Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

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Joyful Pursuit
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Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

Post by Joyful Pursuit »

I'm going to shamelessly lean on the community here rather than do my own research:

From a legal perspective, what kind of marine lights do I need to purchase for my kayak?

From a safety perspective, what kind of lights should I purchase for my kayak?

From a utility perspective, what other light sources have yal found worth packing for a night trip? (a headlamp seems like a no-brainer, though I'd take recommendations on robust models that can handle saltwater conditions)

I'm sure these questions are answered in other topics, feel free to link them to me.

Thank you for your time and input!
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Ron Mc
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Re: Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

Post by Ron Mc »

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Re: Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

Post by SWFinatic »

In addition to a 360 stern light (Ron referenced a couple of good ones) I also added a spot light for night fishing and some LED's on our primary kayaks.

For night fishing I added some bullet cockpit lights (no pics for these lights) and a spot light so my blind eyes can see what I'm doing and to help if I want to shoot some video at night. I made the spot light mount using PVC I had laying around. Also Incorporated a PVC camera mount that's removable from the spot light mount.

For the LED's I went with T Top Lights and very happy. I wanted them to be fully submersible (IP68 rated) and T Top Lights had the best deal I found. https://www.t-toplights.com/product-pag ... oof-rating
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impulse
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Re: Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

Post by impulse »

Here's a blatant re-post of some info I found looking up the same question...

FWIW...

There's some discussion about the legality and requirements of kayak lighting on another Texas fishing forum. USCG regulations require only that there be a white light at the ready when paddling from dusk to dawn. Texas regulations require that there be a white light exhibited at all times. According to a USCG guy, that is a conflict not allowed by the USCG when doling out shared funding with the states, and he's looking into it.

I have installed what I consider to be a reasonable set of 6 LED lights that are visible for 360 degrees, but not in my line of sight, to preserve my night vision. Given that a flashlight is all that's required, I figured I was good. It seems like the DIY lights shown here are well thought out, and should also be good. But...

https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO% ... s/1015.pdf

https://www.lsonews.com/boat-light-stri ... standards/

Caveat Emptor.

I don't claim to know the right answer, but wanted to share some information I ran across when doing my own research.
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Ron Mc
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Re: Illuminate me, what kind of lights should I buy for my kayak?

Post by Ron Mc »

btw, the USB headlight that I linked to on the other thread is a nice one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MT ... UTF8&psc=1

and again, here's the Kayalite 360 LED for people who don't want to build their own
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003G ... UTF8&psc=1
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