Tim - How is your laquer-over-bronze holding up?

[Ray Henry]

I am about to remove and clean up 6 bronze portholes from my boat (deck painting).

I wonder if I should spray on some laquer after cleaning?

[Tim]

The lacquer holds up pretty well under the summer sun, though in your area you might find it necessary to redo it more than once a year. I have found that it is successful in keeping the bronze bright and clean, but not without some maintenance. The maintenance isn't hard--just time consuming. But the lacquer is definitely not an end-all procedure.

I found that in the cold weather during haulout season, the lacquer tends to fail and flake off--it did this catastrophically the first winter, so I laboriously removed the loose material (nearly all of the old lacquer) and resprayed. The new application held up well the second season, and I had some reoccurrence of the failure during the next winter--but not nearly as badly as the first winter. Again, I sanded the ports and sprayed on a number of new coats.

Click here to read about relacquering the ports after the 2001-2002 winter season (the first year).

They held up well this third season, and now with the boat inside a heated barn, there seems to be little sign of the overall flaking failure. I will sand and relacquer as necessary. The finish has dulled, and there are a few places on the small opening ports where there might be a flake or two.

The worst part of the whole lacquering process is masking everything off (once the ports are reinstalled). It takes forever, and then the spraying is over with in about 5 minutes.

I've grown to like my bright ports, and given my inherent stubborn streak maintaining the silly lacquer finish has become one of those things that I must continue. But I would seriously rethink doing it all over again if I were in that position. That said, it looks great.

Note that I gave up on keeping any of the other bronze hardware on deck bright--the only finish I maintain is on the ports. (Originally, I lacquered all the bronze cleats, chocks, etc.--not any more!)

A long answer to an easy question!

[Ray Henry]

No such thing as an answer that is too long! Thanks!

So you spray the ports while they are on the boat? I'll have mine off the first time, but it would be good not to have to remove them EVERY time.

[Tim]

Yes--I respray them on the boat. I have no inclination to remove them until absolutely necessary!

That's why it's time consuming: to spray, you have to not only mask off around the glass and around the outside of the port, but you also have to protect the surrounding areas from overspray. I think I spend about 2+ hours masking off four large deadlights and six small opening ports, and literally 5 minutes or fewer actual spraying time for 5+ coats on all ports.

They look nice, but beware! :<)