Cleat Bezels
 

Guys,

Anybody know if these are complimenting parts? Will these bezels

Livorsi Baja Orange 8 Inch Pop-Up Boat Cleat Bezel | eBay

fit under these 8" cleats"

Accon Pop-Up® Cleat with Stud Mount- 202 Series | eBay

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Guys,

OK.... So I went ahead and ordered five of the bezels, and I'm in the process of collecting the cleats one or two at a time, since they appear to be made of unobtanium....

My next question is about anodizing. I want the bezels to match the primary trim color of the boat, which is purple. Being a contract machining company, I'm fully versed in the process, but none of my local options offer purple as a color option. I see plenty of purple anodized parts out there, so, obviously SOMEBODY is doing it. My question is WHO? Any suggestions?

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Brad, have you contacted any of your local aerospace finishing/processing houses?

Hardly any boat parts are anodized anymore. Anodizing fades. Most are powdercoated as those orange bezels are. They were priced right but IMO, you would have been better off to just order the correct color bezels. It will cost more to strip them and repowdercoat to them candy purple than new ones cost. I already had bezels on my pop up cleats and after 24 years, several had lots of chips in the powdercoat. I bought new ones because it was more cost effective than redoing the old ones. The candy purple powdercoat is a 2 step process.

Griff,

I didn't order the orange ones. Those were just the first ones to pop up on my eBay search. I ordered the bare aluminum ones, which I'm going to assume are clear anodized.

I'm very familiar the anodize process, as I have parts done all the time. My local anodizing shop is a world class plating and surface treating facility that does work from all over the world (Dayton is good for that), and they have a very effective UV sealant treatment that they claim virtually eliminates color fade due to sunlight exposure. But they don't offer purple. I've found a shop in Cinci that offers "violet" on their website, but I haven't actually spoken to a real human on the phone about it yet.

I'm still mulling the powder coat option. I have to wonder if it will fade just as much as anodize, AND the potential for chipping..... 🙄

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

Bajaman,

Yup. I do business with many of them on a fairly regular basis. That's the problem: I've exhausted most of my "local" options. They all either don't offer purple (at all), or the bath charge is way too cost prohibitive ($3000😲) or aren't interested in a lot size of five pieces. I was hoping someone out there would have an option that they could refer me to. I may have found a source in Cinci. News at eleven....

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991

I didn't see that there were different color options.

Powdercoat does not fade at all. It is super hard and takes a lot to chip. All the colored bezels and billet hardware that you can order from Livorsi, Hardin, EMI, Dana Marine is powdercoated.
The purple is done with a silver base layer and then with candy purple powder over that.

I got to reading about 'at home anodizing' and it doesn't look that difficult, and one can seemingly make whatever color one wants using common dyes?

Griff,

Got my cleat bezels back today from powder coat. They look awesome.

As a side note…. What the guy told me was a bit different. He said the color coat, in this case purple, goes on mostly as you’d expect the color to look, but it comes out of the oven a mostly silver color Then a “clear coat” is applied, as a powder as well, and, when the part comes out of the oven, it is the desired color. Kind of weird…

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...9f0a05160.jpeg

This color is called “Illusion Violet” from Columbia Coatings, and it is a dead match to the other powder coated hardware on our boat.

Thanks for the guidance.

Thanks. Brad.
(937)545-8991