Everyone loves and buys the lights
we have - The tectite light (white) for rear i think i awesome. We have the REI suction cup version and more recently the Kayalu version with is a rubber base with bungee tightener, much taller albeit a little wobbly attached to our bungees. 2 different style bases - same tectite light. Both work very well. Either one is great.
Hello jack
Hope your expedition goes well. I also have a ball cap from lowes lumber with led lights that went thru the washer and the lights still work
Kayalite mounting
The Kayalite doesn’t have a suction cup (I consider that a plus). The mount has foam on the bottom to fit the contour of your deck. Inside the mast is a length of bungi cord with a clip. You clip to an eyelet or deck lines and then pull the bungi tight and secure with the built-in jamb cleat. This gives a strong mounting AND tethers it to your kayak. You can add an eyelet easily if your kayak doesn’t have one where you need it. The Kayalite is available on Amazon if you care to read the reviews.
The Kayalite uses the Tektite light, that is rated for diving use. For the bow, Tektite makes the Navlite, which is two separate lights, a red and green, in a velcro-closure nylon case (http://www.tek-tite.com/src/product_info.php?id=2162). I picked this unit after Marty Sullivan (Salty Frog) recommended it for Watertribe races. The only thing that is a bit “rube goldberg” is that since this has two individual lights, you must twist each light to turn it on/off, but I can live with that. It is very lightweight, compact and very bright.
Greg Stamer
Thanks
Marty just sent us his trip list and way points for the Everglades challenge.
Jack L
here’s another choice
Navisafe. It’s what Seattle Sports could have been making. They have a red/green/white unit that can be mounted on a pole or separate red/green for the bow and white for the stern. Personally I’d rather have the tek-tites for rough use laying flat on the deck with the option of a pole mount on the stern. One of the nice features for the Navi-Safe 360 white light is the option of a low illumination level with four white leds for longer battery life as well as various degrees of coverage. With all 16leds going it’s BRIGHT. Just guessing that it won’t burn as long as the tek-tites.
http://www.navisafe.net/en/index.html
http://www.navisafe.net/en/products_360.html
finally
the fixed mounts make no sense for a kayak.
if you are like me,
you are short on money and look for cheaper ways to do the job.
Coleman makes acorn-LEDs with a clip in differnt colors. I clip the red and green to my bow-lines.
Visible at a quarter-mile.
Every once in awhile, Target sells glo-sticks… the kind that connect into necklaces for kids. I get them i nthe dollar-bin.
A couple wrapped around my paddle between blade and drip-ring works better than you would think. The paddle motion attracts attention and they don’t damage night-vision.
Plus hang these from the sides and grab-handles.
Also from my PFD.We looped some from a dog collar on a terrier and when he jumped overboard, we found him easily.
One thing we did with our plastic boats was to turn on a couple D-cell mag-lights and toss them into the boat, one pointing bow and one pointing stern.
They made the entire kayak glow!
And better ones
The Innovative lights are the ones I have:
http://www.defender.com/category.jsp?path=-1|65136|295769&id=320399&start=01&results=10&sort=products
At our ages, we figure it is now or…
never !
We only come this way once, and needless to say in a few years we won’t be saying “I wish I had tried that” !
Come on down and join us Dave
Jack L
We have done that many times in the past
but this is something that we have to do right, and if we need to spend some bucks, then so be it.
Jack L
I have one of those NaviLight 360s
– Last Updated: Sep-20-11 8:35 PM EST –
Those are actually pretty cool as kayak lights, and the magnetic mounting plate works very well plus they have a lanyard attachment. The magnetic plate makes them very easy to take off to use the white LEDs as a tent light if you want or you can mount them about anywhere. They do indeed float with lithium batteries. Battery life is not bad even if you are running them on bright, and they are indeed extra bright! They are a bit pricey though. I got mine in a sponsor goodie bag for being in a Christmas lighted boat parade that included kayaks (actually, I ended up with 2 of them). I'd certainly buy one having used these for a while.
Their catalog will download and they are
listed under ‘Marine Portable LED Navigation Lights’.
The bow light number is 560-1110 and the stern is 560-2110.
It is not the easiest site to move around in. At least not for me.
I hope this info helps.
A counterpoint on the red/green lights
http://www.kayalu.com/k/recommendation_kayak_light_paddling_at_night_fishing_angling.php
Here’s a quote
There is really no environment in which we would recommend the use of red/green running lights on a kayak. Running lights mounted at a single point on a kayak bow can not be displayed with sufficient suitable color separation between red and green to signal meaningful intent. If installed on the bow or hull of a kayak, red/green lights may not be at a height above the waterline necessary to meet U.S.C.G. required visibility across the arc of the horizon expected of “running lights” or “sidelights” — flickering in appearance and thereby confusing to other paddlers and vessel operators. Hull or bow-mounted lights are often innaccessible to the paddler to enable or disable depending on the environment. Lights of any color, including running lights, should never be displayed by a paddler incapable of understanding how the operator of another vessel will interpret their precise meaning in the dark.
Just something to think about
Jack, See page 17 of 27 on that website.
Part of that quote is bullcrap.
– Last Updated: Sep-21-11 1:43 AM EST –
I'm one who does not agree that there's a "need" for red and green lights on a kayak, though I can envision some situations where, in spite of the fact that paddlecraft are basically stationary compared to the motorboats that must avoid them (and therefore a single white light should be sufficient), it would be helpful for a motorboater to know that yes, that's some kind of boat up ahead (such as within a marked channel where a single white light "shouldn't be" if the viewer is not expecting paddlecraft). Therefore I can agree with the argument for having full running lights OR having a single white light, depending on the actual situation.
That said, here's the part of that statement that is written in total ignorance: "Running lights mounted at a single point on a kayak bow can not be displayed with sufficient suitable color separation between red and green to signal meaningful intent." The person who wrote that has never seen a small motorboat or has absolutely no powers of observation or memory. For decades, small motorboats have been using combination red-and-green lights on the bow with nothing but a partition between the two colored lights. The spacing between colored lights in that situation is zero, but they are fully effective. The lights are constructed so that each color is visible within the degrees of arc required by the regulations, meaning that if you can see a particular color from a distance, you automatically know the approximate heading of the boat you are looking at. Simple. Only on very large boats do the regulations require separate red and green lights on opposite sides of the hull, and I'm sure that's partly because a single, combination light mounted on the bow of something so huge is likely to be blocked from view when seen from a somewhat rearward angle. That's not a problem on small motorboats, and it certainly wouldn't be a problem on a kayak. Combination red-and-green lights work just fine. They are not only legal, they work exactly as the law intends.
Okay, I just looked at the link from which that quote was taken. Sheesh. How could a company that sells lights for boating have such an idiot on board? I'd say that on our local lakes, about 98 percent of the motorboats have combination lights of the type I described, and I've been navigating these lakes at night for years so I know that the problem described in the selected quote is totally in the writer's imagination. That guy needs to look at a few boats other than kayaks before spouting such nonsense. Maybe he needs to go boating at night too. Clearly he's never done it.
Okay I get it now. The reason they wrote such ridiculous crap on their website is because they don't sell a combination red-green light! They are willing to make themselves look like idiots to any boater with a modicum of common sense, just to prevent a handful of gullible people from buying what they need from some other company. Wanna bet that's the reason?
Why would you want to mislead other btrs
– Last Updated: Sep-21-11 2:20 AM EST –
If you are not a powered vessel, why are you trying to mark your vessel as a powered vessel with these lights?
IMHO these red/green lights are a waste of money. Spend the money on a super bright LED headlamp or a fiberglass mast/light with suction cup base. Both of these items will have far more visibility due to height above water. ....Or even one of those rescue lasers
And they will not mislead another operator that your boat is powered and underway.
I could even foresee a scenario which includes that people think you are sinking because your running lights are 4 inches off the water.
I didn’t mean to start an argument guys
I fully intend to put red and green running lights on the bow regardless of what others say and do.
I grew up on the ocean, and many moons ago when I was in my little outboard runabout it sure was good to know which way to pass another oncoming one on a pitch black night
Jack L
Good choice, IMO
Despite some of the grousing about them here, I have used mine quite often in busy waters near and after dark, and have received NOTHING but praise and “Where’d you get those?” from other boaters, cops, and boating enforcement officers.
Being visible, and using regulation lights gets you RESPECT, which is something kayakers rarely get in the daytime, at least in a lot of the places I paddle most.
Use 'em!!! They work.