Stainless Steel Rub Rail Cleaning/Polishing

[WickedPorter]

My boat is only a year old but this thing appears to be accumulating some corrosion from the outside edges in. At first I thought it was leftover polish, but it doesn't come off. It's also got quite a few nicks/scratches in it in various places, not exactly sure from what as I don't believe the rail has ever come in to contact with anything other than the maybe the mooring cover (which I suppose could have some dust/dirt rubbing against it).

Anyway, I was thinking about hitting it with my Mother's Power Ball Mini and some Flitz metal polish, and then putting a couple coats of protectant on it. Anyone ever done this? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[SCSTWG]

Interesting. I have same boat but a couple of years older and have no issues with the rub rail. Some pics might help us make suggestions. I wipe my boat down with Boat Bling Hot Sauce after every outing and the exterior has stayed in nice shape.

 

[WickedPorter]

I'll take some before/after shots once I get the job done. Probably next weekend. Boat Bling has done a great job keeping the hull/fiberglass shiny for me as well, LOVE that stuff.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

The only issue I see with polishing the rail is that there will be a ton of polish left behind in the cracks and screws unless you do it by hand and take your time.

 

[txav8r]

And the surface on which the stainless rub rail is mounted...is it black or white on your boat? It will be chalky with the leftover polish too. I have not had issues except where I scratched the previous rub rail, this one has no dings (yet) so it doesn't show any corrosion. Stainless won't rust, but it will get corrosion on it from time to time. But you inland, surprised it is!

 

[WickedPorter]

The stainless rail is surrounded on either side with a black "housing" ... This corrosion, or whatever it is, is really weird, I've never seen anything like it. It's kind of tannish in color and dull looking.

The Flitz polish kind of disintegrates in to a powder and is easily rinsed off when finished, if I remember correctly. I'm going to test it out on a small portion first just to make sure it's not going to be a total pain to remove. Will update this thread with my results.

 

[txav8r]

Flitz is good stuff...I have used it in the aviation industry for 30+ years.

 

[WickedPorter]

A quick update. The odd "corrosion" (or whatever it is) issue was only on the back portion of the rail on the swim deck between the cleats on either side. I hit it with Flitz using the Power Ball Mini and it removed all of the corrosion and shined it up nicely. I couldn't get any pictures (safely) ... I was hanging off the back swim deck with the boat on the lift in pretty high winds. I visualized dropping my iPhone trying to get a good shot and decided to leave it safely on the dock. I was worried enough about the drill hitting something and flying out of my hand in to the lake.

It didn't take out any of the small scratches/nicks/scuffs ... I wasn't really expecting the Flitz to be able to take care of this though and am not very concerned about it. I'll knock those out (along with all the other scuffs/rashes/nicks I'm sure to receive this summer) with a little courser suite of products in the fall before I put it away for the winter.

 

[Glassman]

@WickedPorter try progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper on the deep scratches 800-2000, then use the Flitz. Should do the job quickly.

 

[Julian]

Never heard of this "Flitz" polish....is this the stuff we are talking about?

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11879236&KPID=1207315&pla=pla_1207315

I googled it, and it looks like they have a bunch of stuff....

 

[txav8r]

Glitz has been around probably for longer than I have used it, an excellent polish and system.

 

[Glassman]

Glitz has been around probably for longer than I have used it, an excellent polish and system.

Gotta love that Glitz!

 

[Julian]

Gotta love that Glitz!

View attachment 7384

That's the stuff that would get my daughter's attention for sure!!!!!

 

[txav8r]

It got my attention too!

 

[Glassman]

Flitz makes an awesome boat wax too....fwiw.

 

[txav8r]

@Glassman They do? Had no idea about that!

 

[Glassman]

@Glassman They do? Had no idea about that!

http://www.flitz.com/marine-speed-waxx/

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Flitz IS the Shitz!!

Another fabulous metal restorer/polish is Sharkhide Metal Polish. This stuff will shine copper, stainless, diamond plate, aluminum and etc in a heartbeat!

http://ordersharkhide.com/shop/inde...s_id=4&zenid=ba194a7d42f18544c0d82ada6e86aca5

 

[haknslash]

Will that stuff remove rust? Back when I first bought my boat I made the rookie mistake that we all do and hit the dock a little too hard. This caused me to have a little scuff on the rub rail. I just went out to the garage and noticed there is now some rust there. Any ideas of a way to fix this?

 

[DieselCamel]

I had some similar marks I cleaned up this weekend. Mine may not have been as deep. But I saw great results with never dull