water stains on windows

C

Chubby Bunny

New member
Hi all; our recently purchased 1998 22' Cruiser has a very light but uniform coat of (salt)water stains on the pilothouse windows. Certainly not worth replacing the windows but annoying nevertheless.

Anybody know a way to remove these stains? After several washings and dryings, I'm not seeing much of an improvement with plain old boat wash.
 
Chubby Bunny-

Several solutions of varying degrees of success.

1. Easy/mild one- Try vinegar, it's weak, but will dissolve some calcium and other stains.

2. Bon Ami is next-a bit stronger and mildly abrasive. Will remove some stains.

3. The Bartenders Friend (Helper?) - very abrasive, but less so than Ajax, which will definitely scratch your windows. Be careful with the Bartender's Buddy- might scratch some things, probably not glass. Will grind off a lot of bad stuff. Great on non-skid stains. Used on gel coat, requires re-waxing. Good all-around polishing agent for fairly hard surfaces. Test a small area first.

Joe. (TOOOOOOOOOO much coffee today!!!)
 
Another possibility is the "Clay" that auto body shops use for removing over spray from glass. I have found this very effective in removing mineral stains from windows.
 
CB

I had that problem when I bought my '91. I called various glass shops for a remedy. I think I finally hit on it; thoroughly clean the windows with windex or a vinegar solution and scrape with a razor blade (the ones with a rigid side) held at a low angle. It works cleaning gunge from a ceramic cooktop with no scratches and worked well on my windows - just have to be careful. Hope it works for you.

cheers - Dave
 
Have also heard of using Coke. The acid or something in the beverage is suppose to cut things a bit. I need to try this myself with my 1985 boat... and I always have apple cider viniger around... in fact.... jut mix it 50/50 with the coke...and you have a wonderful BBQ spray for the grill. We have been using that for over 5 generations in our family. Good stuff.
 
The ports used on sailboats are a similar material and I had good luck with Brasso. I know it is intended for use on boating metals but it worked real good for the window. When I bought the boat the windows had been neglected and were totally fogged over. A little Brasso on a soft cloth and some rubbing and they cleared right up.
 
Lime Elim or CRS are common household acidic mineral removal agents. The best boat products for that include Oxalic Acid. Star brite used to have an oxalic acid product. I would avoid abrasive products such as Brasso.

John
 
The Barkeepers Friend is the only thing that worked for me. Tyboo suggested it to me. Try it on one window, and you'll be sold. Don't use it on the inside because they have tinted film. Good luck. Ron, aka "digger" on Snoopy-C
 
Trust Tyboo!. 10-4 on Barkeepers Friend. Wet rag, liberal amount of BF and elbow grease completely removed the stains and shined up the windows. I tried several non-abrasive approaches to removing these stains with zero effect.
 
Wayne McCown":1z1pypr5 said:
Do I look for it in the liquor section, or ??
Click to expand...

If you find it there, don't drink it! :disgust

It should be located with the "Comet" (house cleaning product section)....if it is not there tell your grocer to start ordering it. I asked our grocer if he would order it years ago and now it is in demand. (I initially purchased it for the "fiberglass" tubs, showers, sinks etc. in the house....works great!).
 
A product that I have had excellent results with is Spot-X. It comes in a powder and you mix a little water to make a paste like and put it on the window and scrub it around and use a towel to take off.
 
I like that Bar Keep stuff but I ran across the Spot- X and gave it a try. It worked to well, I can't tell if the durn windows are open or closed now, they're so clean. It says on the box not to use on painted sufaces but I had to try it on the Hondas. It did a fine job of cleaning of the deposits on the leg.
thanks for the tip
 
One other thing that works for cleaning water spots and paint over-spray from glass is 000 steel wool. Move the steel wool in a back and forth motion and not in circles. Make certain there isn't any other residue (i.e. sand, dirt, etc.) and don't use any thing more coarse than 000. It works well. If you are nervous about trying this, test a small spot first.

Another trick we used in the body shop for removing wiper streaks from the windshield was epoxy thinner. Put some on a cotton rag (an old T-shirt works well) and clean the glass surface as you would with a glass cleaner. When moistening the rag, do it away from the boat so that you don't drip any on the surface. Follow the first step by cleaning with a glass cleaner.

A few words of caution here. Don't drip or spray it on any other surfaces and stay away from painted window frames or rubber trim or it may remove paint. This stuff is very flammable, so don't smoke while trying this.
 
Everybody, I've basically finished this project and wanted to comment on several methods:

(1) Windex, 409 Glass, et al. Useless.

(2) Vinegar and water. Useless.

(3) Scraper blade. This removed a nice layer of junk but did cause noticable scratches. Having had this work 100% of the time I've done it at home to remove paint, I would not recommmend it in a marine environment to remove calcium/salt.

(4) "A-Maz" from the local Ace Hardware. This product is supposed to be rubbed on, then sit on the windows for awhile. I found that this did remove a nice bit of the stains but hit a point of diminishing returns.

(5) Bar Keeper's Friend. I had tried one coat before the A-Maz and didn't see any change. HOWEVER, having the time this morning to apply four or five coats with only moderate elbow grease, this removed 99% of the stains.

Conclusion: Bar Keeper's Friend is the technique to pursue if you have the time & patience to work through multiple scrubbings. Sea Wolf Joe, I think you were the first to mention this, so thanks for the advice!!!

Regards,
 
Hi All

Just working thru this issue now - windows are so filled with salt spots can hardly see in the sun!
I rubbed window with bar keepers friend as suggested but haven’t noticed any change as of yet (Arm is tired!)

Do you think it would be ok to put the cream on wool pad on my drill to do a more thorough rubbing off of salt spots? We are talking serious baked on salt. Looks like hasn’t been cleaned since the 80’s!

What are your thoughts?

Thanks
 
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