Need you opinion on portholes

[Fotoman]

I went down to the boat this weekend (a nice 7 hour drive, each way!). I removed the 3 portholes with the idea of replacing them. They look terrible. I saw some nice affordable ones from New Found Metals (http://www.newfoundmetals.com/catalog/pg04.html).

When I got home I started to look at the old ones closely. They are very heavy. Probably bronze. I'd hate to get rid of them without trying to service them and see if I can make them look good again. I could replace the glass window with some tinted plexi or lexan, clean and polish the frame. Any suggestions or thoughts? There must be a product to help with the cleaning?

Here are the portholes:

[video=[MEDIA=youtube]9QhP80Q76Nw[/MEDIA]]

 

[Phil Fill]

*
What I use one of V shaped sanders and a large Dremels with a wire brush.* I have given trying keep them polished.* I have clean coated and polished them but they still turn* brown, so brown they will be.** Some of them on the inside I polish that you can see but the outside is a waste of time.* As long as they do not leak they look fine to me!

 

[Datenight]

CLR sold under that name at hardware stores has worked well on brass for me. Try it on a small spot and rinse well.

Rob

Datenight 37' Sedan Trawler

 

[albin43]

Glass bead machine is the best

 

[Fotoman]

I might try CLR to see what happens.

Albin, what is glass bead?

I'm also thinking of bringing them to a metal polisher. Probably the best solution cost vs effort.

Don't think it's plated.

 

[skipperdude]

Glass bead = sand blasting with glass beads

SD

P S* Why replace them?* Solid brass. they'll last forever. Just replace the gasket. As long as they don't leak.* If you buy new they will just turn the same color.*The color is* called Patina. To me a rich and beautiful color. If you had a crew you could have them polished all the time to keep them looking brassy and the crew busy. But that is just it. You have to polish them all the time.* Let it go . Looks boatie to me.* If you must replace them. Check the price for ones like yours *on Ebay.* Or you could go Stainless or Aluminum

SD

-- Edited by skipperdude on Tuesday 19th of January 2010 11:03:56 AM

 

[Forkliftt]

Eric,
I bet they would clean up great. Any local starter shop would have a beadblaster that you might "rent". I have a small bead blaster in our shop and clean a lot of small carbon steel parts. I use an aluminum oxide blast media. This leaves a matte finish. I sometimes follow up by running the part across an 8"bench grinder with a crimped wheel for a polished look. You might consider something like that followed by waxing. You could send them to me to try- but the freight would cost so much that it wouldn't be worth it I bet.

 

[Keith]

Not much point in cleaning them unless you want to polish then weekly. If you want to clean them, 1TB citric acid / cup of water with a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent will clean them up well as a soak. If they have a coating on them, you'll have to soak in a solvent like lacquer thinner to get that off first.

Don't put polymers in there; if you want to replace the glass just use clear or tinted safety glass. If you do that, seal the edges of the new pieces with a smear of silicone or polysulfide caulking.

 

[FF]

If the glass is broken any auto shop can copy what you need from a patern , or old glass.

Temperted 3/8 minimum is harder as it needs to be sent out after cutting.

The 3 layer auto glass works fine.

A shop sharperner grinding wheel can be replaced with a wire brush for fast cleanup.

Your stock ports look far better than what you will get new.

FF

 

[Fotoman]

The reason I want to clean them is because they were painted over at some point (and it's a really bad job!). You guys are right, they will look great once cleaned and probably much better than what I could get new. No point in replacing them. I have some lexan left over from a previous job on my sailboat, I will use that.

I will go to a local metal polisher and see if they can do the job.

Thanks for the offer Steve but you're right, shipping costs would be ridiculous.

 

[Delfin]

Queen City Plating in Edmunds, Washington can make them look like new.

 

[Forkliftt]

Welcome aboard Carl. Awsome vessel!! It looks like the board is really taking off with so many new participants!

 

[Peter B]

Fotoma, I have essentially the same vessel. Whatever you do don't get rid of those ports. The only claim to fame of vessels of our vintage is the that the parts they used which needed to be of non-corroding type metal, such as the ports and the bow/roller assembley, were made of bronze. Not brass but real quality bronze. Just cleaned up a bit they will last forever. A bit of a glass bead blast might be worth it to shine them up now you have them disassembled, but otherwise, just replace the gasket, as someone else mentioned, (I did that with square section rubber quite easily), and then the glass and sealant if they are too scratched and pop them back in. Later vessels have those parts made out of (cheaper) stainless steel. They might look shiney, but lack the looks of real bronze, in my view.

PB

 

[Fotoman]

I found a metal polisher that will do them for $125 each. Glass beads and polishing. A bit more than I was expecting to pay but I bet they're going to look great.

Good point Peter. I think the quality of these parts are superior than anything you can get on the market today.

 

[Marin]

A word of warning regarding exterior bronze hardware. When you get your bronze portlights back from the polisher you have a choice to make. You can either let them weather back to their natural brown-green-gray shade or you can try to keep them shiny. If you elect to keep them shiny, be aware that this will become the metal equivalent of keeping wood trim looking good-- it's a never-ending job.

A friend-- the broker who found us our own boat, in fact--- was restoring GB32-7 when we met him. He was doing much of the work himself but he was also hiring some of the work out. The cockpit handrails were off the boat and the person charged with refinishing them also polished the bronze stanchions. They looked terrific but our friend was furious because this meant that they would no longer match the bronze stanchions that support the cables that comprised the rest of the railing system on the very early GB32s. So he either had to have the rest of the stanchions removed and polished, and then spend the time to keep them all that way, or let the polished ones acquire the bronze patina, which now would not match the rest of the stanchions because of the difference between bronze that had aged some thirty years earlier and bronze that was just starting to age now.

There are coatings that profess to protect polished metal from the elements. I know people who've tried this and in every case the coating failed sooner rather than later at which point it all had to be removed and the part re-polished or allowed to weather naturally.

Our GB is old enough that virtually every piece of external metal hardware--- rub rails, stanchions, cleats, mast and boom fittings, etc.--- are bronze. Previous owners left it in it's natural patina and we have not changed this even with the new bronze we've added like additional deck cleats. Not long after we acquired the boat the owner of a new Krogen in the slip next to us at the time grumbled that "With an old boat with bronze you can let it go and never touch it and everyone thinks the boat looks great. With a new boat and stainless, you let it get even a tiny bit dull or tarnished and everyone thinks your boat looks like crap." He was busily polishing the stainless on his boat at the time.

 

[Peter B]

Yes, I agree with Marin there, on second thoughts - if you have not done it already - don't have them polished - they look just as nice with the weathered greeny/bluey,goldy look they get when left alone.* If you've gone and done it - well don't worry - they are far enough removed from other bronze parts, and not large enough to draw unfavourable comparisons quite like Marin mentioned - whole rows of shiney staunchons is another matter..... yeah... just let them weather then.... if you coat them, it always looks sh**y in no time.





-- Edited by Peter B on Thursday 4th of February 2010 12:45:56 AM

 

[FF]

We let the bronze go sea green , but when motivated will run a brillo pad on the thin outside edge . Shows the bronze for 10 seconds of effort.

 

[Fotoman]

The reason I want to have them polished is because the previous owner had painted them (brown). And like all the other jobs he did it looks like cr**. We can see the paint brush strokes and he missed spots, not to mention the white paint drops from when he painted other parts of the boat. Once they are polished I will let them get that natural color and not worry about them.

 

[motion30]

If I were you and the ports are out of the boat I would have them chrome plated

 

[Max Simmons]

Fotoman,
How did the cabin sides look when you took out the portholes.* I am assuming that you have a cored or ply cabin?* I need to replace all 4 of mine, but figure that I will have some rotten core repair to take care of as well which is making me procrasinate awhile longer.

 

[Peter B]

Fotoman wrote:

The reason I want to have them polished is because the previous owner had painted them (brown). And like all the other jobs he did it looks like cr**. We can see the paint brush strokes and he missed spots, not to mention the white paint drops from when he painted other parts of the boat. Once they are polished I will let them get that natural color and not worry about them.

Right - gotcha - forgot you mentioned the bad paint job.* Yes, you have no option but to get that off - then let them weather.* I would not chrome plate them either if it was me.* Chrome only goes with 'plastic fantastics'......... 'nuff said.
Besides, if yours are like mine, and there is no 'built-in' insect screen, then if you apply screens over the outside, as I had to, (needed in our climate anyway), the porthole frames*are not even seen, anyway.





*


-- Edited by Peter B on Thursday 4th of February 2010 05:57:42 PM

 

[skipperdude]

I took some Hawse pipes to a chromer.
The first thing he did was use a stiff wire brush on a wheel to remove all the old gunk. Mostly paint and tarnish
Took about 30 seconds. To get them ready for chrome plating.
They looked so good just cleaned with the wire wheel I told him that was good enough.* Nice and brassy. *Cost me $5.00 a hawse. Now I just use a drill and a wire wheel.
Works for me.

SD

-- Edited by skipperdude on Friday 5th of February 2010 10:22:20 AM