I was strolling through REI today and saw a Paddler’s Supply suction cup deck light and realized I don’t have a light for nite paddling. The package in the store had been opened, so I went home to order. Wow, there’s lots of user feedback on REI and other sites that the suction cup…doesn’t suck-tion very well. Some reviews are user error; for example, not tethering it, and it falling into the water. But the common theme is the suction cup coming un-stuck.
Any thoughts? Is there a good alternative that I’m not seeing online? There’s a multitude of lights out there, but none seem to stand as tall as the Paddlers Supply model, or they require drilling to mount fasteners.
I have that deck light and wanted to mount it on a skin boat, which a suction cup won’t stick to. I removed the suction cup and attached a simple plexi plate that fits under the deck rigging at the stern. It was not hard to do, but I don’t remember the details - I’ll look for it and post some pictures - you may be able to make that work for your boat. What boat are you using?
They work well for a while then the sun eats them . Topkayaker has suction cups sometimes so I bought a few extra.
They are really Tektite lights with a suction cup. Light itself is great very durable dive life.
Search "tektite lights " here tons of info and pictures posted I have at least 4 of them. I wear them on my pfd and on deck. Only light I have found to last. Waterproof for hundreds of feet.
Most stuff does not stick well to rotomolded plastic boats, including suction cups. Suction cups should hold well on to composite boats (fiberglass, carbon, Kevlar, etc.) and to thermoformed plastic (like what Eddyline and Delta kayaks use).
Unless a local area has a special light requirement (rare, but probably happens somewhere), the standard requirement from the Coast Guard for lights on paddle vessels is just that you have a white light which can be turned on in time to avoid a collision. Most people carry flashlight for this purpose. Not having a light on all the time at night gives the benefit of not affecting your (or other paddle partners’) night vision.
I’m aware of regulations. The club I paddle with requires a deck light above and beyond CG regs.
I have a glass boat and haven’t had issues with suction cups for other devices (Go Pro for example) but I saw so many comments about the light’s suction cup I thought it worth investigating.
Cheaply made rubber base suction cup. I take care of them rinsing and soaping it. Then 303 sometimes.
Flashlight is taking your life in your hands because you can’t even hear a boat till there on you. Motors are quite and speeds are really fast now 50 75 100+ gives neither party any time to react.
I use light front deck, back deck, PFD where I can flip it front or back sometimes two on my PFD. Not going out with one light and worrying if batteries die.
With all that I had a few real close calls like 10 feet with boats going 35+ mph.
OK, here’s the original idea - a plexi plate cut to fit under the deck lines on the skin boat. Unfortunately, As PaddleDog mentioned, the suction cup wouldn’t stay attached to the very flat plexi plate, the fix is shown in the next post.
The suction cup is attached to the base of the light with a 1/4-20 truss head screw. I glued an extra plexi block with a threaded hole to accept the screw, overall it works fine.
The blue plate is 3/16", the clear block is 11/16" (both scrap), but the stern of the SOF is flat which is why it works. If you can come up with something to fit on your stern somewhere, provide a threaded hole and attach it to the deck lines, it may work for you.
Might be a little late to the party here but I use a Kayalu deck light when paddling at night. It has a carabiner on a piece of bungee cord to attach to the boat (difficult to explain but works really well, eliminates the suction cup issue and also allows the light to fold down and back up without coming off). If the light you have doesn’t work, check this one out.
I thought you were talking about those suction cup navigation lights like I use on my 14 foot sailboat. While I have no problems sticking it to the wooden deck of the boat or my kayak, I would think that replacing the suction cup with a rare earth magnet and then another under the deck that you could double side tape in place would work well on rotomolded or SoF boats.
Always good to have a light in your PFD at all times. I do, but then take the deck light when I know (or think) I might be out at night. I also have a waterproof spotlight that I will take as needed. While the requirement is only a white light to show, I like having the deck light on at night on the back deck so that any powerboats coming up behind me have a chance at seeing me, and I don’t have to stop paddling to turn on the flashlight. Of course some of this will depend on where you are paddling and the amount of other boat traffic.
I am seriously glad to see everyone so concerned about their night-time visibility. I am a kayaker, canoeist, sailor & Skipper of a 31’ power cruiser with a maximum speed of 45+ mph, but cruises comfortably at 32 mph (also a licensed pilot & motorcyclist). During broad daylight on almost flat water, paddle craft & small fishing boats just do not show up until one is almost on them, especially when viewed through a windshield, so how much worse at night without a light or when the waves are higher!
Make yourself as visible as possible 24/7 with brightly colored craft & life-jackets, flags/burgees, & lights, etc. Leave the camouflage for the duck hunters. Other hints that I follow while paddling is to stay away from the main thoroughfares for the power boats. If there are navigation routes & channels marked on charts & with buoys etc., stay out of them. If you need to get to the other side then cross those areas at 90* & paddle across as quickly as you can so as not to place yourself in harms way. Also, remember that you can paddle in a lot shallower water than the big hi-speed go-fasters can go so they can’t get you there, plus there’s more wildlife to see there as well. These same suggestions also apply to those fisher-persons who think that the best fishing is in the middle of the main navigational channels.
The worst case I saw was a father & 10 year old son swimming in the lake, several hundred yards from shore & the nearest island - in other words in a main boating route. When I stopped to tell them that they were in grave danger because their dark-colored hair (no bright swim caps) was not visible on the dark water, the father said that they could dive deep enough to avoid a propeller strike - a really stupid wrong answer, putting his kid in jeopardy like that! Scuba divers have brightly marked floats for that reason (oh yes, I was a certified diver too).
Yes, in most cases the larger more powerful craft are legally supposed to watch out for the smaller & slower, but it’s one thing to be right & yet another to be dead right. So Kudos to all of you, “Keep On Keeping Visible”!
