Swore by electrical tape for 6 years until a guy in Tucson showed me heat shrink tubing
I used to wrap every splice on my trailer lights with electrical tape and then fight the sticky mess every time it rained here in Phoenix. Last fall a guy at the U-Pull-It on 44th Ave handed me a $9 heat gun and some marine heat shrink, and those same connections have held up through two monsoon seasons without a single short. The tape always peeled back and left goo on the wires while the shrink just seals tight and stays put, which made me feel dumb for all the rework. Anyone else switch over to heat shrink after years of tape, or am I late to this party?
Ha, hate to burst your bubble but marine heat shrink isn't the same as the cheap stuff. The marine kind has that glue inside that melts and seals the connection, and that's the part doing the real work. Regular heat shrink just wraps tight, and water can still sneak in at the ends over time. You didn't waste six years on tape, you just finally found the right combo of tube and heat gun.