Stooping the slopping when you are motoring
It is not often a brainwave occurs, but I had one the other day. My tender – the much beloved and bashed about Microwave – is fitted for sailing, with plate case and rig, though much more often used for motoring or rowing. So how do you stop the slops of water which come up the plate case? After a couple of years fiddling about with plates which were held – or not – by shockcord, and which never really seemed to do the trick, It suddenly occurred to me that a bit of hosepipe shoved into the top of the case would both stay put and seal it. Eureka!
You need to add a little loop of string so you can get the thing out, mind. I mentioned this to Iain Oughtred, who suggested that another application of the idea would be to temporarily seal the top of a plate case after a capsize while you are baling the boat out, so you dont have to bale the entire ocean out.