Marathon, FL
No LL

Tomorrow, we leave Marathon for the Everglades and a side trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Before leaving, I wanted to finish a project we have been working on. That is, to repair damage to our starboard rub rail.

The first step was to glue cracked and crushed sections of the teak. Also to fill in a gap where a piece of wood was missing. I filled the gap with Plastic Wood.

Doing projects dangling over the water while standing in a rocking dinghy is tricky business. See below a picture of the project in progress. I didn't do too badly. I only dropped one screwdriver overboard, it is the one you see in the picture.

To glue the cracks, I filled in the space with wood glue, then clamped the two halves together while the glue dried. I keep two C clamps on board. As I screwed down on one of them, something strange happened. It screwed more and more without ever gettting tight. Examination shows that the clamp itself broke. See the picture.

A clamp like that should last a lifetime. Come to think of it, this particular clamp came from Libby's Father's tool box. It lasted two lifetimes, his and most of mine. It is a reminder that "lasts a life time" does not mean forever.