A mammoth undertaking

When I was working it was a standing joke that our main customer always wanted things faster, better, and cheaper. The joke, of course, is that it’s almost always impossible to improve all three dimensions at the same time. But today I think I’ve actually done it. I’ve found a better way to deal with the line coming out of the boat bag, better even than the method I used before.

I remembered that the pictures of the boat bag had been taken when they were full, so that the top was tightly wound down, and there was very little air inside the bag. I had been folding the top down two or three times, which left lots of spare room inside the bag. That meant that the wound-down top could loosen a little, and therefore that I had to find a way to make a good seal around the line. I solved the problem then by using micropore tape.

This morning, I tried winding the top down as far as I could. The first time I did it I found that there was quite a lot of air in the bag, and that I couldn’t force it out easily by squeezing the bag, which surprised me for some reason. “It must be airtight,” I thought, “which means that as long as I wind the top tightly, I don’t need the tape.”

I tried again, this time expelling the air, and managed to get about six windings. It was worth an experiment, I thought.

It worked. After my shower there was no more water in the bag than using the previous method. In fact it seemed, if anything, even dryer inside than before.

So the method is better because it lets in less water; it’s faster because I don’t need to fiddle around with micropore tape; and it’s cheaper because I’m saving on tape costs. How wonderful!