Passivating?

[Roger Long]

Now that I've worked a bit with Spotless Stainless, I'm wondering if it is really worth taking my chainplates out to Douglas Bros. to have them professionally passivated. They are just going to drop them in a 5 gallon bucket of citric acid. Citric acid is citric acid. The gel may take longer but, if I put the Spotless Stainless on, drive out to Douglas Bros, wave at the building, and drive back, it seems like I might have just as good a job at a less cost.

What do you think?

 

[Maine Sail]

Now that I've worked a bit with Spotless Stainless, I'm wondering if it is really worth taking my chainplates out to Douglas Bros. to have them professionally passivated. They are just going to drop them in a 5 gallon bucket of citric acid. Citric acid is citric acid. The gel may take longer but, if I put the Spotless Stainless on, drive out to Douglas Bros, wave at the building, and drive back, it seems like I might have just as good a job at a less cost.

What do you think?

I see no need. I have dumped Spotless Stainless into a Tupperware container and soaked parts in it and it works like a charm..

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Hi Roger,

I seem to remember your discussion re your chainplates but have forgotten what the material was.

If they are 316, there is no need for passivation. I have hot formed several pieces of 316 and then polished them on the boat without passivation. Three years later, they still have the mirror polish.

However, if they are 302 or 304, they definitely will need passivation. As you say though, citric acid is what it is. Spotless Stainless is good, maybe even throw them in a pitcher of lemonade, but don't waste any vodka on them.

 

[Bill Roosa]

ha ha ha spotless stainless. I was alway told it was stain less not stain no and now we have spot less stain less. Why don't we just call it "shinny with a tendency to rust slowly instead of quickly" or as we would call it in the military SWATTRSIOQ.
Also can someone tell me why I need to passify my SS. Seems pretty calm when attached to the boat.

 

[Roger Long]

Also can someone tell me why I need to passify my SS.

You probably don't but, as I understand it, it's like some women (which I don't generally understand). If you annoy it, some corrective action has to be taken, the metallurgical version of candy and flowers.

It's stainless because of a thin oxide coating if forms itself, sort of like galvanizing on steel but microscopic. When this is disturbed by welding, grinding, etc. it may not reform properly especially if handled so that finger oils and contaminants get on it. Those spots will then rust. This is why you will often see rust under turnbuckle jaws and other places where there is wear.

I bought those S.S. wipes they sell in the hardware store for cleaning S.S. sinks and used them all over the boat along with a Scotchbrite pad. It worked great, the stainless looked great, for about 3 days. The more I repeated the cycle, the worse it got and the shorter it lasted. I know have a rust bucket. I figured it out when I started researching the subject.

The hardware store wipes have an acid which cleans but is destructive of the passivation. What a clever marketing concept, the more you use it, the more you will need it.

You might get acceptable results with new or modified fitting such as I am having made by cleaning them completely (which you have to do anyway for the passivating) and then letting them sit for a long time. Quicker to put the Spotless Stainless on.

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/how-to-passivate-stainless-steel-parts

 

[WayneH]

The gel may take longer but, if I put the Spotless Stainless on, drive out to Douglas Bros, wave at the building, and drive back, it seems like I might have just as good a job at a less cost.

What do you think?

With the current price of gas, are you sure you want to drive by? :bang: Maybe go mow the yard instead?

 

[Roger Long]

With the current price of gas, are you sure you want to drive by?

Sheesh! If I counted the cost of gas I'd probably find it was cheaper to just give the marina a to-do list and stay home an watch TV. I filled up the minivan that serves as my boat truck (legacy from being a divorced family man) Monday evening and it's already down to half a tank.

This is part of one of the underestimated costs of doing it your self. A boatyard has everything in the stock room and bought at bulk quantities. I need one screw half an inch longer, into the car, off to the hardware store to buy it for a buck. I could get 50 at Fastenall for almost the same price but that's another dollar of gas and half an hour of now working on the boat.

I'll have used another 10 buck of gas by the time I drive around to pick up the things on my list that I just had to drive home from the boatyard to pick up because I forgot it. You know, I think I'm actually burning more gas now that the boat is 5 minutes away than when it was half an hour a way up in Yarmouth. I used to plan everything out like it was a mission to the moon. Now, I just zip off to the boat, realize that some tool is sitting on the bench, go back....

Well, it gives me a chance to check email and the forums frequently and my back and wrists appreciate the breaks.

 

[jimmcgee]

I need one screw half an inch longer, into the car, off to the hardware store to buy it for a buck. I could get 50 at Fastenall for almost the same price but that's another dollar of gas and half an hour of now working on the boat.

Roger I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. If you spent thousands of dollars equipping your minivan with every conceivable bit of boat hardware I can GAURANTEE the piece you need will not be on the truck and you'll STILL be going to the hardware store.

At least that's how it seems to go for me :bang:

Jim

 

[Roger Long]

The two chainplates going in tomorrow are polished and sitting with the Spotless Stainless on them. It works best when warm and stops working after it dries out. It's cool and dry in the basement so I boiled about a pint of water and set the container next to them with plastic over the top and towels and rags on top of that for insulation.