why paint bronze portlights?

[davidatlantic]

Why paint bronze portlights? Mine are a nasty brown color that sort of looks like it was meant to blend in with the surrounding mahogany. Wouldn't they look better polished? I thought a clearcoat over the bronze might work, but do any of you have experience with the durability of clear coatings over polished metal? Will the salt get under the clearcoat and make a mess?

[Scott Rosen]

I'm not a big fan of clear-coating bronze. Eventually the coating will fail, and when it does, it fails in patches and looks like crap.

I'm also not a big fan of polishing exterior bronze.

Painting is an option, but I would either leave them as is, or have them chrome plated.

[Nicholas Carey]

Polish the bronze [once].

Then let it go nice and green, the way it should be.

That green patina is actually a protective coating. It hinders furthers oxidation of the underlying metal.

[davidatlantic]

I was actually thinking of the interior parts of the portlights, They are about 4x7 and the exterior flanges would stay painted. I was thinking of the clearcoat used to cover aluminum auto wheels which takes a beating in the salt and snow and seems to last for quite a while before the elements get under it and things get ugly.
As an aside, Wickford Marine Cansignment has a bunch of Hood brand lights in SS, just beautiful!
No flanges, just the ports.

[Bob Cleek]

There's a recent thread in here about polishing vs. coating vs. leaving bronze as God intended. It needn't be repeated here, save to say, Scott's response is both the conventional wisdom and the proper way. There are only two reasons to paint bronze, which don't hold paint worth a darn anyhow. First, because you are a sloppy painter and too lazy to mask, and second, because your frustrated decorator of a wife made you do it! Next time, tell her Martha Stewart's Picnic(tm) boat don't have painted bronze and that should shut her up!