Prevention/Cure Stanchion Rust?

[blup]

Have recently bought our first boat - a 3 year old Beneteau 36.1 (handcuffs not included!). The boat had a good clean-up before we bought it but we are now experiencing discolouration of the some of the stanchions and guardrails which I take it is rust. Firstly, what is the best stuff to clean this off, secondly and more importantly how can I prevent it in the first place?

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[vyv_cox]

Staining of stainless steel tubing is due to crevice corrosion of the fine surface imperfections formed during the manufacturing process. Much the same results from wire forming. Polishing with an abrasive cleaner is the best treatment, it removes the deposits and, with time, the crevices also.

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[AlanPound]

Yes, we get a bit of this, typically around the welds and around screwheads etc. Basically, we tend to hose the salt off when we can - normally a quick wipe over gets rid of it quite easily. (I have a suspicion that our stainless is not entirely the grade we would hope or wish it to be...)

Alan

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[AndrewB]

Rust stain remover.

Yacht chandlers stock it under the proprietory name of "Starbrite", among others. Spray on, leave five minutes, wash off. I believe the active ingredient is phosphoric acid. Teak deck cleaners (oxalic acid) also work well.

 

[Neraida]

Re: Rust stain remover.

They work really well but you can get the stuff that's in them that does the job without paying swindlery prices from a pharmacy and dilute it. Half a kilo of oxalic acid costs about a fiver. Most of these products contain about 10% oxalic acid so you just need to dilute accordingly.
Oh, and not forget to rinse it all off too when the rust is gone.
<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Neraida on 03/09/2003 12:55 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Aja]

Just use T-Cut on a cloth once a season.

ASDA have a good deal on T-Cut just now. £3.90 for a decent sized bottle.

Donald

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[MainlySteam]

Or cheaper still any lightly abrasive cream household cleaner like Jif (never inspected it, but I am pretty sure your Jif is like that in the rest of the civilised world!).

John

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[Aja]

John

Either globalisation has not yet reached NZ or you havn't been out shopping in the supermarket for a while....

JIF was renamed CIF to bring it in line with the rest of Europe/World..... pronounced with a soft 'c'

Donald

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[SNAFU]

Yes, you're right, but to suggest using the common nickname for a disease as a steel cleaner is just not done the done thing in smart yachting circles.

(truly a major advertising blunder ... how long will they wait before changing back?)

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[Twister_Ken]

Stainless (ha!) steel

Stainless Steel is a generic name for a range of steels. Generally, the more 'stainless' they are, the more expensive they are. And even the most expensive ones can rust in the absence of oxygen (bizarre).

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[blup]

Thanks for all the suggestions - I'm spoilt for choice. But given that I'm a lazy b****r at heart and that prevention is better than cure - how do I stop it recurring. For s/s stuff in the garden I've sprayed (sparingly) with WD40 - would this be suitable on the boat? By the way, what a great place this is for information for us virgin boatowners.

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[Aja]

Think it would just wash off quite quickly. You would still have to remove the rust marks first.

Donald

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[david_e]

I've just done my Beneteau chrome bits, stanchions, guard rail bottle screws and the wire that goes into them and shroud base plate covers that were oxidised - by using a scouring pad and a tube 3M chrome cleaner (came with the boat). The pad makes it easy to get at the threads, into the wire grooves etc. Wipe off with with a dry cloth, simple easy job for us lazy b******s!

The owners manual talks about this as a routine task so it is unlikley you will be able to stop it happening again.

For the chrome winches I used some Starbrite chrome cleaner and that has worked really well.



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[AndrewB]

Stopping it recurring.

You can't. But it shouldn't happen very fast, cleaning once or twice a year should be quite enough. If it's discolouring faster, there is a problem (see vyv_cox's post). Guardwires that do this may be failing and should be replaced.

WD40 will clean rusty galvanised steel but I don't think it will touch stainless. The proprietary cleaners are MUCH quicker and less effort than JIF/CIF.

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[AlanPound]

Re: Stainless (ha!) steel

... it is only "stain-less", after all - not "stain-free"!

Alan

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[MainlySteam]

Thanks for that Donald - had seen references to Cif but wasn't sure if was same stuff.

Still Jif here and as far as I know is still so in Australia and I think USA too. In any event we are all on the same wavelength as to what we are talking about and I learnt something!

John

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[MainlySteam]

The only permanent way I know of slowing it is to polish (smooth) the surface - the more highly polished it becomes the slower any staining appears. In the superyacht yards many hours are spent polishing all the stainless steel fittings up (including grinding and polishing the welds into invisability), not only to make them look good, but to help them stay looking that way.

The ss tube over a steering pedestal usually ends up getting highly polished into a smooth finish on its upper parts because it is always being used as a handhold. The difference in the rate of staining on these smooth upper parts and the more raw finished lower bits is usually observable.

John

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[Robin]

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned 'Wichinox' S/S cleaners. These are supplied by Wichard the French S/S shackle (and other things) maker. I have seen them over here but certainly they are in all french chandlers, there are 2 types a gel and a liquid, they claim to re-passivate the surface and prevent staining for up to 12 months. I have used them on deck fittings and they do seem to work well. The rust removers you see are OK for removing stains from the gelcoat but do not stop rust forming on the fittings and the resultant staining eventually finding it's way back to the surrounding gelcoat. Rust on guardrails would worry me if it was under plastic coated wires where I couldn't see except where there was a bit chafed through or at the end fittings. I replaced our guardrails last winter and went for plain S/S ones with no plastic coating, going up a size to 5mm on the top rail to give a better hand hold, less like a cheese wire (size I think now required for RORC?). Our old plastic covered rails weeped rust from the end of the coating and anywhere it was damaged like where they passed through stanchions or sheets chafed, to the point where I didn't trust them anymore.

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[tcm]

agree. Vyv is more expert on this that i am but to keep s/s stainless it should
1, Not having been machined/polishd by manufacture with anyhting made of mild steel (so no steel wire brushes) or or which has in the past been in contact with mild steel (the carbon passes to the s/s hence goes rusty) so if a manufactureer makes stainless stell it's best if that's all they do. Brit manufactuere seem very good at this, so even quite ancient uk-built powerboat frexample all have non-rusty guardrails.
2 Having the stainless open to atmospere, with occasional dousing but not submerged, and certainly not enclosed like a plastic coated guardrail
3 Highly polished to avoid development of a crevice - so some cheaper stanchions which aren't super-high-poilish are at risk.

You can get the stancions polished and retreated. Think also there an electrolysis method to give super-shine to complex parts?

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