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DIY Go Pro Safety Leash

However secure you think your Go Pro is mounted, it is always possible for the quick release bracket on the case to break – bang goes your Go Pro (I have read about this a few times on t’internet). When you have invested so much money in the purchase of your Go Pro HD Hero, then surely a couple of quid is a small price to pay for piece of mind…

Cheap, simple and effective - Go Pro safety leash

I bought some lanyards from eBay; they were less than £1 each – but check them carefully – some of the clips are designed to open if pulled strongly, and they are not suitable for this type of application. I joined the nylon lanyard to a length of bungy and added a small carabiner type clip to the other end to secure to eye pads etc on the kayak.

The most tricky bit is finding a suitable location to attach the lanyard on the Go Pro housing. There are no eyelets. A search on the Go Pro user forum quickly highlighted the best area… the hinge on the back door of the Go Pro enclosure.

The back door of the waterproof enclosure comes off; but you need to be careful, the door has to be pulled away in the correct direction…

Detaching the rear door of the Go Pro enclosure

As you can see above, the rear door has to be pulled down (towards the clip underneath when the enclosure is sitting at 90 degrees to the clip) – check the go pro manual if you are in doubt, or have a close look at the hinge, and you will see what I mean.

The door comes away with the hinge as you can see in the image below…

Remving the rear door of the Go Pro enclosure

Take the lanyard (or some thin, strong kevlar braid) and offer it up too the metal hinge. It needs to be looped around the hinge.

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It should look like this when you are done…

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Then re-attach the rear door to the enclosure, making sure that the lanyard loop is in the middle of the hinge (you will see that there is a gap in the plastic of the middle of the enclosure where the loop needs to sit).

Re-attaching the rear door of the go pro enclosure

Rear door re-attached with leash

Once the door has been re-attached, check that it opens and closes without any problems.

Go pro kayak leash in place

Job done – just remember to attach the other end of the leash to a non-moveable fixture on the kayak eg. an eye pad.