"Stainless" Hardware

[Happy Place]

I'm wondering what grade of hardware is used on my boat. I have a 2014 R31 CB and I'm getting a decent amount of rust on a number of the nuts and bolts on my boat.

I just had a through hull bolt fail (one of the bolts fastening the swim platform to the transom) and I put a magnet on it....it was slightly magnetic which leads me to believe that the fasteners may be a generic 18-8/ 304 stainless and NOT the preferred 316 stainless.

 

[SJI Sailor]

I can't answer the grade used but expect it is 316. The old boating saying is that it is "stain less" not "stain free"!

I do find that the preparation/cleaner "Spotless Stainless" is a big help. https://spotlessstainless.com/

 

[dbsea]

I'm pretty confident the stainless on the boat is NOT all 316... some maybe but definitely not all. The reason for a lot of the rusting is actually due to insufficient use of sealant at the deck fittings. Oxygen and water get in there, and then rust forms. Many of us have complained about this in many threads here, it's unfortunate. You don't see this kind of rusting on Sabres or Grand Banks deck hardware... I keep a bottle of starbrite rust stain remover on board and I'm vigilant about removing any that starts to crop up on fittings, bolts, or screws.

 

[Emerson]

I'm pretty confident the stainless on the boat is NOT all 316... some maybe but definitely not all. The reason for a lot of the rusting is actually due to insufficient use of sealant at the deck fittings. Oxygen and water get in there, and then rust forms. Many of us have complained about this in many threads here, it's unfortunate. You don't see this kind of rusting on Sabres or Grand Banks deck hardware... I keep a bottle of starbrite rust stain remover on board and I'm vigilant about removing any that starts to crop up on fittings, bolts, or screws.

100% agreed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BB marine]

I have a 20 year old boat with all marine 316 SS fasteners that are in better shape than my 2016 Cutwater fasteners were in when I sold it in 2021. My Cutwater was in Salt water for 4 months and I had rust stains at every stainless steel fitting. Yes stainless has carbon and will leach but good stainless holds up a lot better. I don’t really care about the rust leaching but I do care about the fasteners corroding and failing. Any under water fasteners should be 316. The square head fasteners that fluid motion uses are on the sketchy side of quality in my opinion. If you keep the boat on a trailer you should be fine with the fasteners. If you keep the boat in the water all the time I would recommend replacement of all under water fasteners. Purchase high quantity 316 SS fasterners.