Anyone experience faulty splices on new SeaLion trailers

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Jersey Jim

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I only splashed the new trailer in the salt once on August 31st, then maybe 5 times in December, then Friday (Jan 6). Well 2 trips ago the right side running lights on the forward wheel-well light, rear light, and center light on rear cross member failed. Pulling the wiring out of the tube revealed a non-waterproof butt-splice for the forward wheel-well amber running light. This connection rotted through and put out the rear running lights. A week later, the very next trip after repairing the right side, the same happened 2 days ago on the left side. I guess SeaLion figures you won't submerge the tires lower than the hubs? Oh, and I faithfully hose out the inside of the 3x4" frame tubes along with the rest of the trailer as soon as I return home. 4 months exactly and splices failed. I made sure to use heavier 16-gauge (individual conductor) trailer wires, heat-shrinkable butt-splices with the melting ooze, and self-fusing silicone tape for overkill. SeaLion seems to put a lot of thought and good quality components into their trailers, and is why this surprised me. I like the quality of the LED lights, but I see this as more of a "human error" assembly fault. I never have backed a trailer into the water without first unplugging the lights, but this trailer I must leave them active, as the backup signal is necessary to disable the 4 disc brakes when reversing (surge brakes). I guess that was more of an issue with hot incandescent bulbs. Oh, and the dealer was more than happy to correct the problem the first time I reported it, but they were shut down for the holiday week and I needed the trailer. Has anyone experienced this with SeaLion, or any trailer for that matter, in such a short period of time?
 
warthog5":18jlo79v said:
.... While rectangular tubing frames are very strong, they have a negative.... You can't flush them and thus rot form the inside......
The cross members seem to drain from a hole at the "dip" in the lowest part, and the 2 main 3x4's seem to drain straight out the back at the rear lights, at least when pulling up the ramp. Sometimes I can't always store the boat & trailer at the steep upward angle I would like. One thing's for sure, it gets flooded with salt, so I'd rather have it flooded with fresh instead, so in goes the hose into the tubing when washing.

SeaLion made good heat-shrinkable splices at the rear lights, just not in the center wheel-well light splice (or at the tongue). I never get the 2 fwd ends of the main tubes flooded with salt at the joining at the tongue, but made these splices waterproof too, since this is where I insert the hose.
The shame of it is, just a couple more minutes at the factory would have saved me hours of rework.
 
I use crimp shrink terminals and then Liq Electric tape over that for waterproofing.

The #1 cause of bad trailer wiring is the use of the trailer frame as a GND.....
 
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