diff --git a/letsencrypt/cli.py b/letsencrypt/cli.py
index bea8b198d..017e0a62e 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/cli.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/cli.py
@@ -283,6 +283,16 @@ def set_by_cli(var):
 # static housekeeping var
 set_by_cli.detector = None
 
+
+def argparse_type(variable):
+    "Return our argparse type function for a config variable (default: str)"
+    # pylint: disable=protected-access
+    for action in helpful_parser.parser._actions:
+        if action.type is not None and action.dest == variable:
+            return action.type
+    return str
+
+
 def read_file(filename, mode="rb"):
     """Returns the given file's contents.
 
@@ -304,6 +314,10 @@ def read_file(filename, mode="rb"):
 
 def flag_default(name):
     """Default value for CLI flag."""
+    # XXX: this is an internal housekeeping notion of defaults before
+    # argparse has been set up; it is not accurate for all flags.  Call it
+    # with caution.  Plugin defaults are missing, and some things are using
+    # defaults defined in this file, not in constants.py :(
     return constants.CLI_DEFAULTS[name]
 
 
diff --git a/letsencrypt/renew.py b/letsencrypt/renew.py
index 367eda5b0..9dc1ff4df 100644
--- a/letsencrypt/renew.py
+++ b/letsencrypt/renew.py
@@ -139,21 +139,14 @@ def _restore_plugin_configs(config, renewalparams):
         for config_item, config_value in six.iteritems(renewalparams):
             if config_item.startswith(plugin_prefix + "_") and not cli.set_by_cli(config_item):
                 # Values None, True, and False need to be treated specially,
-                # As they don't get parsed correctly based on type
+                # As their types aren't handled correctly by configobj
                 if config_value in ("None", "True", "False"):
                     # bool("False") == True
                     # pylint: disable=eval-used
                     setattr(config.namespace, config_item, eval(config_value))
-                    continue
-                # If argparse has a type for this variable, use it:
-                # pylint: disable=protected-access
-                for action in cli.helpful_parser.parser._actions:
-                    if action.type is not None and action.dest == config_item:
-                        setattr(config.namespace, config_item,
-                                action.type(config_value))
-                        break
                 else:
-                    setattr(config.namespace, config_item, str(config_value))
+                    cast = cli.argparse_type(config_item)
+                    setattr(config.namespace, config_item, cast(config_value))
 
 
 def _restore_required_config_elements(config, renewalparams):