Mike,

I don't have a scanner, so I was wondering if you would sketch out and post the following idea if I can give good enough instructions. It is a slight variation of dwg 11/13 that I saw on a plastic kayak and thought was pretty slick:

1) Draw the kayak bow. 2) Draw the toggle on top of the deck but cross-wise to the length of the boat. 3) Draw a pad-eye right behind it, also aligned cross-boat. 4) Draw a second pad-eye about 6" behind it, also aligned cross-boat. 5) Draw a very short piece of bungee attached to the aft pad-eye and stopping half-way to the fore pad-eye. 6) Draw a stout cord knotted to the bungee. Run it foreward through the fore pad-eye and around the toggle. (The knot is between the 2 pad-eyes.)

The way it works: When not in use, the bungee keeps tension on the cord and pulls the toggle back to the fore pad-eye so it doesn't flop around. When needed, you grab the toggle and lift, the bungee stretches only as far as the fore pad-eye where the knot stops it.

I think this method could be 'cleaned up' for we wood-kayak builders a bit by merely putting a groove in the end of the deck and running the bungee/cord through it like a flush deck fitting.

Hopefully some of the readers can visualize this -- otherwise we're counting on you, Mike!

Dean