Letter 27056

Plating failure of chrome finish on main winch of new sailboat  

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The drums on the winches on my sailboat are finished with a very high quality decorative chrome. Within less than three months following delivery of the new boat, I noticed that one of the drums had a blemish on the tapered area below the lead in at the base of the drum. I attempted to clean it using a metal polishing cloth and found that the plating was completely through and the brass material was exposed over an area about the size of a thumbprint. The chrome was not peeling or flaking. The manufacturer denied warranty replacement of the drum, taking the position that something externally had been spilled on the drum. The selling dealer conveyed to me that it may have been something such as teak cleaner that may have been responsible for the damage. Or that it may have been s

omething that was windborne that someone may have been using near my boat that caused the damage. The dealer has offered to share the cost of replacement with me and my first reaction might be to do that. However, if there is any possibility that the failure ma have been caused by contamination of the drum prior to plating or by some other factor in the manufacturing process, I would like to pursue the matter further with them. On the other hand, if teak cleaner (a mild corrosive material with a weak or inert phosphoric acid exempt as hazardous material for shipment under CFR 49)is a likely suspect, the only source for that contamination would have been the pre-delivery preparation by the dealer.

If the failure is not likely to have been caused at the dealers yard, I will most likely pay the full cost, have the drum stripped and re-plated for inventory as a spare part.

Your comments would be greatly appreciated in helping me to resolve this matter fairly.

Robert L. Culbertson
boat owner (engr.,mfg.mgr.,retired) - Crisfield, MD, USA

By "chrome" plating I assume you mean nickel and chrome, maybe even a duplex nickel then chromium. If you had 1 mil of nickel plating under the chrome, then you might remove the chrome with some acid cleaner, but it would be mighty hard to remove the nickel too.

I would ask for a specification of what kind of plating is being applied to chromed brass in the future. Or you might pay top dollar for a tenth of mil of nickel and a tenth of of millionth of an inch of chrome.

Tom Pullizzi
- Levittown, PA

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