Well I think it's a good tip, anyway. You can now buy a vacuum packing machine for around a hundred quid,vac pack stuff like bread mix, flour, teabags etc and be certain they'll stay dry and at the same time extend the shelf life.I suppose you could even vac-pack a pair of socks for those dreaded moments when all you need is something dry on your feet. I'm not certain what the wattage is, I'll check, but I'm pretty confident that it will run off the 1.5kw inverter and be pretty useful when it comes to packing fresh food when about to leave on a long passage. Another advantage, of course, is that the food/teabags/whatever take up far less space and by splitting dry goods into smaller parcels there's much less chance of them being spoiled if water does get below. Incidentally, it's amazing how much packaging I've removed, and how small the resulting pile of food is compared with the load I started with.
I'm afraid we keep inventing ways of making life on a boat ever more complicated, and we should really shun such things in favour of a simple life. Last night, I was reading Tilman's 'Mischief goes South' - tough trip, but executed as simply as could be.We have too many comforts too easily available. But who's to say Tilman wouldn't have snapped up a vac-packer if they'd been around in his day.
I think I'm at that stage where I need to stop fussing, start breathing deeply, and get some clarity about this project. At the moment the head is swimming, there again I've just spent a day configuring a new laptop, mail programme, as well as getting to grips with posting this blog via a satellite phone. Tilman didn't know what fun he was missing. I'm going for a lie down.