Kayak light/flag – Homemade

This is the light/flag I made last year and just redid from what I learned from using it. The first thing I did was to make my own flag. I did not like the bike flags I could get a hold of and I did not want orange for a flag color. From being on the Chesapeake and larger lakes I used my observation and what caught my eye for how I wanted my flag to be made. Moving Yellow paddle blades where twice as noticeable to me as orange blades, so yellow was the color I was going to use. So I ordered a yard of bright yellow rip stop fabric. I think it cost about $8. I was able to cut some old string and sew 3 of these shown below in one night. I have two in case one of my kids or a friend wants to go and gave one to my buddy. The flag was really simple to make. Just seem all the way around and make the last end seem with the rope inside and sew over the rope at each end so it does not pull out.

Now for all the parts I used. See below the picture for a full list and description of all the parts.

• Top Right – the Fantasea Nano Spotter.  This is a dive light and waterproof farther down than you can swim.
• Top Left – 3 1/2″ of 1″ sch 40 PVC pipe, 1 – 1″ slip coupling and 1 – 1″ slip by 3/4 female thread adapter.
• Middle – 2 – 15″ pieces of 3/4″ pipe. Top have glued 3/4″ screw fitting, Bottom glued 3/4 screw fitting with drilled hole and a slip fitting
• Bottom – 1 1/4″ slip coupling with 1 1/4″ by 3/4 female thread adapter. Made to match the 1 1/4″ PVC I mount to the crate such as rod holders

These where all glued together as they are shown above. You can use different parts such as slip fitting instead of screw as I have used, but these are what I had from various home repair projects left over. You also do not need to cut the pole in half, but I find it much easier to transport folded in half. Below is a close up on the top part with the flash light.

Next the top is screwed on and the 4mm (1/8″) bungee is run through the hole drilled and through the pieces as shown. I remove the string from the dive light and tie the bungee to the light.

The slack in the bungee is pulled tight and the pieces are all fitted together. The Nano flash light is slide into the 1″ schedule 40 PVC. Its a tight fit but shove and it will go right in all the way and fit tight. So tight its hard to get back out and you will not have problems loosing it. I pull the bungee out the hole until it is tight enough to make the pole fold with some tension. This makes it unfold and want to pop together. You don’t have to use the bungee, but I like how it works and it keeps everything together.The bungee is cut and knotted to not allow it to slip back though the hole.

Below is how the light will look when seated. The light turns on by lightly unscrewing the grey cap and the light is very secure in the pole for activating the light when needed.

The flag pole fully assembled

Here is the pole folded for storage. I use an old folding chair bag to store the pole in while not using it. You can see the bottom pole could be longer than the top, but always looking for input on changes and additions.

The finished flag as it mounts on my crate. Notice how the flag is on the very back as you need to keep it away from the fishing rods! The first trip out taught me that one and extracting hooks from the flag.

Thanks for out to LtFireDog from the forum where I got the idea on using the Nano Spotter.