Winch Drum Re-Chrome

[sailne1]

Anyone have any experience re-chroming winch drums?

[svindigo]

If someone around there does industrial plating go to them. Be careful of the folks who do quickie chrome jobs for aftermarket cars/bikes. The stripper arms and drums on your boat will take more wear and tear than those. We found a local shop to do it. As I recall we spent about $500 to have 11 drums of various sizes and 5 stripper arms rechromed. Some were down to the bronze and others were just in the process of failing. I rebuilt the interiors and the chroming of the drums and stripper arms had us back in working order within a couple of weeks.

[botanybay]

How did the rechrome process work out?

I have about 12 winches which need the same and I am having a hard time trying to determine which chrome process is the right one (hard chrome vs mirror, etc)

Thanks

[FloridaWriter]

I just sent off three winches for rechroming to New England Chrome Plating (New England Chrome Plating and Brass - chrome plating, brass plating, gold plating, metal finishing, industrial plating, boat restoration, motorcycle restoration, powder coating, fireplace, hard chrome plating, chrome, auto parts, antique, antique re). They are very familiar with sailing winches. The cost is about 400.00 and they will be back in about 4 weeks.

By hard chroming I think you are referring to engineering chrome which is not shiny and only applied to hardened steel. The shiny chrome is what you want for winches and what your winches originally came from the manufacturer with. It is a combination usually of first copper plating, then nickel plating and finally chrome plating. If the base metal is cleaned and prepped properly the chrome finish will not flake off, yet anything chromed in a salt water environment will eventually corrode.

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by FloridaWriter

I just sent off three winches for rechroming to New England Chrome Plating (New England Chrome Plating and Brass - chrome plating, brass plating, gold plating, metal finishing, industrial plating, boat restoration, motorcycle restoration, powder coating, fireplace, hard chrome plating, chrome, auto parts, antique, antique re). They are very familiar with sailing winches. The cost is about 400.00 and they will be back in about 4 weeks.

By hard chroming I think you are referring to engineering chrome which is not shiny and only applied to hardened steel. The shiny chrome is what you want for winches and what your winches originally came from the manufacturer with. It is a combination usually of first copper plating, then nickel plating and finally chrome plating. If the base metal is cleaned and prepped properly the chrome finish will not flake off, yet anything chromed in a salt water environment will eventually corrode.

Thanks! Exactly the information I was looking for and confirms what I have found to date. I have a local shop which should be able to do the re-chrome process but if that does not work then off to new england it will be...

[Pub911]

I sent 4 of mine including a lot of the smaller parts like lock rings to Welcome to Paul's, the world's Premiere Restoration Replater and got excellent service and results at a fair price. One winch, now 7 years later is peeling. All others are 100%. I'm guessing a flaw in the prep caused the one to peel, but it's not too bad so I've left it alone. These guys do Harley parts, so I figured if they could serve that crowd and survive, they'd be ok to work with .

And they did a great job. They took a picture and inventoried each piece, set price, locked terms ....then proceeded. Very professional and pragmatic approach. Excellent results. Will go back in another 10 years if/when I need to.

[sailingdog]

Why would you go back if 25% of their work is already peeling????

Originally Posted by Pub911

I sent 4 of mine including a lot of the smaller parts like lock rings to Welcome to Paul's, the world's Premiere Restoration Replater and got excellent service and results at a fair price. One winch, now 7 years later is peeling. All others are 100%. I'm guessing a flaw in the prep caused the one to peel, but it's not too bad so I've left it alone. These guys do Harley parts, so I figured if they could serve that crowd and survive, they'd be ok to work with .

And they did a great job. They took a picture and inventoried each piece, set price, locked terms ....then proceeded. Very professional and pragmatic approach. Excellent results. Will go back in another 10 years if/when I need to.

[merc2dogs]

Seven years is not bad for chrome that is used and out in the elements.
I've seen new parts that started to peel in two years.

If they gave a decent price, and only one winch shows peeling 7 years later, I'd be willing to use them again

Ken.

[Neicy]

I used American Plating Services Inc, Baltimore, MD. Had 2 winches plated, also door hardware (hinges & handles). Just had them done last summer and all seems to be good. He is at the Annapolis show each year. I recall the winches being approximately $150 each.

[tager]

Winch bodies are bronze, aren't they? I don't get why sailors started to move away from bronze. Bronze is superior, verdigris looks cool, no stress cracks, less prone to cyclical load failure, no crevice corrosion, doesn't work harden. Bronze is the best material, why do people insist on chrome and stainless?