With a broken ankle, it’s hard to get much done. But I did manage to bring home some damaged mirrors. Someone decided that holding up a mirror with double sided tape is a good idea. It’s not. That line you see on the right side of this mirror is from the tape eating away at the backing, which leaves you with a damaged mirror.

The problem here is that someone thought you can hold a mirror up on a sailboat with just double sided tape, and you don’t need mirror clips. That could be a fatal mistake.

Fortunately, I live really close to Tap Plastics, who whipped up a lightweight acrylic mirror, cut to size. The old mirror weighs close to 5 pounds, while the new one is a mere 1 pound. That saves me 4 pounds per mirror. I think there are 8 mirrors on board, so off goes 32 pounds, just in mirrors. Now I have some understanding of why Jane’O clocks in at 33,000 pounds.

I’m probably going to add a staple or two to the sides just for added insurance against movement, even though the acrylic mirror won’t shatter.

Now I need to find the right glue. It seems that almost all the glues contain stuff that will eat away at the backing (including the double-sided tape shown).