Polish, Chrome plate, or Replace?

Hey Everyone,

In the end stages of my boat rehab and want some advice/opinions. I have a 1979 Pilothouse Trawler that has been brought up to a custom/current day look. All exterior teak is gone, decks are fiberglass non-skid, and interior is modernized. Now, I know some like the patina look on the brass/bronze, but I need some help here. The port holes, cleats, and some other misc items are all original and structural sound.

So, here are some options:

Polish and forever maintain?
Chrome plate and fear chipping/pitting?
Replace with stainless but lose out on originality and high quality/durability?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Josh

Greetings,
Mr. JB. A good quality chrome job should last the rest of the life of the boat. Newfound Metals have a range of, from what I could see, high quality SS fittings.

You should definitely swap out to SS and sell bronze appurtenances to me.

RT: Newfound Metals looks good. Seems to be a high quality product. Thanks for the info!

Northern Spy: Selling them may be an option if I do go SS.

-Josh

Here's a vote for polishing and waxing. Switching them out is a huge and expensive task, time and money far better spent out on the water and on diesel fuel respectively, in my very strong opinion.

If they don't leak and are structurally sound I would leave 'em. Replacing them will be an expensive and time-consuming effort.

Marty......................

caltexflanc said:

Here's a vote for polishing and waxing. Switching them out is a huge and expensive task, time and money far better spent out on the water and on diesel fuel respectively, in my very strong opinion.

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I think you have just been struck off Northern Spy's Christmas card list.

Out of the 8 portlights, 2 of them leak, and 3 have cracked glass. Either way, they are coming out.

As far as the other stuff (ie. cleats, deck plates, and some hinges), all has been removed already.

Thanks for the input guys

-Josh

SS.

Capt. JB said:

Out of the 8 portlights, 2 of them leak, and 3 have cracked glass. Either way, they are coming out.

As far as the other stuff (ie. cleats, deck plates, and some hinges), all has been removed already.

Thanks for the input guys

-Josh

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Having to pull that many of 'e might as well replace 'em all and be done with it. I have seen the New Found Metals portlights and they are very nice indeed. The Stainless are nice but the reenforced plastic ones are darn near as strong, with stainless strong-backs, and much less expensive. If heading for Blue Water I would go with the stainless ones but for coastal cruising I would find it hard to justify the extra expense (They do look nice though).

Marty.........................

Marty,

Since buying the boat, I have made it a mission to doing things right the first time. I try to research, ask many questions, and price out everything in detail before coming to a decision. The hardest thing is parting out a piece of the boat that has held up for 34 years. I just got a quote of $75 each cleat to chrome. I'm thinking that the portlights with be almost double plus glass/seals. New SS cleats are approx $100 each. Newfound Metals has SS portlights 6x15 for $319. Even though price is somewhat a factor, looks, maintenance and longevity are higher on the list.


Thanks for the advice

-Josh

I also am looking at switching out my old bronze ports. SS would be my preference, but first I might attempt to varnish the outside trim rings on my ports and see how well they do.

The Stainless are nice but the reenforced plastic ones are darn near as strong.

BUT they will die in sunlight like every other plastic , get brittle and crack.

healhustler said:

I also am looking at switching out my old bronze ports. SS would be my preference, but first I might attempt to varnish the outside trim rings on my ports and see how well they do.

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We looked at switching out ours also but with 10 all I saw was $$$$$$$ and lots of my time. The bronze port lights were previously painted and we repainted in 2012 after ~11 years. We used a 2 part paint and prepped like you would for any other metal. We removed the rings and sprayed. The picture is from 2011.

There is a 40 Bluewater on our dock ,all the way from San Deigo !!! I like bronze myself . I just bought some bronze cleats from FF here on the forum .

How about powder coating. Cheap, durable and can do any color including "aged" bronze.

It's a good thought, dimer, but I stopped into a powder-coater over in Stuart, FL some weeks ago and asked him about my haus-pipes. He noted that anything that has any abrasion would be an issue, but maybe something like the trim rings on the port lights would be OK. With the coatings available today, painting like Larry noted above may be the thing to do if prepped right.

FF said:

The Stainless are nice but the reenforced plastic ones are darn near as strong.

BUT they will die in sunlight like every other plastic , get brittle and crack.

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Perhaps, but how long will that take? I have plastic portlights on my boat that are 30 years old and they are still functional. The ones from Newfound Metals are of a much better design and quality than my old ones and are made with materials that will most likely far outlast the ones I have now.

There is such a thing a overkill. If the plastic lasts 20 years you can replace them twice for the cost of the stainless or bronze ones. It really comes down to (1) where you are boating and (2) how much you are willing to spend. If I were going off-shore I would opt for the Stainless ones. For coastal or inland cruising the Plastic ones would exceed my requirements while costing significantly less.

Marty...........................