Horrible, Horrible Brightwork

[DeepTrouble]

I just purchased a 1970 170. The brightworks and towing cleats, anchor station and nav light all look original, but are heavily pitted and oxidized. I traditionally use Noxon on my fathers 1990 series boats (non-aquasport) but my metal fixtures seem not to be chrome. are they nikel or brass? they seem like they can be restored, is it worth it? I love the originality of the boat and want to keep it as original as possible during my light restoration. any input is greatly appreciated.

[seabob4]

Andy,
It seems those old fittings were made of the same material as Mako used, can't remember the name, but once it sees that corrosion and pitting, there pretty much is no bringing them back.  Damn, can't remember the name of that stuff...brain fart.

It's the hull and shear that give your boat the look, just install new, modern fittings, and nobody will know.  And get some fenders for your trailer!!  

[slvrlng]

Its called Marinium Bob. Its an aluminum alloy.

And yes you can wet sand it and with 1500 and buff them to look like new!

[seabob4]

Thank you Lewis!  I just don't have the patience to do that... :x

[DeepTrouble]

fenders, schmenders...no seriously, i just literally bought the trailer and boat 3 days ago, so I have a laundry list of things to do...in fact...here is my initial list. I was able to launch the boat once for a quick Fluke run before the hurricane approached, engine running great, boat handled great in light chop on the Long Island Sound.

fix trailer light harness on truck
test trailer lights, they tested fine when i purchased boat
tidy up wiring post under console
wire up garmin GPS
change some of the fasteners on the doors, batten down loose fittings, fill screw holes and sand
change captain chair back to original bench cooler
add canvas
winterize :(    (BTW, when you Floridians are done throwing hurricanes at us, we'll take some sunshine please thank you)

[DeepTrouble]

as for the marinium, should I remove the pieces for sanding? will it be a heavy job or can i do it by hand with some masking tape?

[slvrlng]

It will be much easier to buff them out of the boat. You only have to use the 1500 wet or dry if they are really rough. I took a grey (medium) scotchbrite pad and scuffed them until they were pretty smooth. I then used a metal polish called Wenol (any good polish that works on chrome, brass, or copper will work). I used the Wenol, hand rubbing the rodholders with a terry cloth towel. Yeah it took a little while to get it done but 1 1/2 years later they still look great. The hardest part of this job will be getting the screws out of the gunwales. If they are like mine they were very corroded and were a pain to remove.

This is what the results look like after cleaning and buffing.

[pete]

those look great Lewis!I bet some flitz polish would work on those

DT,I get out there tomorrow and send you up some heat 8)

[DeepTrouble]

that looks awesome and has inspired me to definitely tackle that job. it might be painstaking, but removing the screws, filling in some old holes and using some new stainless flush mount screws will be a nice finishing touch to the whole project. that metal looks much more durable than chromed pieces and appears to be "silver brass"....very nice

[GoneFission]

You can get a buffing wheel, put it on a bench grinder, get some compound, and make pretty fast work of making these alloy parts look good.    

BTW - "Brightwork" on a boat refers to the finish applied to wood surfaces, especially teak or mahogany.

[DeepTrouble]

You can get a buffing wheel, put it on a bench grinder, get some compound, and make pretty fast work of making these alloy parts look good.    

BTW - "Brightwork" on a boat refers to the finish applied to wood surfaces, especially teak or mahogany.

<======newb

[seabob4]

Deep,
Just so you don't feel like a newb...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brightwork

The sisyphean analogy is pretty close to what maintaining "brightwork" entails...