I have a day off today. The company that employs me allows all their employees an extra day off on their birthday and since today is my birthday, I have a day off.

This is great. Mid-week and I don't have to worry about the client's or the servers or schedules, milestones or any of that stuff.

Now, Naiad needs a mug holder, Seriously, there's nowhere to put down a mug of tea when you are sailing that is secure. Admittedly, I don't sail with the boat heeled over much so there isn't really much danger of spillage, but even so, she needs at least one mug holder.

So, today is the day for mug holders.

the first thing to do is to check the Interweb and see just what is available to buy. The answer to that question is a lot. However, narrowing down the search results to ones that I can afford and are not only for sale in Australia, I have one major problem. They are all too small. The best ones are a mere 73mm in diameter and my boat mugs are 80mm.

So, I need a better way.

Here is my boat mug and you can see that the diameter is 80mm.

This is the mug I use at home and that is nearly 85mm, so if I aim for a holder that is between 85 and 90mm I should be able to fit most of the mugs I am likely to use. Why am I bothering with the house mugs? Well, when Naiad is on the hard standing as she is right now, I'll be using house mugs and not boat mugs.

So, the task today is to convert these three wire coat hangers into a prototype mug holder.

First job, off with their heads!

Then straighten them out and clam all three Into the vice.

The three wires are twisted together by clamping the free ends in a vice-grip and twisting until the desired twisty-ness is achieved.

The upper ring is formed by wrapping the wire around a round object that is quite a lot smaller in diameter than the mug to allow for spring-back.

An Oak dowel offset does the job admirably.

The ends are bend to form the uprights and the handle of the mug will fit between these two.

Further bending to form the base of the holder to prevent the mug from falling through.

And up the other side.

A quick check at this point to ensure that I haven't messed anything up.

And the house mug as well. Hm. Getting low on tea. Nearly time for a fresh one, I think.

The final bends make the ends of the wires horizontal again.

And cut off the ends and the bending is completed.

The free ends of the mug holder will be epoxied into a suitable piece of wood, and this is what I might look like.

The next part of the job is to craft the wooden piece that will hold the holder (a holder holder?) and fir into the cockpit, and I think I know exactly what and where that is.

But right now, I've reached the bottom of the tea mug and it's time for a fresh one.

Don't go away...

So, a fresh cup of tea and on to the rest of the project.

Here's the almost completed holder. The wire still needs to be bend a little to make the cup section more vertical.

And here is where it fits in Naiad. It slips into one of the supports for the cockpit tent spreaders which will not be in use when sailing. When they are in use, we won't be sailing and the mug can be put down on any flat surface.

Here is a view from a different angle.

And another.

I think this should do the trick. As I said at the beginning this is just a prototype for now and I'll use it for a season and then see if I should make a real one or amend it. To compete the prototype I'll need to bend it into a better vertical shape and epoxy the wires into the wood, but for now, that's done.

Time for another cup of tea.