Making a kayak scupper plug

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Losing an expensive tungsten weight or jig through your scupper hole is aggravating but easily avoided with easy-to-make plugs. <p> <em>All captions: Dave Mull</em>
Losing an expensive tungsten weight or jig through your scupper hole is aggravating but easily avoided with easy-to-make plugs.

All captions: Dave Mull

You need a rubber tip for furniture legs — a 1 1/8-inch tip fit the scupper of my Old Town Predator PDL. Measure the diameter before shopping as hole sizes vary. You also need fender washers, a bit of glue and zip ties. (Or make things even easier and just use a foam golf ball. You might need needlenose pliers to remove the latter, and it won’t last as long as a plug made from a furniture leg tip.)
You need a rubber tip for furniture legs — a 1 1/8-inch tip fit the scupper of my Old Town Predator PDL. Measure the diameter before shopping as hole sizes vary. You also need fender washers, a bit of glue and zip ties. (Or make things even easier and just use a foam golf ball. You might need needlenose pliers to remove the latter, and it won’t last as long as a plug made from a furniture leg tip.)
Drill a hole in the middle of the rubber tip. Glue a washer to the inside as well as the top of the soon-to-be plug. Fender washers in the 3/16-inch x 1-inch size fit our rubber tips.
Drill a hole in the middle of the rubber tip. Glue a washer to the inside as well as the top of the soon-to-be plug. Fender washers in the 3/16-inch x 1-inch size fit our rubber tips.
Run a zip tie through the hole from the inside, double it back and stick the zip tie’s stem through its head to form a loop.
Run a zip tie through the hole from the inside, double it back and stick the zip tie’s stem through its head to form a loop.
Snug the head against the inside washer and trim the excess.
Snug the head against the inside washer and trim the excess.
Stuck in the scupper hole, the plug averts dropped worm weights and hooks from littering the bottom of the lake.
Stuck in the scupper hole, the plug averts dropped worm weights and hooks from littering the bottom of the lake.