Cleaning S/S Hand Rails
- Thread starter kartracer
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
sdowney717
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- Old Glory
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- 1970 Egg Harbor 37 extended salon model
Ceramic stove top cleaner will work.
The one with an extremely fine abrasive.
I use it to polish all sorts of things, including clear plastics.
The one with an extremely fine abrasive.
I use it to polish all sorts of things, including clear plastics.
Drake
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- Small World
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Flitz is great but expensive. I typically use metal polish from the auto parts store. The wadding seems to dry up in the can pretty quickly and it's not much good on rust or corrosion where the mild abrasive in the metal polish does its work.
I use Spotless Stainless on corrosion in places where it's difficult to reach like the heads of Phillips screws.
I use Spotless Stainless on corrosion in places where it's difficult to reach like the heads of Phillips screws.
caltexflanc
Guru
None of the above. We tried them all and kept having to re-do it a few weeks later. We had seemed like miles of stainless rails and tubing on the Hatteras, which got a lot of salt water exposure. Finally a professional detailer and boat maintainer turned me on to Collinite Metal Wax. Not only does it remove the rusty tinges, it protects. My maintenance cycle was quadrupled from that alone. Flitz is a similar product. They may seem pricey at first, but a little goes a really long way. To double that cycle between maintenance yet again, apply a polymer sealant like Rejex, which is what a lot of crews on high end custom sportfishers do.
Panacea123
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Never tried spotless stainless, but used another product.
Search Internet for pickling gel same thing (maybe)
Removes rust stains and restore passivity to the metal
No fuss no rubbing, just brush on wash off, it works!!! Just have to keep it wet while it's working (use spray bottle of water and reapply as needed to keep wet, takes about 15- 20 min and viola the rust is gone!
Still needs to be waxed like colenite
DO NOT use anything like bar keepers friend, even a mild abrasive will scratch causing micro scratches and a home for rust to start again.
Odd about the wax because everything you read about stainless rusting is do to lack of oxygen. You would think the wax would deprive the surface of oxygen and promote rust but I guess it also fills in the micro scratches and prevents water intrusion.
Search Internet for pickling gel same thing (maybe)
Removes rust stains and restore passivity to the metal
No fuss no rubbing, just brush on wash off, it works!!! Just have to keep it wet while it's working (use spray bottle of water and reapply as needed to keep wet, takes about 15- 20 min and viola the rust is gone!
Still needs to be waxed like colenite
DO NOT use anything like bar keepers friend, even a mild abrasive will scratch causing micro scratches and a home for rust to start again.
Odd about the wax because everything you read about stainless rusting is do to lack of oxygen. You would think the wax would deprive the surface of oxygen and promote rust but I guess it also fills in the micro scratches and prevents water intrusion.
Never thought I would see so much angst from all you guys who don't have any varnishing to do.
Between recoatings (annual on the rails, less so on other stuff) all I need to do is wipe the dew off or if I have been out getting salty, hose down and it gleams.
On my stainless (bow pulpit, stanchions) Flitz or Turtle wax chrome polish. One is expensive he other is cheap, both do the job.
Between recoatings (annual on the rails, less so on other stuff) all I need to do is wipe the dew off or if I have been out getting salty, hose down and it gleams.
On my stainless (bow pulpit, stanchions) Flitz or Turtle wax chrome polish. One is expensive he other is cheap, both do the job.
Fletcher500
Guru
Colinite for stainless, and their other products for fiberglass,etc. The broker who sold me our current boat turned me on to it. He said many of the mega yacht crews use it, which he did in his past life. Works great.
FF
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The quality of the SS should decde how to clean it.
The biggest hassles come from countries that did not have electro polishing avilable.
THe SS is used to "iron plate" an object which pulls iron from the SS surface so it wont discolor as rust.
A mixture of JOY and Bartenders friend or oxalyc acid powder into a paste put on SS will help.
The detergent helps keep the mix wet , covering it with a damp cloth for an hour helps too.
This wont make SS shiny , but it will keep the item from surface rusting for longer.
The biggest hassles come from countries that did not have electro polishing avilable.
THe SS is used to "iron plate" an object which pulls iron from the SS surface so it wont discolor as rust.
A mixture of JOY and Bartenders friend or oxalyc acid powder into a paste put on SS will help.
The detergent helps keep the mix wet , covering it with a damp cloth for an hour helps too.
This wont make SS shiny , but it will keep the item from surface rusting for longer.
IntervaleII
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Also try Sheila Shine for a protective coating after cleaning and polished.
dhays
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- Kinship
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Have any of you used Miracle Cloth? I have used in the past and it seemed to do a nice job of cleaning and protecting my SS stanchions on wheels on my sailboat.
caltexflanc
Guru
Prism is great stuff for bad cases of rust and clouded surfaces. Follow up with MetalWax for protection. It's another product that appears expensive at first, but a little goes a long way. Wright's silver polish is basicly the same thing.
caltexflanc
Guru
If you have unlimited supply of fresh water the same holds for stainless as well.
Having had a heavy saltwater-use boat with both long teak side rails along with stainless from the piothouse doors forward, and stainless stanchions and stainless bimini (all of good quality metal), I can attest that the stainless is far less maintenance, especially in high intensity sunlight geographies like the south and the tropics. I ended up just keeping the Sunbrella rail covers on the teak rails all the time except on special occasions. Now THAT reduced maintenance to about zero!
Capt.Bill11
Guru
Spotless first, followed by regular use of Star Clean.
StarClean/Home
Star Clean is super easy to use whenever your washing the boat and it works great too.
Capt.Bill11
Guru
+10 ^
