(♫ music ♫)
Narrator: Welcome back!
This is a real working 28 arce
boatyard / boat building facility
residing in Stuart, Florida.
It's Ship Shape TV's home base.
Ideally located,
the complex is situated on the shores of
the Okeechobee waterway.
Which happens to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Now once again here's the founder and host of Ship Shape TV,
John Greviskis!
John: I want to show everybody at home
some of the original hardware
that came off of our classic 1960
fifteen foot Glastron Fireflite.
And this, for examples guys,
is a flag pole.
And you can see the condition of the metal it's very very pitted.
Okay, but it was really cool
what they did back in the day.
Here is the bow light.
Okay, and the flagpole
you could actually fly your American flag out front
of the boat when you were running.
Or if you wanted to fly it from your stern,
you would put it in this piece of hardware right here. Okay?
And you could run your flag from the stern or this is convertible.
You can pull it out, and this is where
you would put your stern light in -
your all-around white light.
And I want you to check out something that's stamped
into this flagpole.
Do you see right above my thumbnail,
do you see where it says "PERKO"?
Well they made this in 1960.
And who we now have on the program
is Richard Cozier
from that same company and hello my friend.
Richard: Thanks John for having me back.
John: It's great to have you back on the program.
I was doing my history
Richard and apparently Perko
has been making marine hardware
approaching 110 years.
Richard: Since 1907 John.
John: Okay, you made this originally
in 1960.
What is the actual metal?
Richard: That's made out of zinc and it
oxidizes over years of
saltwater and saltwater corrosion.
So that's the "pitting" that you see
that happens to that particular type of metal.
John: Okay, now -
how could you,
and is it even possible,
to have this refinished and make it look good again?
Richard: It's an option that you can try to refinish it but
it's a very labor intensive and very expensive
and I only recommend that you try to do it
if you literally can't replace the item.
John: Let's get into again my bow light.
Alright. And I want to show everybody the condition of this metal.
This is nasty. This is pretty far gone.
But what I do think is really cool
is the lenses back there in 1960.
This is real glass. These are real glass lenses.
And what would be a different approach
rather than having it refinished
and spending all that money.
How could I get the Glastron to look
kind of original again?
Richard: John we actually still manufacture a light
very similar to that in design and size.
It's made - current metal processes
with chrome plated over zinc.
Along with plastic lenses.
John: Man, that is so cool!
Okay, let's talk about cleats.
Here's an original cleat
that came from the boat
and this is really nasty.
What do you...first off what do you call this
style of hardware and what do you call this style of boat?
Richard: John this is called "Mid-century Modern".
These are some examples of some nav lights
that would have existed back in that time that we made.
John: Man check those out!
Richard: Some ideas of some cleats
that were from the 1950's.
This is one that we would recommend replacing on your boat.
It has a sleek style to it and it's still in production today.
John: Man is that sexy!
That is so cool!
Now Richard what about
some type of a stern light?
You at Perko are known forever,
for marine lights. What do you have?
Richard: Okay. This item right here
is what I recommend.
It's right out of - we manufactured this back in the 1950's
and it's still being made today.
John: Okay and so this would be
my stern all-around light.
The average age of a boat today guys is like 18 years.
Okay. Everybody needs replacement hardware for their boat.
There are a lot of guys like me that will try
to collect something very vintage.
Okay, like the Glastron
and they need - you know or they want to have
kind of what it came with originally.
How do they - you must make
a bajillion different marine parts.
How could somebody sort through all that information
and find the exact fitting
and everything else. Because I've got something
I don't even know what it is. I wouldn't even know what to call it.
It's this little square
doohickey right here.
And it's bad. What do you call it?
Ricahrd: That's called a boat cover socket
and they're still actually being made today.
We still make them in current production.
And they're used
basically to cover the base of the hardware
for your retractable top.
John: Man that is so cool! So how do they get this stuff?
Richard: You can go to perko.com. We make
1,500 different items with about 5,000 different SKU's.
So, look up the category online,
you find the items that you are interested in.
Then you can contact a retailer
or a wholesaler off of our website
and find them nearby you.
John: But if somebody can't
get that replacement piece of hardware. It's just impossible.
And they do have to get something refinished.
Okay, could you help steer that guy?
Richard: John there's actually an old automotive publication
called Hemmings Motor News and I believe it's called hemmings.com today.
And they will have advertisers
that do that process for zinc restoration.
John: No matter where this day takes you.
Don't change your heading until after the program!
We'll be right back!