Demonick's Kayak Fishing Pages: Scotty Bailing Pump Mount

Home           Last updated Monday, 2011-09-12
The well prepared kayak angler never leaves home without a bailing pump. Perhaps the most common such pump is the No. 544K Scotty Kayak Pump. Where to put and secure one's pump has been a problem solved many times in many different ways. I carried my pump in various locations for a couple years but was never satisfied with the solutions. The pump must be available when needed. This would likely be in an extreme situation, i.e., swamping, flipping, or severe leakage. The problem is water INSIDE the yak, and you will need to open a hatch to bail, so the pump might as well be carried inside the kayak. My most recent previous solution was to place the pump within easy reach of the crotch hatch secured with a lanyard inside a cable stay glued under the left gunwale. This kept the pump from sliding out of reach, but it was cumbersome to remove, it still allowed the pump to rattle around, which it did, dislodging my fishfinder transducer. Here is what I hope is my last solution. It provides stable, secure storage and one hand removal.

Parts list:

  1. No.544K Scotty Pump
  2. 3 feet-ish of bungee
  3. 4-1/2" piece of 2" ID ABS
  4. 3" piece of 2" ID ABS
  5. Marine Goop adhesive


The parts photo above shows the 4 parts. The bungee material has been tied into a double loop. The large loop slips over the pump handle, and the small loop slips over the pickup tip on the other end of the pump. Tape was wound around the ends of the longer piece of ABS tube to improve visualization for this write up.



The photo above shows the parts assembled. Note the shorter ABS tube goes closer to the tip of the pump.



Here is the small bungee loop over the pickup tip of the pump.


The functional idea here is that the small ABS tube is glued to the inside of the kayak. The longer ABS tube is simply a spacer. The pump with the spacer is inserted into the glued-down shorter ABS tube and the bungee installed. The bungee keeps everything in place until you reach in and pull the pump 3" back. The pump pulls out of the glued-down 3" ABS tube and the small loop slips off the pump tip freeing the pump from the mount tube. The spacer is used to reduce the "pull distance" to remove the pump.



This is the shorter ABS tube glued to the bottom of my Hobie Revo. Clean and dry the kayak surface thoroughly with alcohol before applying glue. Run a generous line of Marine Goop down the length of the tube. The cable is for the fishfinder transducer, and the structure to the right is the drive well for the Hobie Mirage Drive.



This is the final installation of the pump in the glued-down mount. The tape was removed from the spacer.

There are a few considerations when installing. You need to be able to grab the pump easily. You will need only 4" of room to pull the pump out of the mount. You will need to be able to reach in and slip the bungee loop over the tip. During installation be sure the larger bungee loop catches the outlet tube on the pump.