The forward seat board was already off when Ellis arrived at the dock.

Walt had the tools lined neatly across the dock planks beside WATCHFUL. Hand driver. Pry bar. Measuring tape. Sandpaper block.

The cracked seat board leaned against the dock post nearby. The split ran along the grain from the front edge toward the center bracket.

Ellis crouched beside it without touching the crack.

Dry wood stress. Not rot.

Walt held up three fingers.

Ellis looked once toward WATCHFUL. “Three patrols,” he said quietly.

He wrote it into the equipment notebook.

WATCHFUL sat open at the forward section with the seat frame exposed. Walt had already measured a replacement plank from the white oak repair stock kept in the dock locker. A pencil line marked the cut.

While Walt worked, Ellis continued the rest of the boat inspection.

Port gunwale: sound.

Starboard gunwale: sound.

The push-pole bracket had loosened slightly at the forward bolt. Ellis tested it once with two fingers.

The bracket shifted more than he expected.

He looked immediately toward Walt.

Walt glanced once at the bracket, then back toward the seat frame.

“Next patrol,” Ellis said after a moment, and wrote it down.

At the stern, the lantern hook sat crooked against the rail. The stern rope showed fraying near the eye splice where the fibers bent against the cleat. The fuel can remained three-quarters full.

The port storage box latch stuck halfway when Ellis opened it. He pulled it closed again. Then opened it once more.

Still stiff.

He worked the latch open and closed four times before it finally moved freely enough to shut properly.

Ellis stopped with one hand still resting on the lid.

Not fixed. Just easier.

He wrote:

Port storage box latch stiff but functional.

At the end of the dock Walt cut the replacement plank using the small crosscut saw from the repair locker.

Two careful cuts.

The sawdust drifted down across the dock boards and blew slowly toward the water.

When Walt lowered the new board into the frame for the first test, one corner sat slightly high above the bracket.

Ellis noticed it immediately.

Walt pressed the board once with both hands. The corner settled lower but not completely flat.

Walt removed the plank again and shaved a thin strip from the underside edge with the hand plane from the repair kit.

The second fit settled cleanly into the brackets.

Walt pressed both ends down one at a time.

Sound.

He sanded the edges smooth, set the plank into place, and drove the screws into the brackets.

Ellis counted quietly while Walt worked.

Eight total. Four per bracket.

When the fasteners were tight, Walt tested the seat with full weight.

Center first. Then both ends.

The board held steady beneath him.

Sound.

Ellis updated the equipment log.

Forward seat board replaced. White oak. Eight fasteners installed. Push-pole bracket bolt loose, repair scheduled next patrol. Lantern hook reseating scheduled. Stern rope eye splice fraying, monitor. Port storage box latch stiff but functional.

Walt returned the tools to the dock locker in the same order they had come out. The cracked seat board went into the scrap box near the dock ramp.

Ellis studied the final equipment entry for a long moment.

Five items listed. One completed. Four scheduled.

WATCHFUL had continued running patrols through all of them.

Walt lowered the boat cover into place and checked the stern cleat and bow line one final time before heading up the dock.

Ellis stayed behind.

After a moment he lifted the cracked seat board back out of the scrap box and examined the split closely.

The grain ran slightly diagonal through the wood.

Not defective. Just the way the board had been cut.

Ellis turned the board once in his hands.

It had lasted seven seasons.

He placed it carefully back into the scrap box and closed the lid.

A few grains of sawdust still rested in the crack between the dock boards beside WATCHFUL.