I had posted a picture awhile back of our 170 after our trip on Lake Erie. Lots of people commented about the flag on the stern of our boat. So I thought I would post some pictures and part numbers here so that others could have an easier time adding a flag if they liked the look.

The finished product

To start I purchased most of the components at our local Boat US store, which I think is the same thing as West Marine. The part numbers are same at least. The staff is a 3/4 x 18 teak piece. Teak looks good on the boat! I used brass screw-in eyes with 3/4 split-rings to attach the flag. Pre-drill your holes. The top eye should be angled up into the ball on the top of the staff. That will help to prevent the staff from splitting as it ages. Its also a good idea to drill the holes 90 degrees to the wood grain of the staff for the same reason. I used a yacht ensign flag on mine, but any 12 x 18 flag will look equally good. I researched the flag size and found that it is standard practice to use a flag length of 1 for every foot the boat is long. So an 18 flag is pretty close for the 170.

Staff and Flag

The flag mount is a stainless mount designed to attach to a round tube. The stainless part has a 30 degree bend on the flat portion. This bend needs to be straightened for this to work. I just clamped it in the vise and pulled it back to the desired position. The opening for the flag staff is advertised to fit 3/4 to 1. It does, but I was expecting some sort of shim for the 3/4 usage to be included. It isnt, so I made a shim from another piece of stainless with a slot on one side to allow for the clamping thumb screw. I left a little tension in the shim so that I had to squeeze it to get it into the mount. That way when you remove your flag staff for storage, the shim remains in the mount.

Flag Mounting

As I said, the mount is designed for use on a round tube and not for our 170s square tiller. Not a problem. There is enough material in the two black clamps that I just used a file to open the clamp to fit a square tube. As you can see in the photo it doesnt clamp flush to the tiller as it would on a round tube, but there really isnt a need for it either. It has plenty of grip for an 18 staff. Now if you were going to try this on a 36 staff with a larger flag... well then I think you would want to substitute some custom clamps for the black ones. For this application theyre fine. The screws are a little long so I capped them with some rubber screw caps. I wanted black or blue caps, but the hardware store only had red and yellow... Ill keep looking.

Modifying the Round Mount

Anyway when your project is completed youll have an even better looking H170 and youll be ready to go show it off. A word about flag etiquette. Read up on it! Its important to fly the US flag as your highest flag and if you dont youll quickly find out why from one of your neighbors.

Boat US Part Numbers:
5456843 - US Flag 12x18
5456900 - Yacht Ensign Flag 12x18
272591 - 3/4 x 18 teak staff
4763397 - Stainless rail mount

Now go sail!

Sail, Sail, Sail