Fly line cleaning, process and products?

[fishinwrench]

I have silicone lube in 3 different forms if that's all it is.  Spray lube, non combustible airgun oil, and clear silicote grease.     

Pick one. 😊

[Flysmallie]

Supposedly some of the ones for automotive use can damage line. But who knows. 

[Flysmallie]

Supposedly some of the ones for automotive use can damage line. But who knows. 

[fishinwrench]

3 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Supposedly some of the ones for automotive use can damage line. But who knows. 

Well it's recommended for door weatherstripping and power window tracks.....if it doesn't eat THAT spongy crap up then I can't imagine it destroying a fly line.    

I dunno, I'm fixin' to do some backwoods chemical analysis as soon as the Amazon drone drops that RIO crap off here.   

[tjm]

2 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

3M made an equivalent to Armorall years back, I can't remember the exact name.  It never caught on with the auto industry, but worked great on fly lines.  I used to by it in single use pads and would last several trips.

Most of the problems are dirt and grit.  Hard water, slime, and other gunk from water build up on the line.  I have a Loon product I use now.  Its pure silicone probably.

303 Aerospace Protectant ? I don't think it's 3M but it's supposed to be good

 PVC line coating should respond to any thing that is used on other PVC things like seat covers, what?

[tjm]

other things I've seen recommended= Rain-X windshield dressing - Mucilin green label is a silicon paste line dressing; hair conditioner containing silicone-- I've used Albolene smeared on and wiped/polished off with paper towels

basic dish soap/H2O 50-50 to clean will do as much good as anything, i use a couple 20 year old lines

[jdmidwest]

303. Knew there was a 3 on it. Is it still around?

Some of my Orvis lines are from back in the 90's.  I have a grey double taper and an HLS that I like.  Warm water lines get replaced more often.

[FishnDave]

Maybe this?

https://sunrayflyfish.com/products/lineslik

 

[tjm]

That Sunray description sounds like Albolene or Coconut oil... I've used that to clean with also    What ever you put on either needs to dry hard like RainX or weather strip spray or it needs to be rubbed off with paper towel or coffee filter so that it doesn't gab a bunch of new dirt, The little "Cleaning Pads" that one line company or two have supplied actually made my lines nice for an hour or two but resulted in dirtier lines after a few hours because they left a dirt grabbing film. Made me wonder if they wanted to wear my line out with cleaning so that I would buy another.  Well thinking about this I remember years ago running my line over a bar of Ivory soap to clean it while camped, and I think the wax? glycerin? in the soap made that line cast better for a while, but it could be just getting the dirt off made it better.

[ness]

6 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

303. Knew there was a 3 on it. Is it still around?

 

That's the stuff I was remembering. Still around in many shapes and sizes https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=303+protectant&ref=nb_sb_noss_2