Was the clip broken due to a drop or an environmental casualty of sea salt water/air?
I have no idea why it broke. The meter wasn't dropped and there is no sign of any corrosion. I bought the meter "used" a couple of years ago. Maybe the clip was over-stressed during a fuse replacement.
Corrosion isn't a huge problem for me since I have a really dry boat. What is more of a problem is that a lot of rubbers/plastics degrade quickly. My current theory is high ozone concentration. Rubber bands turn to goo in a year or two. Plastics get brittle. I have a Fluke 123 scopemeter that has been on board for 12+ years. The molded plastic towers in the case that hold the brass threaded inserts all sheered off one year. I ended up strapping the meter together with nylon wire ties.
Have you thought of crossing the Panama Canal? (can you do that?)
Sure, we could do that for whatever reason that hasn't been high on my list yet.