Suggestions for Cleaning up Perko Cabin Door Lock/Keyset

[jpg1969]

Anything you can do to clean up the pitting on the Perko door lock/handle set? Thanks in advance!

 

[Capt. Ronnie]

compound and a buffer when the boat gets buffed this time of year works for me,
then a coat of wax.
I spent 5 solid hrs, with 2 other guys buffing my Parker last weekend.
Looks better right now than it did when it was new, other than the dings in the gelcoat here and there!
This was the 1st year my boat got buffed top to bottom since it was new in 2003, and I stay in the water for 10 months on average.

 

[DaleH]

For the lockset itself ... no, there is NOTHING you can do .

It is a very expensive piece of crap that has a thin chrome covering over cast zamak, which is a cheap alloy of brass & zinc. Zamak not only is extremely prone to pitting on the chrome finish, exposure in a SW environment will eventually leech away the zinc and it'll crumble apart ... but that'll take 20 years and I've only seen that happen on cheap rail bases and fittings.

Why someone couldn't make the same out of SS is beyond me.

 

[jpg1969]

Dale,

Thanks for the info. Your response is exactly what I thought, but I hoping that maybe someone came up with a solution. The pitting reminds me of what use to happen to the Morse MT-3 controls on my uncles older center console Makos - they were/are probably made from zamak as well.

I agree, they are very expensive and not sure why someone can't produce a version in SS.

 

[DaleH]

To be clear ... a polish will shine the finish but the pits will always be there, as they form from the parent (zamak) material out through the chrome.

 

[Parker]

Jim - nothing you can do about the pitting. I try to put Alumaguard on mine every other week, so it looked pretty good after eight seasons Last year the lock froze and finally fatigued and broke. I had to purchase a new one and the new one only lasted two months. Thankfully I was able to get a new one under warranty. I am a pro at replacing the locks now.

 

[Porkchunker]

I squirt mine with WD-40 several times a season. Those locks don't show any signs of pitting. However, the lock up on the electronics box is all pitted. I'll be replacing that sometime this summer.

 

[Porkchunker]

I would think that there is a good market for SS replacements for a lot of Perko junk that all kinds of manufacturers put on their boats.

 

[Bald Eagle]

If there were a SS replacement for the Perko 'stuff' I'd certainly buy.