Wiring lights

[mbgaski]

Question to you guys: a few days ago I bought a replacement trailer lighting kit for my father's boat (the boat as a whole, though still regularly used, has fallen into a state of disrepair, with things like this, the bilge and livewell pumps, nav lights, etc, no longer working, so I'm trying to fix them).

Anyways, I got the new lights mounted to the trailer. The old wires were very old with dry-rotted outsides, and the new connector had 25 ft of wire on it anyways, so I decided I'd just tape the end of the new wire to the end of the old wire and pull it on through. Well, about 10-12 feet into it something snagged and the old wire popped in two. Tried the same with the other side and again got a snag somewhere along the way (didn't seem to be in the same place). Looking at the trailer, it seems like it's just a hollow steel tube - doesn't seem like there's anywhere TO snag.

Given the popped wires, I pulled out the old ones (they were in terrible shape anyways - the trailer hasn't had working lights in years). Still have the new wires, but need a way to run them. Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: Wiring lights

Hi

Harbor freight has fishtape for about $5 prob double that for a fishtape at homedepot... electricians use em for running wires through conduit and holes etc...

otherwise run em exterior and clip em in tight to the trailer, depends how cheezball ya wanna get...I like clean look so I would run em through the frame like they originally were...but you could zip tie em onto the frame if you just want to get it rolling and go fishing etc

 

[Turx]

Re: Wiring lights

I'd try the "fish tape" as well, but aren't the hollow tubes only in certain places rather than continuous? I've seen a few that used the round tubes in certain places and inverted angle iron in others, never one continuous tube.

 

[mbgaski]

Re: Wiring lights

This one is mostly continuous. From the tongue on back to where it splits is one piece of closed rectangular tubing. Where it splits, the two converging pieces are welded to the one piece attached to the tongue. At that junction, there is a VERY small space on each side (bout the size of a dime) where you can see the wire. From that point on back though, it's completely closed off.

I plan on grabbing the fishtape this weekend and giving it another go. If that doesn't work, I'm contemplating using the zip tie method. Might look a little hokey, but at least he'll be legal again.

 

[dutchdog]

Re: Wiring lights

Did you unhook the side lights? My trailer had a small hole where the side rails joined the tongue of the trailer and it was a nightmare getting the wires through. I used compressed air and blew some string through the rails. I tied a small rope to the string and pulled it through. Tied the rope to the wires and pulled them. If your trailer is like mine a fish tape won't work. It may take a few tries but the string will follow the air. I run a lot of wire at work and this is how we pull wire.