plain bronze vs chrome bronze

[willy]

I am in the process of rerigging. Old rig (on new to me boat) is quite old (25 years) and so thought it prudent to replace everything as well as wire - turnbuckles, toggles etc. I thought I would try and get plain bronze TBs. I thought maybe they would be easier to inspect in the future without the chrome on them and also they all seem to have bronze studs and jaw coming out of them which is that much less SS to invisibly corrode and maybe fail. Is my logic sound or just layman misinformedness? Is the right kind of bronze a superior material to SS? If years from now a chrome bronze TB had a crack would it show through the chrome anyway? Are there other advantages of one over the other? Also, I just plain like bronze alot and eventually would like to replace the ss chainplates with silicon bronze (good idea?? or not) . It seems most TBs are chrome bronze so there must be a good reason for this or is it just shiny esthetics? I know these are a lot of questions but just not sure which route to go. BTW she's a 20' flicka and 3/16 wire. Willy

Stainless has one particular benefit over other materials: it is extremely predictable during its predicted lifespan. Beyond that it may fail unexpectedly, and usually catastrophically.

Bronze is less predictable, but is much more resistant to fatigue. For this reason the metal of a bronze turnbuckle is heavier, but bronze is more popular in most applications other than where weight is more important than longevity.

Chrome is nearly solely for appearances. Bronzes will slowly corrode to a sea-going green unless regularly polished, leaving the bright portions indicating use. Chrome will itself wear off through friction and use; fittings can be re-chromed. I don't know if chrome will indicate fatigue cracks of the fitting, but I would expect so.