making things shiny again...

hey lads,
the aul boat got a lick of paint recently and i want to give everything a good scrubbin before i put all the parts back on and get it in the water.
what would be the best way to clean up her wheel? its chrome on the rim and where the rim is joined to the hub,the screws have gone all rusty,ill replace them with stainless ones,but how coud i stop this from happening again? the last owner decided to cover it all with insulation tape..hmm outa sight outa mind i spose,but t'was a bit tatty,even knowing the fact that it was rusting under there would annoy the sh*t outa me.also there is holes drilled on the rear side of the rim,why i dont know,but is it possible to fill them with something that could get the mop and soap polish,or is that even possible to do that to chrome? i dont know what the centre of the wheel is fabricated from,maybe it had chrome before,dunno.could i sand this to get a shine that wont absorb dirt again? the chrome on the bow cleat could do with some tlc aswell..the auxillary engine bracket is aluinium,what would be the best treatment for this? i'm a joiner so i'm a bit lost with metal and chrome and stuff,so any help or ideas would be appreciated...
cheers lads.

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get in touch with http://www.galco.ie/contact-us.php they might be able to help you out.

hi, maybe i can help - i work for a metal fabrication firm, i'll go ask the engineers what can be done to each of those metals and report back to you if you can bare with me till tomorrow.

i do know that a automotive clear lacquer can be applied to any bright finished metal in order to seal it from the salty air.

even marine 316 stainless steel needs a good scrub from time to time to clear out any build up in the "grain" of the finish.

any good ship chandlers should be able to get you the marine grade bolts - grease them before installation and clear lacquer over the top of bolt head to seal them.

http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html have a read at this also.

dave

hi, maybe i can help - i work for a metal fabrication firm, i'll go ask the engineers what can be done to each of those metals and report back to you if you can bare with me till tomorrow.

i do know that a automotive clear lacquer can be applied to any bright finished metal in order to seal it from the salty air.

even marine 316 stainless steel needs a good scrub from time to time to clear out any build up in the "grain" of the finish.

any good ship chandlers should be able to get you the marine grade bolts - grease them before installation and clear lacquer over the top of bolt head to seal them.

http://www.robertscycle.com/chrome-clean.html have a read at this also.

dave

cool,cheers dave,gentleman.
the clear lacquer,would it stick to the shiny unscratched surface? its worth a go defo on the aux engine bracket once cleaned..i have the 316 stainless bolts,costly lil fellas i tell ya,greasing the bolts,mad,would never have thought of it...i have stainless cleaner that works well provided you go with the grain with the scotch pad..i learned that the hard way t'was only a cover plate so i just turned it inside out,and the holes lined up thank f*#k.
will have a read of that link there now,cheers for the info dave lad.mad to here what the engineers say.fair play to ya.thanks again man.

no bother , glad to be of help.

the lacquer will coat the chrome no problem once its clean etc.

the marine bolts are so expensive its crazy but i'm glad you got what you need, they def are the thing for the job though, the grease and seal will keep them pristine incase you want to take them out.

everyone makes the "polishing against the grain" mistake, you only ever do it the once though

for the mild steel of the brackets you can wire brush them and just use the like of a hammerite rust treatment - i think a paint would just wear off over time the surfaces rubbing but i can see how tight the fit is so you may be ok with a paint.

i spoke to a few guys in work and got told of a good cleaner for most metals like chrome - autosol - they even recon there is an auotsol for boats which would suit most of what you need.
i just looked it up - http://www.autosol.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1819 seems like just the job.

if the chrome is wrecked then best option would be to have it re-chromed by the likes of a metal dipping firm - the link the austrian has given would be an example.

that link i gave you shows a trick to clean chrome - the water can be replace with a non branded fizzy cola for a better paste to clean the chrome there are few vids on youtube apparently.

hopefully that'll help - if you need any more help give me a shout.

dave

There is a machine for doing this it is called the ultrasonic cleaning and is used mostly by high end garages to clean engine parts maybe you can find one willing to do it for you have a look on you tube
mickser

I think it would be cheeper to get a new cleat than rechroming it, any of the places in Ireland that do chroming don't do hard chrome so you would have to send it to the UK. Once chrome has started pitting there is not much that can be done with it as it will keep on tarnishing and the more you clean it with anything rougher than paste the more it will remove the chrome.

You can get a new wheel starting at €27 up to about €140 http://www.marineparts.ie/engine-system ... ng-wheels/ so when you think of the time and effort plus paint you put into doing your one up it might be worth thinking about.

The AUX bracket "about €130 new" can be cleaned up with a bit of work or if you wanted to paint it you would have to coat it in etching primer first. This is an exhaust tip I cleaned up using a polishing kit from Halfords http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165594 You could also do it with sandpaper working from 600-800-1500 to 2000 grit this will give you a near mirror finish if you want to go that far. You could also try a fine corse one of these http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/power-tool-a ... Id=9262604 it will clean it up and leave it with a dull mat finish but it looks better than using a wire one.