Kayak Lights

There are 3 kayaks in the night time photo. Can you see them? Probably not because they are not well lite up with a deck light and so stand a good chance of being crashed into be another boat. This tutorial is on how to make a kayak deck light. It costs about $4 to make.

There were two main problems to overcome when designing a deck light:

1. The Light needs to be held on the deck of the kayak.
2. The Light needs to be seen.

To secure the light to the kayak deck, a holder was made from a beverage can, filled with cement. This holds the torch vertically and the weight of the cement lowers the centre of gravity - adding to stability. Some anti-slid mat was glued to to the bottom for added grippy-ness. To further secure the holder, it will be secured to the kayak deck with some duct tape.

The original idea was to make a light reflector from the wire of a champagne bottle top, with the concave bottom of a beer can on top. While this reflected the light well, It didn't defuse the light and so was too bright to look at. The bottle from a spray bottle was found to defuse the light well. It may even mean the light will float should it go into the water.

Small water proof Torch ($2)

500ml spray bottle ($1.99)

Aluminium beverage can

Plastic sheet (an old flexible cutting board was used)

Anti-Slip mat (the stuff which grips)

Cloth tape

Insulation tape

Cement

Water

• Draw a circle, the diameter of the small torch, on top of an aluminium beverage can.
• Cut out the circle - a rotary tool can help with this.

• Remove the bottom of the beverage can using a craft knife and trim with scissors.
• Cut down the sides of the can about halfway, 8 times around the can

• Place some Sellotape over the hole you made previously.
• Cover the small torch with gladwrap (Cling film) so when the cement is poured it will not stick to it.
• Check the torch will slide out after the cement is poured and set. On one of my holders the torch body came in a bit and a 'persuader' was required to bash it out of the set cement. This could have been avoided by wrapping some tape to make a straight cylinder shape.
• Fold out the previously cut strips from around the can. These will form the base of the holder.
• Stick in the torch into the centre of the can, aligned with the hole.

• Mix up some cement and pour around the sides of the torch.
• Use a paint stirrer to jiggle up and down in the cement to remove air bubbles

• After the cement has set, but is still 'green', remove the torch.
• Place a loop of cloth tape around the base of the holder, next to where the aluminium strips go out.
• Remove any excess cement.

Finish off making the base:

• Place short strips of cloth tape over the aluminium strips to make a strong, flexible base.
• Draw out a topping base loop on a suitable plastic sheet and cut out. I used a flexible chopping board.
• Glue on some anti-slip matting to the bottom of the base with contact adhesive.
• Glue on the topping loop.
• Cut around the outside to the toping loop to trim the other layers of the base.

• Cut off the neck of a 500 ml spray bottle, using a hacksaw and enlarge the hole to just fit the torch head. I found a rotary sanding tool was useful for enlarging the hole.
• Insert the top of the torch just into the spray bottle.
• Secure the head of the torch to the bottle with some insulation tape.
• Insert the torch into the base.
• Tape base of the Light holder to the deck of a kayak using duct tape.