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Kahlenberg air horn factory restoration service

Refurbish your marine air horns to as new

Refitting your vessel and want to bring your Kahlenberg marine air horn to its original look, lustre and sound?

Kahlenberg UK Ltd’s refurbish and restoration service utilises Kahlenberg original processes, including chrome to a standard that you will not match elsewhere and a guarantee of post restoration performance

Kahlenberg OM2 musical marine air horn in chrome

The marine environment is known for its harshness. Surface finishes are attacked by salt air and sea spray. Despite careful cleaning and polishing, finishes can eventually deteriorate to the point of needing refurbishment.

The restoration process is not just a matter of re-chroming. To ensure your Kahlenberg boat or superyacht horn is restored to its original as new state the horn is dismantled and re-manufactured in its entirety, before final testing in an anechoic chamber and the issuing a new certificate proving IMO compliance.

The Kahlenberg chrome plating process is unique, having been developed over the years specifically to combat the corrosive marine environment. This is one area where employing cheap. less competent options will prove to be a false economy.

Marine horn refurbishment process

The process we follow ensures IMO compliancy and offers peace of mind.

  • The horn is fully disassembled to the last nut and bolt
  • Any part beyond restoration is replaced with new
  • All plating is chemically stripped
  • Each part is sanded and buffed to return them to a mirror finish
  • The first stage of plating begins with a layer of copper followed by another buffing
  • Next, the parts undergo a duplex nickel plating and chrome plating process
  • All interior surfaces of the horn sounding body are re-machined to their original factory tolerances
  • The sounding diaphragms are replaced
  • The horn is re-assembled, inspected, tested for full function, and re-certified to meet compliance with the IMO ColRegs

Re-machining the trumpets to the correct tolerances ensures that the correct frequencies and Kahlenberg ‘sound’ are maintained. The parts used in all Kahlenberg marine sound signals are high quality and can often be re-employed but any parts requiring complete replacement will be recycled. The unique Kahlenberg plating process ensures the horns will stay bright and look good for a long time.

Certified IMO compliant

When your horn is returned, it will come with a new IMO certificate of compliance. You can relax in the knowledge that you have, in effect, a brand new horn that will give many years of great looks and sound.