Keeping Stainless Shiny

[Maine Sail]

Two words: Spotless Stainless




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[Cotemar]

I have been using Collonite 920 for all my boat cleanup jobs.
1) removes rust spots from SS
2) cleans mold spots on silicon
3) take the haze of fiberglass
4) cleans life lines and power cords

Then coat any SS with Collonite 850 wax

[Kenomac]

Spotless Stainess is a new miracle product. Just paint it on with a brush, wait 10 minutes, then rinse or wipe it off... Your stainless will look like new and it will also have a protective coat. It's truly a mind-boggling wonderful product that saves lots of time, money and hard labor. Now, I actually enjoy cleaning and polishing our stainless.

Foget about the paste waxes, and polishing, Spotless Stainless gets into all the little threads and places you cant reach like the turnbuckles. Simply apply the jell using a paint brush, then wait and rinse.... It's like magic the way it works.

Ken

[Maine Sail]

I forgot to rinse down my hook-knife one day...



Brushed on Spotless Stainless and let it sit....



I did not rub, buff or anything but brush it on and rinse it off....



My Wichard snap shackle:




It does work best in temps above 80F and MUST be kept wet in order to work but if you do those two things.... EASY!!!

One thing I really like about it is the more you use it the more resistant to rusting your stainless becomes....

[boatman61]

I found fresh water and a liberal squirt of Fairy Liquid detergent combined with a Tefal pan scrubber gets the salt off nicely and keeps that brown stain away... wipe dry after.
Mind.. my boats have been mostly old so an acid product over here called Ferronet is usually needed to remove what was there when I bought them.. paint on.. leave for 30sec's then wash off with fresh water..

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I forgot to rinse down my hook-knife one day...



Brushed on Spotless Stainless and let it sit....


I did not rub, buff or anything but brush it on and rinse it off....


My Wichard snap shackle:



It does work best in temps above 80F and MUST be kept wet in order to work but if you do those two things.... EASY!!!

One thing I really like about it is the more you use it the more resistant to rusting your stainless becomes....

I will have to get some of the Spotless Stainless and give it a go.
Sounds like a few here are having good luck with it.

[Saltyhog]

Any problems getting Spotless Stainless on painted surfaces? Specifically Awlcraft2000?

[delmarrey]

Obviously an acid.

Look what it did to the steel part of the brush holder. And that's what acids do to iron, eat it away.

Occasionally I'll use nitric acid to clean rust of of my sails or really bad spots in the corners of 32 YO stanchions. I use to use nitric acid to eat broken taps out of machined aluminum parts. So keep that stuff away from your eyes!

[CarlF]

Another Spotless Stainless fan. As close to a "miracle" as I can remember in boat maintenance.

A few comments:

I believe it is acetic acid. Not as nasty as some of the stuff I use on the boat. While I haven't gotten it on paint, it does no damage to gelcoat.

It only works on stainless. No help on chrome or bronze.

Air temperature needs to be above 70 degrees.

I just dab it on with a rag but you have to dab more on every five minutes or so to keep it wet for the 20 minutes it takes to work. If it dries, you have to start over again.

Be sure to wash it off well or spots will remain. In my experience a hose spray isn't enough. I rub it with a wet fleece rag while spraying with the hose.

After two years of using it, my stainless does seem to develop less rust.

[Cheechako]

After having way too many different cleaners polishers on the boat, I finally just went to using 3M Finesse It on Stainless. It works exceedingly well on light rust etc and is easy to use. Also great for fiberglass etc. I would never use an acid based type unless you have bad rust that has started to eat into the stainless. It get's rid of the rust well, but actually acts to to enable the rust to return faster! Unless of course you take the part off the boat and are electropolishing or passivating etc.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Obviously an acid.

Look what it did to the steel part of the brush holder. And that's what acids do to iron, eat it away.

Occasionally I'll use nitric acid to clean rust of of my sails or really bad spots in the corners of 32 YO stanchions. I use to use nitric acid to eat broken taps out of machined aluminum parts. So keep that stuff away from your eyes!

It is a very concentrated citric acid specifically balanced for 304/316 SS. With this in mind I tried making my own stuff and failed miserably... Only citric and nitric are used for passivating stainless steel. Other acids can physically damage it and turn it dull... All I can say is the stuff just works....

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Another Spotless Stainless fan. As close to a "miracle" as I can remember in boat maintenance.

A few comments:

I believe it is acetic acid. Not as nasty as some of the stuff I use on the boat. While I haven't gotten it on paint, it does no damage to gelcoat.

It only works on stainless. No help on chrome or bronze.

Air temperature needs to be above 70 degrees.

I just dab it on with a rag but you have to dab more on every five minutes or so to keep it wet for the 20 minutes it takes to work. If it dries, you have to start over again.

Be sure to wash it off well or spots will remain. In my experience a hose spray isn't enough. I rub it with a wet fleece rag while spraying with the hose.

After two years of using it, my stainless does seem to develop less rust.

With bronze it just takes longer especially if the verdegris is thick...

[bmm32005]

Be careful with Spotless Stainless it ruined the finish on my bimini frame. I think the stuff actually removes a layer of the finish and I think in the future there will be no finish left.

I use Collinite and a fresh water rinse.

[goboatingnow]

Air temperature needs to be above 70 degrees.

well thats me stuffed. didn't we have that on one day in June 1965, I think I remember my dad telling me about it.

dave

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by bmm32005

Be careful with Spotless Stainless it ruined the finish on my bimini frame. I think the stuff actually removes a layer of the finish and I think in the future there will be no finish left.

I use Collinite and a fresh water rinse.

Are you sure the bimini frame was stainless? Been using this stiff for many years and have never seen it do anything but make stainless shiny.... I now have approx 30 or so of my customers who also use it and they all thank me for turning them on to it.