Cleaning Stainless Steel

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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
This is essentially a copy of an article I wrote on my blog... but I thought it was well worth repeating here.

Every once in a while, I’ll run across a product that I think is well worth mentioning to other boaters. One such product is Spotless Stainless. It is a new product that has been developed to clean and help preserve stainless steel in a marine environment. The citric acid-based liquid is designed to remove corrosion and passivate the surface of stainless steel, helping prevent future corrosion from occurring.

Here is a photo of my swim ladder before I applied the Spotless Stainless:



Now, the way you use Spotless Stainless is almost laughably easy. You shake the bottle vigorously, pour some out into a cup and then brush the Spotless Stainless onto the stainless steel you want to treat. Let the Spotless Stainless sit for 30 minutes or so, a bit longer if it is cooler than 65˚—swabbing it with more Spotless Stainless to keep it wet and active. After letting it sit, rinse the Spotless Stainless off. I scrubbed the Spotless Stainless off with a microfiber cloth that was soaked with water, since the water was turned off at the marina.

Here is a photo of my swim ladder after I applied the Spotless Stainless:



Here is a close up view of the swim ladder:



If you have a lot of stainless steel to treat on your boat, it is well worth getting. I would point out that it is recommended that you clean the stainless steel so that the Spotless Stainless can work on the stainless steel more effectively. In the case of the swim ladder, I did not do this.

BTW, since this is an acid-based cleaner, you really should not let it sit on bronze, aluminum, or galvanized steel, or painted surfaces. It can damage them if not rinsed off fairly quickly. It should not be applied to bottom paint, because it will damage the paint and destroy the paint’s biocide and prevent it from working.

I hope that SBO will start carrying the product. :D
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Looks Good

Have you done anything else like stainless wax or wax cleaner to protect it.
Nick
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
No, and my understanding is that adding a wax over stainless steel is counterproductive. Stainless steel needs oxygen to protect itself, and coating it with a wax would prevent that.
Have you done anything else like stainless wax or wax cleaner to protect it.
Nick
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
It's sold on their website. It is a fairly new product, as it came out earlier this year, and I don't think that it has made it into the mainline distribution channels yet.
Who sells it?
 
Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
BTW, I didn't clean the stainless steel intentionally, to see how it would work in a worst case scenario. Based on my discussions with the inventor of the product, he said that the only real need to clean the stainless steel was to remove any wax or dirt that might prevent the Spotless Stainless from reaching the stainless steel surface. As this swim ladder had never been waxed, not cleaning it wasn't really an issue.

As for rinsing the residual Spotless Stainless off, I had plenty of water in the form of gallon jugs of water handy. It was just easier to control the rinsing process by saturating a microfiber cloth than it was to blindly pour the water, which would have been wasteful.
 
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May 25, 2004
446
Catalina 400 mkII Harbor
sd,

i am glad you posted this, i went to their web site recently and saw their examples but was skeptical of the results. one question i have is how does the gelcoat react to it? and how much better it the product compared to say navel jelly or simllar? the only thing stopping me is the cost, but with those results and little effort i may be in.
 

zeehag

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Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
what is the price---barkeepers friend is only 99 cents for a decent sized container that lasts me 5 yrs or longer....is it comparable in pricing???? and--is it as gentle on gelcoat as is barkeeepers friend?????
 
Jun 21, 2007
2,118
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Re: Wax and Cleaning Stainless Steel

Re using wax on stainless. I have found that the ss railings and stanchions on my 1980 boat become rust stained again fairly quickly if I don't wax, but they stay looking better much much longer when I apply a wax. (Its been Starbrite Marine Polish with PTEF. Over the years, I haven't observed any trend towards increased amount of rust stains with the wax. I expect that wax doesn't completely seal out oxygen from the SS surface. Its not a paint. But wax probably does help prevent the rust in the pits and depressions that the cleaners can't polish into from migrating out along the clean surface. Just my guess.
 
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Oct 22, 2008
3,502
- Telstar 28 Buzzards Bay
Duality/zeehag—

The product is pretty gentle on gelcoat. It is also recommended for use to clean off tannin or rust stains that often show up on the waterline or by stainless steel hardware. Pricing is available on the website.
 
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