Bottleport

Hi Derek,

I'm the inventor of the Bottleport and just saw this post. I've been wanting to have someone use it on a Sunfish and report back on how it works on these boats.

If you wanted to give it a shot, I'm happy to send you one on the house. If interested, email me at [email protected] and I'll get one in the mail to you. Do you have a 5" Viking port on your boat? If not, I can send you the port too, but unfortunately have to charge for that one. Just $7 and of course shipping is free.

Thanks,

Greg Little
 
Hi Greg,
I saw your posting about bottleports. Sounds like a great idea. I would be glad to try one out if you are willing to send a test product. I have a 5" viking port installed. Let me know,
-fred-
[email protected]
 
Hey Sunfishers,

Derek is going to take me up on this offer and as a shoestring, garage-type business, unfortunately I can only send out the one. If it doesn't work out with Derek I'll post back up here. Thanks a lot for the interest,

GL
 
I would think the best product target would be for the brand of the kayaks sold in the large sporting goods chain stores. Maybe pitch to one on the national chains. You'll want a U.S Patent first, no shortage of people who will rip off a good idea. Alas, my Sunfish has 6 inch ports of two different brands. How about a port that provides a dry storage container on the underside for a Marine Radio or Cell phone. Would be better than a cat-bag. Anyway, just a bunch of random thoughts.
 
Re: Bottleport (w/YouTube video)

Thanks Webfoot for your good ideas. Yes, the Bottleport is patent pending and I've been investigating the kayak angle but most do not have the 9" of clearance that the Bottleport needs to fit flush with the deck. There are a lot of boats that fit the 5" Viking port, though, and I'm compiling that list now. My first focus has been Lasers since that's what I sail and so many of them have the 5" Viking already installed. With such a popular boat, it's a great place to start.

I'm happy to say that the response from retailers, reviewers and pretty much everyone who has used the Bottleport has been really positive. There isn't a retailer I've showed it to so far who hasn't decided to stock it. It's the "Hot New Product" on the APS home page this week. Jim Myers at Intensity Sails has been very enthusiastic. West Coast Sailing in Portland and FastLane Sailing Center in San Diego are also stocking it.

If you're interested in reading more, here's a link to the post on the Laser Forum announcing the Bottleport: http://www.laserforum.org/bottleport-here-t10272.html

I've thought about doing a watertight compartment that would mount the same way but I think the Fat Bag idea is better for that IF ONLY they would make it waterproof. You can fit so much stuff in there as you can see in my YouTube video here (watch in high quality if you have the bandwidth):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctJODgd4YLw

Overall, this has been a really fun and interesting process. My day job is totally different and this is kind of a cool contrast to that.
 
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