Found a nice brass plate on the boat, can it be laquered against seawater?

[jerrytug]

Today in the course of scraping and painting my sailing boat, we found (under 8 layers of old paint) two brass cheek pieces each side of the rudder head. They are old, thick brass and have no damage or corrosion to speak of. In the pics only the top halves are exposed, but the whole painted white areas are the same brass plate.
It would be great to polish them until they shine like the sun, then put some transparent laquer on. However I am dubious about the weather protection of any transparent coatings available although, I may be behind the times with new developments.
They would make a stunning feature *if* modern coatings could handle seawater, this question I don't know about.
Any views chaps? thanks for any guidance

 

[tom2207]

acf 50 ,,,, or grease is as good as anything ,,, but you will still end up polishing it again and again. But when its gleaming it will be worth it ,, I promise.

 

[tom2207]

I had an entire boat covered in brass , ,an an entire copper lined engine room , brass polishing tanks and header tanks , and pipe work etc etc ,, I could spend a week polishing brass if I wanted to ,, and often did . the results were worth it , huge steering quadrant in brass , steering shafts brass , fairlead brass ,, samson post top copper , lamps and mast fittings brass ,, well you get the idea ,,

 

[awemawson]

What age is the boat? They may well be a decent marine grade bronze rather than brass - and 'brass' covers a multitude of sins - (composition varies considerably).

 

[Bullet2012]

Clear gelcoat with a uv stabiliser added ?

CFS Fibreglass Supplies

Glass fibre supplies Nationwide UK

www.cfsnet.co.uk

 

[jerrytug]

What age is the boat? They may well be a decent marine grade bronze rather than brass - and 'brass' covers a multitude of sins - (composition varies considerably).

She is 64 yrs old. I just let all the bronze bits stay green, but this from the more yellowy colour is brass I think, not 100% sure though.

 

[jerrytug]

Clear gelcoat with a uv stabiliser added ?

CFS Fibreglass Supplies

Glass fibre supplies Nationwide UK

www.cfsnet.co.uk

thanks, interesting.

 

[Keith 66]

When you own a 64 year old wooden boat the last priority should be polishing brass. Unless you have a lot of time or are rich enough for flunkies to do it for you! Keeping the decks watertight & rot at bay should be priority no 1.
Clear lacquer will rub off & chip easily, two pack varnish may be worth a try if you happen to have a bit left over but that stuff has no place on an old wooden boat anyway.
My last wooden boat is now 83 years old, I never polished the brass or bronze just let it go green. There was enough work keeping on top of everything else.
My current wooden boat will have a lot of shiny bronze but as she is a Thames launch its the done thing to keep it that way, i suspect that i will probably give up & let it go green after a while!

 

[Brad93]

Lacquer won't stick well to a polished surface, maybe a two pack might stick better.

 

[jerrytug]

Thanks to all, and @Keith66 sums it up.
Ok in the cold light of day, it's just getting painted, after lightly keying with wet'n'dry, and using Special Metals non-ferrous primer.

 

[Bobupndown]

I had an entire boat covered in brass , ,an an entire copper lined engine room , brass polishing tanks and header tanks , and pipe work etc etc ,, I could spend a week polishing brass if I wanted to ,, and often did . the results were worth it , huge steering quadrant in brass , steering shafts brass , fairlead brass ,, samson post top copper , lamps and mast fittings brass ,, well you get the idea ,,

Any photos?