A DIY 7' high safety flag and safety light

Here are some pictures of a safety flag and pole I made.  The pole is based on a $22 Walmart 7-foot long medium-heavy fishing pole, with a Scotty base.  The light is a Navisafe safety light, which is supposed to be visible for 2 miles at night, and the flag is a 24” x 17” ripstop nylon flag I made.



The Navisafe light is mounted at the top of the bottom half of the pole, 46 inches above the deck of my kayak.  I can mount the light on the pole, or take the light off the pole and store it inside my kayak, while I’m on the water.





The pole doesn’t block the Navisafe light, even from directly behind the pole. 



Because the light is mounted above the top of the lower half of the pole, if I fold the pole and Velcro it together at night, the pole won’t interfere with the light at all.



The two halves of the pole are attached together with a cord.



I have attached two Velcro straps to the pole so I can attach the halves together when transporting it, or when using only the light at night.  I clip the pole to my kayak with a leash.



The folded pole can be placed in a paddle holder during surf launches.



Here's how I connected the Scotty rod holder extender to the fishing pole.  I intend that the thinner piece of PVC pipe will be the weakest piece of the system, so if I roll my kayak and jam the pole into the bottom, the PVC will break before the pole or the hull of my kayak.  I can easily replace the piece of PVC pipe.  Replacing the pole or my kayak would be more expensive.



Because the gunwales of my 13” Hobie Revolution are pretty narrow, the biggest challenge I had in making this pole was figuring out a way to mount it behind my seat, but close enough so I can take it out of the mount while I’m on the water, so I can mount and dismount the light, and so I can store the folded pole in a paddle holder.  I ended up mounting a modified Scotty deck mount inside the rear cargo area of my Revolution.  Getting my hand and tools inside the gunwale to bolt the base in place was a pain in the butt.





The primary reason I made this pole was to get a large flag high enough above my kayak that it could be seen from a distance in ocean swells.  Most commercially available kayak safety flags are pretty small, and hold the flag only about a foot above the kayaker’s head.  You might as well just wear a bright hat with a light on top of it.  Specifically, the VisiCarbon Pro is 48” long, the Scotty SeaLight is 42” long, and the RailBlaza Telepole for the Navisafe light is 42” long, although you can raise the top of these poles by about a foot by mounting them on top of a crate in the rear storage area of a kayak. My light is about the same height as these lights, but my flag is bigger and about 3.5 feet higher than their flags.

Some people use bicycle safety flags with fiberglass poles for kayak safety flags.  But the bike safety flags I’ve seen are very floppy, and flop back and forth in the wind.  I have a diver down flag on a short fiberglass pole which I mount on my kayak when spearfishing, and it constantly swings and flaps in even a small breeze.  It’s pretty irritating.



The Walmart fishing pole I bought is unusually stiff for a medium-heavy pole, and stays rigid and doesn't flap in even a pretty stiff wind.

This guy had a flag and still got hit in Oregon:


I wonder if something shiny like foil would be more visible?

Lee - it doesn't matter how big or shiny your flag is if the other boaters are clueless, blind, looking the other way.

Every time I see that I want to reach into the screen and punch the pb operator, I don't think I would have let him motor away without getting his information from him. But that's me, that could have been WAT worse then it was.

I believe Jammer has said that the other boater did circle back and that he got all the information he needed. He's talked about the incident here, in the forum.

Just goes to show you all the safety gear in the world can't save you from stupid people. That scared the he!! out my wife.

The folded pole can be placed in a paddle holder during surf launches.

PMPete - I read somewhere that you're going to be trying out Pacific City after the Tillamook May Day. Please be aware that the dory fleet also launches from the same place as kayaks. Having your flag up while in the surf zone is highly recommended for that area.

Good job on the build!