Leaky running lights

We tend to use red/green/white lights to minimize confusion on the water. With only white lights, boats tend to come over to investigate, then we hear them say “Oh, it’s just a &*$%$ kayak” before leaving.

Recently, we have had a lot of leaks in our lights. The lenses consist of two halfs, glued together (even the white lenses). The glued seam frequently leaks, then the dampness in the interior kills the switch.

A good fix is to run a bead of super glue or airplane cement down the seam in the lens. Do this before the lens leaks and you will substantally improve the light. If your is leaking, contact the manufacturer. They know about the problem, but they try to act surprised when you inform them. They have replaced a couple for me.

"Oh, it’s just a &*$%$ kayak"
Made me laugh…thanks!

which is my beef with the 2AA ACR lights
the 360 lense and yellow incandescent light gives of a narrow (height) dim flickering effect not much different than a person in the water with a light on their pfd,which is what it’s meant to do. It’s not a nav light. If you look at 360 white lights on boats they don’t confine the beam to a very narrow projection that’ll flicker on and off to other boats in the distance as the vessel rocks side to side. It’s meant to provide a constant white light.

The lense on the ACR light accomodates the limits of the incandescent bulb and small batteries to project the brightest NON-DIRECTIONAL beam for someone floating in the water so rescuers will see a bright flickering light.



“what’s that flickering light over there?”

“I don’t know”

“lets take a look”

“oh it’s a … kayak”



While mounting it on a vertical post sounds better all you have to do is compare it to an equivalent LED with cone setup.