The Bottleport is here!

hdco1313

New Member
Hello Fellow Laser Forumites,

I’ve been looking forward to making this post ever since the Bottleport was just a sketch on a piece of notebook paper almost two years ago. Since LaserForum helped me a lot with the initial research (one thread is even quoted in my patent application), it feels right to make the first announcement here as a new sponsor of the forum.

The Bottleport is a new device that FINALLY gives dinghy sailors a place to put a water bottle that is:
--Totally secure
--Totally out of your way
--Immediately accessible with one hand.
I came up with the idea after losing one too many water bottles over the side and/or having them underfoot.

395424363_KDLgy-M.jpg


It screws into a 5” Viking inspection port with the same watertight seal and flush fit as the original lid, and works perfectly in combination with your Fat Bag. I have been testing the prototype on my Laser (#90759, old but still tight) for a year now and it has become indispensable.

For full details and a YouTube video, go here:

www.bottleport.com

Would love to hear any questions / comments you have as I’m currently compiling FAQ for the full site when it goes up. Post here, email me at [email protected] or call me at 323 788 8520. Let me know what you think!

The first orders will ship out next week to individuals and retailers. The Bottleport will sell for $29.95 on my website and at the usual places you get your sailing gear. I’m taking advance orders now on the site.

I’ve sent some pre-production samples out to some folks to use and review so you may see some of those reviews coming shortly.

Since this is the first Bottleport post, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank some of the people who have helped out along the way. It’s been an interesting process—I work in entertainment here in L.A. and knew nothing whatsoever about designing and manufacturing a product (not to mention shipping, patenting, selling etc etc etc). Here are some people whose time and enthusiasm made all the difference:

--George Yioulos, West Coast Sailing: George has given me his time and great advice from the very start of the project and continues to be a supporter. Thanks George!

--Mike Strasser & Will Tammen, www.think2build.com: Call these guys if you have no idea what you are doing and want smart, elegant and efficient design work done.

--Jim Myers, Intensity Sails: One of the first people other than me to use the Bottleport in a boat and it’s great that he is even MORE enthusiastic now.

--Rob Beach, Annapolis Performance Sailing: As the 900 pound gorilla of sailing gear, there is absolutely no reason Rob needed to be as accessible and open as he has been. Maybe that’s why the gorilla is so heavy.

Blah blah blah. Sorry. As I said I’ve been waiting awhile to write this. It’s going to be very cool the first time I see this on someone else’s boat!!

Thanks for reading,

Greg Little
[email protected]
 
I've been giving a Bottleport a trial run for about two weeks now, and I won't be doing without one from now on. I can still throw my keys and spray top in the fat bag underneath, and it is super easy to access and return my water bottle now.

Thanks, Greg!
 
That is very funny, I had no idea that YOU were Merrily and was waiting for her to weigh in on the post. Glad you like it!

Here are a couple things that I wanted to make clear if they aren't already clear in the post and website:

--You must have a 5" Viking port installed on your boat (or install one) in order to use the Bottleport. I played with ways to make it more universal but figured that it was better to have it work perfectly in one widely used port than work just OK in more of them. My boat already had one of these and they seem to be by far the most used. And they're very good quality.

--If you don't have one, I can sell you one with the Bottleport for a total price of $37, which includes the port at my cost.

--Make sure that wherever your port is or will be, you have 9" of clearance underneath it so there's room for the Bottleport. I measured everywhere I could think to install a port on my Laser and didn't find anywhere that doesn't have that clearance but just wanted to say that for the record.

--I have to charge sales tax in CA.

--I'm going to put up on the site some tips on installing a port for those that don't have one. For example, the hole you need to cut is EXACTLY the same size as the port lid, so all you have to do is trace around the port lid wherever you want the hole and it will be perfectly sized.

Thanks for the responses everyone, this has been an exciting day!
 
I just meant that I didn't realize that you, Janet, are the Merrily whose posts I've read so many of over the years. "Merrily" always has good stuff to say so I was curious what she would say about this, not realizing that I've been communicating with Janet / Merrily for the past couple of weeks!

Thanks again for giving BP a trial run...
 
That is a very innovative idea. It's great to see people invent cool things. Good luck with the bottle port.
 

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