just for context, the bracket on my 87 comp with 800 hours that was bought and has lived its entire life in NH is painted black and pretty much rust-free. The pics of yours scared me enough to go check. I recalled it being clean, but your talk of unpainted steel had me worried! I wonder what caused yours to get that bad. Is the rest of the bilge paint in good shape? What about the other brackets and metal fixtures in there?