I was recently in Falmouth Bay in Antigua, where I marvelled at the keenness of the young boys and girls of the superyacht industry, pointlessly polishing away at already very shiny stainless guardrails and cleats as the relentless Caribbean sun beat down.

Now this is something I don’t do. There are things on boats that need constant fettling and looking after, but the stainless steel is not one of them.

The clue’s in the name as far as I’m concerned.

Super Stainless is painted onto the stainless steel and left for 20 minutes before it is rinsed off. Credit: Jake Frith

However, some take more pride in their vessels than I do, and when I have had to clean up stainless, I’ve noticed it can be quite a chore requiring much elbow grease.

Super Stainless is a gel formulation that is applied to the staining, left for a while, then rinsed off, hopefully taking the staining with it.

Like GRUNT!, Super Stainless is inoffensive to the senses when applied by paintbrush and sticks well to vertical or underhung areas.

The instructions recommend leaving the product on for 20 minutes.

I applied it to three slightly rust-stained areas of stainless – the mounting brackets for my transom rudder, the bow roller fitting and the pulpit, where I have left my spinnaker halyard wrapped around it.

The ladder bracket before the Super Stainless was applied. Credit: Jake Frith

It’s quite an alien feeling to me, cleaning something without active involvement throughout the process. I’m so used to frantically scrubbing with abrasives and surfactants, but to test a product properly, one has to follow the instructions.

Upon rinsing, results were mixed. It improved everything to a point, but it did not entirely remove the staining anywhere.

Of the three test sites, the ladder brackets were most improved. It is important to note, though, that these stains have been years in the making, and the product is a passivator and protector.

The ladder bracket after the Super Stainless was applied. Credit: Jake Frith

So while it didn’t completely transform these areas, it might well have nipped any corrosion in the bud, helping to improve the longevity of these components.

Its performance also suggests that it would work quite well on stainless that is not as far gone as mine.

Again, I think my stainless steel will need a couple of re-applications.

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