldered and have marine heat shrink tubing. All of that work took 1 afternoon which was planned, so I won't need to lay on my back in the dark with no tools on a fire ant mound cussing about trailer lights.
Pull your hubs and service them every year while you are at it.

[ChrisB]

lay on my back.... on a fire ant mound cussing about trailer lights.

LOL. Something our northern sailing brothers may not be acquainted with!

[GreenLake]

Grounding: I've done the same, created a grounding path parallel to the chassis. Still, I find that I need to redo some of the connectors or cables every 2-3 seasons. The wiring simply is exposed and around the connector is also unsupported. Despite best efforts, no solution seems to be permanent.

[GreenLake]

Light bars. There are those that swear by them and those that can't see the need for them. At our local launch, both factions are well represented.

One laser sailor mounts a bicycle rear light on his mast. Anybody else doing this?

[ChrisB]

I like the bicycle lamp idea. I use an old red tee-shirt and frequently look in the rear view mirror and see the shirt sitting on the hood of the car behind me at a traffic light. Maybe if I hung my Danforth anchor from the end of the mast that might keep them from pulling up so close.

[GreenLake]

I let the mast overhang my towing vehicle, so that someone would have to hit the boat before they could make contact with the mast - except perhaps with a no-nose vehicle like the Smart. I do have a stripe of DOT reflective tape on the top of the mast. Great location as it's out of the way when on the water.

Having the mast overhang in the front means that it occasionally bangs the roof rack, but both rack and mast show no lasting signs of this abuse...