by David N. Goodchild
In small boats, such as the dinghy, a bailer is an essential device to have on board. But all bailers are not created equal! I'm sure by now everyone knows that a good bailer can be made from cutting a clorox bottle in the shape of a sugar scoop (if you don't know what that looked like, here's a drawing). These work just dandy! But--the one thing they don't do well is get into corners; like those little corners where the frames meet the floor (you do have a lapstrke, steam bent-oak framed dinghy don't you?) Even in any other type of dinghy, there's always those spots that can't be bailed out easily with a round bailer because they form what passes for a square on any boat.
Another
good use for these jug bailers is as funnels. You have to leave the screw
tops on the jugs in order not to get water up your arm when you bail, but
if you remove the tops the bailers make excellent large capacity funnels
for on board.
One final use.
If you need to use a long length of twine or other small stuff, and
the end can remain captured on the ball, rather than letting the ball roll
around free on the deck while you are trying to manage it, hang the bailer
up by a small hole in the lip and toss the ball of twine or whatever inside,
feeding the end through the mouth of the jug. This will keep the twine
ball contained while feeding you a continuous and easy to handle line.