An over-width or over-length vehicle/load combination requires bright red or orange warning flags (daytime) or amber and red lights (at night) at the extreme corners and extensions of the load. Flags must be securely attached to the load by one corner or displayed on a flag staff. Flags must be either 18-in. square or 12-in. square, depending on state requirements. Flags should be clean and in good condition."
On the sterns or our 16’ and 18’ kayaks we use several 3’ strips of yellow, red, and orange 1" nylon webbing. Does the job of making the boats very visible, but is obviously not in compliance with the federal or state regulations.
This is the official traffic law where I live in Alberta, Canada:
"If a vehicle’s load extends 1.5 metres (5 feet) or more beyond the rear of the vehicle, the following is required:
During daylight hours, a red flag should be attached to the end of the extension or load. The flag must be at least 30 centimetres (one foot) long on each of the four sides of the square.
At night, a red light must be attached to the end of the extension or load."
My kayaks don’t overhang my SUV by more than 4’ and I don’t use the flags for local, 1-2 miles trips to the local boat ramps but if we’re taking a trip, especially overnight or with a lot of highway driving, I use them.
And I just used them today to bring home six pieces of 16’ moulding back from Home Depot!
I use the free flag stuff from the local Home Depot. Its red plastic and there is a stand at the exit where you can tear one off. The stand also has poly rope and a blade to cut it.
I tie a piece of the HD plastic to a plastic carabiner and clip that to the stern. The plastic doesn’t hold up for long so get two.
I use a daisy chained red strap on the back of boats on roof, often one that lives on the boat all season and I just tuck it under deck rigging.
It is a pass to legal requirements but at least as much so I can safely back up. I leave the strap long enough that I can see where the boats end to park facing out in lots. So the ends of the boats are not where a car can clip them off. Makes for a much more relaxed post paddle meal.
As to getting pulled over, you likely aren’t going to get pulled over for a wrong flag unless there is an accident, you make yourself a object of attention like a flat tire, or you do something stupid. Same as the overloaded pickups with fire wood in them or people not paying the higher class registration. You are good until you cause a problem, then you are going to be reamed.
Yep. To warn that the load is overhung. In Indiana, a red flag must be used if the load extends more than 3’ from the vehicle’s rear bumper. I keep one in my SUV.
I should have used a “Nom de plume” !
But thanks, I saw your post on getting lost in the mangroves or whatever, and I was thinking you would love it here. We have mini reefs in the various mangrove tunnels where you can actually get out of your yak or canoe making sure where you step in the waste deep water and make friends with the undersea critters. We have Parrot fish, mangrove snappers, school masters, Sargent majors and gray snappers that meet us each day for lunch. We have two four Eyed Butterfly fish that have greeted us for the past five years and if the tide is right we say hello to one of several baby Moray Eels that pop their heads out of their little caves.
Oops I am screwing up the red flag situation, so I better go
I’m using bright orange terry cloth washcloths. May not comply with the letter of the law, but it’s easily seen and handy to have when wiping down a boat. Deb sewed a button hole in them and I added a carabiner to them.
Good to hear from you again, JackL!
Next time you see one of those again, I dare you not to to think of Dean Martin singing:
“See that thing on the reef
With the bright shiny teeth?
That’s a moray”
And as long as I’ve jumped in I’ll try to be helpful. If you’re tired of taking extra load flags every time you go to the lumber yard (they’re a pain to tie and untie from your grab loops and paddling with a fake flame is sooo cheesy), Dick’s Sporting goods sells 1’ sq red flags with a grommet and a small biener. They last quite a while. .
My wife made mine from heavy weight red Cordora nylon. It has a heavy nylon loop in one corner. I keep a Nite-Ize giant twist tie thingie attached to the loop for very easy on and off of the boat. I expect it will last forever.
Laws vary, but I use the flags any time my boats overhang the rear of my vehicle more than 3’. I got mine from a full service truck stop. I bought an orange caution flag that truckers use and cut it into 3 strips to get multiple flags from 1. Years later and they are still in good shape. If you look closely enough along the sides of highways you might be able to pick one up for free…and help clean roadside trash.
Sorry, engineers tend to fret over little details that wouldn’t bother normal people. So, for long hauls, I don’t want a substantial flag flapping back and forth and yanking on my rudder hardware for hours and hours. I found that using some of that 1 inch wide plastic marking tape tied into a bunch of narrow streamers works well. The streamers flutter around and attract attention, but the whole bundle pulls straight back nice and evenly. I did have to replace some torn streamers half way through an 800 mile highway trip. And no, it’s not regulation size or red, but it is very visible.
