Jerry,

I'm of a few minds about those coaming name plates. You can easily find a company out there that can restore the original Pearson plates. Plating and polishing can get rid of the pitting. There are plenty of ways to reattach with solder broken parts on pot-metal. I've had work done like this on old motorcycles I've owned. Parts that were pretty rough came out beautiful. But if you had them made out of bronze I'm sure they would stand a better chance of holding up while getting knocked about in a marine environment. I bet the re-plating price will be close to or more than getting new bronze parts from Bristol Bronze. And I'm a fan of patinaed bronze over chrome plating on a sailboat. Lastly, I'm sure most of us are missing those pieces because our Ariel and Commander ancestral owners got sick of taking them off and then back on each time they re-varnished their coamings.

On the builder's plate issue I would leave yours be. It's in pretty good shape for it's age. The enamel is intact. It's your old girl's lucky dog tag.

If anyone has a spare original Pearson builder's plate, any condition from a lost hull I would like one for my Ariel. My plan is to weld over the old number and re-stamp it with 109. Those two bare screw holes, which once held the my boat's builder's plate, in the lazarette bulkhead stare at me when ever I go sailing, kind of like a Steven King story, egads!