If it’s in your blood, you’re never too old to be an inventor.
Just ask Larry Gray. He’s 77 and in the middle of a relatively successful launch of a new sailing product.
Gray, with his wife, Judy, have created, produced and marketed the TideMinder through their company Go With the Flow Solution of Muskegon.
The TideMinder protects boat dock lines from chaffing due to tide or wave action. A series of balls attached to the loop of the dock line keeps the line from rubbing on a piling, Gray said.
The initial idea came in April 2005 and the Grays worked all summer on the prototypes. The first was the use of roller blade wheels but a 3-inch diameter solid plastic ball worked better. The ball is bored to allow the dock line to slip down the center.
“The balls are indestructible,” Gray said. “And they float.”
The TideMinder is portable, staying with the boat from marina to marina, said Gray, a member of the Muskegon Inventors Network.
Photo by Go With the Flow Solution.
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