Starting on a few winter projects, most of which are cosmetic in nature.
I plan to re-do my upper and lower station instrument panels, but first I wanted to address the Morse controls for my lower station. I have polished the heck out of them and can't get them to look any better, though they are fully functional (see below).
My question is - are they easy to take apart and get rechromed or should I try to get parts and just replace the covers and arms? Or, replace with new new units altogether at a price of around $300-$400 each. Seems like a waste to replace something that is fully functional, however the controls are going to look pretty bad next to my re-done insturment panels if I leave them the way they are.
I have the exact same ones and You can take the cover (hood) off as well as the arms and have them chromed. Then just reassemble. The "Guts" can stay where they are. Just mark what goes with what and keep everything in a similar position as it will be a while before you'll get the chromed parts back and you might forget.
Those red throttle arms have extensions on them that might be hard to remove. I was told Charman Enterprises bought all of Morse's inventory when they were bought by Teleflex, and would be the best (and perhaps only) place to find replacements.
Thanks Walter. That is the answer I was hoping for. I forgot I had the extensions on the throttles, but I think I had them off once before. If I get into a pinch I can always track down the current parts source or go to ebay.
My flybridge controls look brand new, so that is where I would like to be with the lower helm.
Mac,
I don't know why they don't make the shifters and covers out of s.s. Seems like it's almost impossible to keep the chrome on them. Brian Barragy has single lever, duel function controls that are ss on his boats, but I can't think of the name, but, makes sense on a salt water boat. I have Micro Commanders, and they're chrome over brass. I just don't get it. Same thing goes for rod holders and outrigger bases. If you can't frequent your boat every few weeks or so, the damn corrosion will get you.
Sorry, just bitching.
John.
Hey Heyena-
Thanks for chiming in. Been back to TSL?
Unfortunately you are probably right with the quality of new stuff. I think most everything produced these days is designed to only last for a short period of time before you toss it out.
I think I have been back to TSL once, maybe twice, since your trip.
Unfortunately, I missed last year. Hopefully, I'm taking my wife down sometime soon.
On my replacements, I waxed them up, and tried to keep C-X on them. But, post Hurry Ike, my boat was in an open slip for 18 months, and that sure did not help. I cleaned it regularly, Nevertheless, my stuff looks as bad now as the ones I replaced.
Ongaro replacement's for the Morse levers are stainless steel and do not pit as the chromed pot metal levers............only thing I don't like about them is that most of one side of them is hollowed, the inside closest to the cover........just looks odd when first changed out is all.......and feels odd at first....if you make small throttle adjustments as I do by forwarding the lever by the shaft as opposed to by the knob and there's a hollow instead of solid material as was there before!
Not showing the hollowed side of the control arms in their photo's etc is what probably annoyed me more than the fact that they are hollowed and made me notice it more after I installed them !
Here's a photo showing the 'hollow.'
I would think they are still made the same way, I bought and installed mine in 2007, perhaps your supplier can verify.
