The boat had been sitting in the heavy salt conditions of the Mediterranean Sea for forty years, so surface rust there was. Now its stainless looks very close to new or, at worst, freshly used. Makes me wish all the aluminum was stainless...
My twelve year old daughter became a pro at removing surface rust from stainless. It worked for the leopard stained landing ramp, blotchy railing staunchions, miscellaneous corroded hardware and even a rusty Princess stove. She found that worked best was polishing the stainless with super fine steel wool (yeah, I know that it could cause your paint to speckle red but didn't so far) sold in supermarkets already soap imbibed. They call them JEX pads in France, and the results were impressive. She just wet the pads slightly and scrubbed the hardware, it did most of the job without visible scratches or flaking of the pads onto the deck.
The second process she used after scouring with those ultrafine steel wool pads advertised as "scratchless", was an acid based pink Gel made in France, which foamed up and ate away any residual rust or corrosion - yup, wearing a chemical mask of course - that she rinsed away with a hose upon completion within a few short minutes. I'll be heading to Corsica over the weekend to better tie down the boat, and I will note what that Gel is called and the manufacturer's coordinates, just in case they ship. It is really THE stuff, tried countless other products that just sat there wasting my money.
Off Topic: The Marina called and said she will be blown off the dock the way I left her tied down. Has got me worried as Corsica is having heavy storms right now. I'll try to post a picture or two when at the boat, so that you guys might better advise me to reduce risks of my first wintering afloat.
