Mounting my all-around light for fishing/kayaking at night

I was trying to figure out a light for my fishing kayak to complement a headlamp.  I'll post later why I wanted an all-around instead of bow/stern lights.

I knew how I wanted to do the pole itself, and want it to be truly portable, so wanted a battery based light, but one I wouldn't have to replace every time I dropped it in the water.

At the suggestion of some great person on the 'net, I got the Fantasea Nano Spotter light from B&H photo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/527259-REG/Fantasea_Line_6023_Nano_Spotter.html).  I can't remember what forum had someone share the link, but appreciate whoever/wherever it was.

Nice things about it:  It's got bright LEDs, is truly waterproof for my purposes, and it has the diffuser already.

Minuses - the base is not round.

That's not really a problem, though.  I took 3/4" PVC and heat gun.  I wrapped two or three wraps of electical tape around it before forming the pipe with the light, so it would be tight but not impossible to remove. Heat PVC, smoosh, let cool, pull out the light, dunk in a bucket to "set" the shape.

While I was at it, I made two.  I then cut the formed piece off and sanded any roughness from the heat off, along with the lettering.

Once glued into a slip/female thread coupler that attaches to the top of my 3/4" light pole with a matching male thread.  I painted the whole light pole black. I actually wish I hadn't painted it, but I got PVC solvent all over it, and didn't like the purple streaks.  I plan on using reflective tape bands around it anyhow.

I sprayed liquid electrical tape inside, so the light press fits in. If it seems at risk of falling out, I'll probably add a hole big enough for the lanyard strap, and use a toggle or something.

One thing I thought of doing was using a tee at the top, having one light shining up, one forward --maybe even without the diffuser.

The photo is the spare I made, and may use for the forward facing light.  I'll get a picture of it on the kayak sometime.

Bit by a bug...a fishing bug

I got bitten by the kayak fishing bug, and am learning to like some things I figured I never would. After trying several times to fish from my "Artic", then having my pirogue blow the bottom laminations (see earlier post), I decided to get a Sit on Top. Of course, I looked for one that was as much like a sea kayak as possible - an "LPB" (Long Pointy Boat) as some of the skin boat folks call them.

I ended up with a used Wilderness Systems' Tarpon 160i. It's definitely long/pointy, but I was still afraid it would be like riding a cork, as my other experiences with SoTs were like that.

It isn't. It tracks very well, has pretty good speed, and once I get an appropriately longer paddle than my Werner Camano, will be da bomb for fishing.

It was already set up for fishing, even with some things I probably won't use, like fish finder mounts.

Here are a couple of pictures that were sent by the guy I got it from (he bought a Hobie Pedal drive boat).

I'll have to see if it becomes my 'go to' boat for just messing about - the "Artic" still fits that bill, since it's light, fast, and easy to unload.

Paddling spot - headwaters of Lake Blackshear

 My latest spot for a quick paddle is on the top end of Lake Blackshear, near Drayton, GA. It's not as "birdy" this time of year as I expect it is in the spring and early summer, but there are wading birds and ducks, plus tons of turtles. Here's a Google earth image.

Flint River south of the Hwy 27 Bridge

The arrow points to a launch called "Camper's Haven".  There's a little store + bar and grill there, and I believe the launch itself is owned by someone else.  You drop your $2 launch fee in the box and take off.  The concrete ramp is both steep enough and shallow enough to launch from there.

Notice the sloughs on both sides of the big S curve?  They are relatively deep, full of fish, turtles and birds. Just south of here is where the former state record alligator was taken, so I know there are big and small gators around.  Traffic on the river isn't bad, and I don't stay in the channel much.  The current's pretty slow too, so ferrying across is effortless.

I need to fish more here and see what I can turn up.  General map coordinates from Google: 32.044605,-83.963835.

My now deceased Pirogue - "Boueux"

In a post from February of 2011, I was trying to decide whether to build a pirogue to fish from or a kayak for longer touring.  By the end of August of 2012, I'd made up my mind and started a pirogue, to be named "Boueux", which means muddy in French and sounds kinda like "Boo".  Here's the one photo I remembered to take:

The plan was for a 14-1/2 foot long, 24 inch beam boat.

I got the main body glued up and to the point of glassing it when my mom had her stroke.  That put my weekends on hold, so the boat sat under plastic in the yard all winter and most of the spring.

This past summer, I started sanding and fairing.  The boat building instructor at the Apalachicola Maritime Museum convinced me that I didn't need to glass it, especially since I hadn't used marine ply.

I sanded and sealed, puttied and faired, and had her looking pretty good:



This photo is 'done', just before painting the gunwales and inside of the hull.  I'd finally gotten it dried in, fully painted, and was ready for a weekend trial when we had a couple of weeks of non-stop rain, then three days of unusually hot sun.

Well, the laminations in the plywood couldn't handle that.  They decided to blow out the bottom.

Guess I will paddle my kayaks after all.  Lesson learned:  If you're going to be a shade tree boat builder, get the wood soaked with epoxy or whatever finish as early as possible, OR...get a workshop.

I think I'll name my Tarpon 160i "Boueux Deux"