Trailering Lamp Gasket/O-Ring

[Favunclerich]

The trailering lamp gaskets on my 2008 R-25 were crumbling and had disintegrated after ten years in the sun on the transom and sides of the boat. This type of lamp was used for several years, but the newer boats have a different design. Hella, the lamp supplier, does not sell replacement gaskets. Mike Rizzo has a 2011 R-27 and was experiencing the same problem. Mike, most cleverly, went to the Ace Hardware store and found #110 Danco 2-3/8" X 2" X 3/16" O-rings that are intended for a leaky sink faucet. The round O-rings can be stretched over the lamp into an oval shape for a near-perfect fit. I was able to purchase the O-rings at Whitehead Industrial for $0.59/each plus about $9 shipping. Here's a link, but there are other suppliers.

https://www.whiteheadindustrial.com/p-3 ... 4641b.aspx

Well done and thank you Mike!

 

[quinsky]

Great idea! I bought a pack of different thickness neoprene sheets so I could cut my own. This will save me the trouble.
Thanks

 

[Captain Steve]

My 2009 R25 suffers from the same condition. found these parts on Amazon....thanks!

 

[scross]

Captain Steve,
Good catch on the Amazon reference for these o-rings. $13.53 for 20 with free shipping. And the’re in stock!
My original 9 year old seals are so shot that I was afraid to plug in the boat’s trailering light harness to the trailer lights!

 

[Captain Steve]

Sorry, I should have posted the link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H5T2A2/?c ... _lig_dp_it

 

[DBBRanger]

The round O-rings can be stretched over the lamp into an oval shape for a near-perfect fit.

Rich,

Did you loosen the light first, put the O-ring on and then tighten the light? The O-rings do not settle into the groove on the lights on my boat like I expected without loosening the light. I'm not eager to do that since I assume it will break any caulk that is there. How did you do it? Or did the O-ring just sit on the outside without filling the groove completely? If you loosened the light first, it looks like there is a plastic cover over the screw head that needs to be popped out to access the screw - is that right?

Thanks to you and Mike!

Doug

 

[knotflying]

I unscrewed the light, removed the remnants of the old gasket, cleaned up the hull behind the light, slipped on the o-ring. The ring will bulge out a bit on the sides, so tighten the screws a little bit on the ends while holding the ring even with the long edges. As you tighten the screws you will see the o-ring making a sealed contact with the lens and it stays in place.

 

[Favunclerich]

Doug,

In my case, I pried out the caps covering the screws (I'm told that not all boats have these caps) using a utility knife (carefully) and a small screwdriver. I found that using a piece of Gorilla tape over half of the cover to hold it loosely onto the lamp reduced the chance of the cap flying when it came loose. Fortunately, the one cap that did come loose floated, and I was able to retrieve it. After the caps were out, I loosened the screws a couple of turns, cleaned out the gap, stretched the O-ring on, and then re-tightened the screws as Mike has described previously.

Rich

 

[DBBRanger]

Thanks guys - very helpful. Will loosen the screws first.

 

[scross]

Just finished replacing all 10 seals.
Took about an hour. Twenty minutes to do the work once the screws were uncovered, twenty minutes to get those double darn little clear covers off the screws and twenty minutes of treasure hunting for the three little clear covers that fell into the pea gravel covered ground when being pried off!

 

[Gin]

Once again, Tugnuts is a life-saver.

Yesterday, I was going to post a question about removing the trailering lights. I couldn't figure out how to do it. I removed the speakers, which gave me at least a minimal ability to reach in and access the back of the lights, but they felt riveted on. I couldn't find any nut or screw to release them (I did not have direct line of sight and was doing most of this by feel, but I did take a photo with my cell phone, which suggested that my sense of feel was right -- no nut or screw).

So I searched here. And I found this thread. My reason for removing the lights was to reseal them -- make a foam gasket of some sort, because the existing ones are failing.

But the O-ring solution popped up -- and it worked brilliantly. I went to the best stocked hardware store I know in the area, and found ample suitable O-rings. I bought four of the size recommended in this thread. Before installing them, I used the head of a small slot-edged screw driver to removed the failing foam gasket that remained around each of the four trailering lights. Then I slipped on the O-ring. Well, forced on. It was more difficult than slipping on. But that is a good thing. A perfect solution. Better than the original seal.

Once again: Tugnuts is an amazing resource. Thanks everyone.

Gini

(P.S. - for future reference, if anyone does know how to remove those trailering lights, just in case I ever need to, please post the secret).

 

[knotflying]

As far as I know they are all secured by screws. Yours may have a "beauty" cap to hide the screw. It should just pry off and then expose the screw.

 

[Gin]

This is what the lights look like, from the exterior and inside. Now that I look closely, it does sort of look like square drive screw head visible through the exterior lens. I did not try to pop the lens off, for fear of breaking it. From the inside, I can't make much out. Am I looking at a beauty cap of some kind on that inside shot?

Outside:


Inside:

 

[knotflying]

Look on the outside. The lens does not pop off, but the two round circles should have the screw head under them.