Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Getting Cranked to Paddle


If you're the type who camps as you kayak, and if that camp site happens to be out of reach of resupply depots, then being self-sufficient is all important. One item which always seems to be in short supply are fresh flashlight batteries. Well, here's an interesting item that can help, a hand-crank flashlight. Two minutes of cranking provides about 20 minutes of light, and you'll never have to worry about dead or leaking batteries. I got mine from Canada's Lee Valley Tools.

It isn't waterproof, but I like that it's much smaller than similar lights at only 3-1/2" long by 2" wide by 1-1/4" thick with the crank folded for storage. It is perfect for stuffing into a small corner somewhere. I keep mine in my sleeping bag dry-bag so it's handy for those midnight nature calls. Its three bright LED bulbs are rated for 100,000 hours each, so they will never need replacing and will light up any camp intruder with glaring results!

2 comments:

Silbs said...

What a bright idea!

clairesgarden said...

we've got these at work as part of our statutory emergency stuff, i often relieve the boredom by winding them up.