Most of us will have rig eyes, deck eyes, hooks, rings, loops, prodders and clips on our boats. One of my own favourites is this gorgeous sheet hook in the photo above.

I’ve always wondered if I should carry a little stock of such things in my toolbox for the day something goes wrong. That is assuming you can find anyone who sells exactly the right hook in sensible minimum quantities.

What about making your own? One always has to wonder what incredible expensive tools you would need. Well, in this case try typing “jewellery pliers” into Amazon and see what comes up. Really not expensive at all !!

You can see that this pliers will allow you to bend three pre-determined sizes of curve into your wire. It’s about £12 on Amazon.

If you want more variable size curve-making ability, this red handled one was about £8.

In both cases, you’ll want a good pair of snippers and regular pliers (to hold the wire as you bend it).

So where do you get the stainless steel wire?? Our friends at SailsEtc sell stainless wire in different diameters and, I think, in about 30cm straight lengths. If you want to do this, I suggest get several lengths of each chosen diameter in one order – just to make sense of post and packing costs.

Good to share something like this between a buddy or two, or just make sure that one or two people in the Club fleet have the kit to make what the fleet needs.