Mildew spores

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Sailfree

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Living on the boat we are getting the odd black dots on the headlining which I assume is the start of mildew spores.

SWMBO suffers from allergies and asthma and reads that mildew is bad.

Want to wipe down interior and thinking of using a very mild bleach wash. Dont want to ruin headlining with too strong a concentration.

With lockdown limited to products available from general supermarket.

Any advice please?
 
A few tablespoons of borax in a liter of warm water. This will also prevent the return, since unlike bleach, it will leave a residue.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/homemade-mildew-preventers-that-really-work-2

Also benzalkonium chloride (AKA BAC), available in anti-moss treatments, like Wet-and-Forget (I believe a different brand is common in the UK, but I'm US). About 0.7% solution. Also a good general purpose sanitizer.

Bleach won't kill the roots. These will.

Amazon should deliver?
 
I buy a tub of Wonder Wipes & into the new tub I pour a 50/50 mix of Flash & water. About 1/2 of a cup full. This makes the wipes very moist. Then I use them for general cleaning ( paticularly round the heads area) & regularly wipe head linings etc. I tend not to dry areas under side decks, after wiping, where mould might start as the Flash residue helps to kill it. I also wipe the entire boat at the end of the season, but this is not relevant to a liveaboard. Still should help for general use though. Works much better than household Flash wipes. Also good for cleaning greasy hands
 
Most often caused by damp (condensation) due to lack of ventilation. It's a tricky one in winter as opening a portlight or hatch leads to getting cold.
There are sprays specifically for this but they really smell and are pretty toxic for a short term.
 
Maybe running a small dehumidifier could be practical, even if intermittent. It is not, of course, spores that you are seeing but the fungi themselves, since spores of this kind are minute and often in the air. They can be a potent cause of asthma. When I used to visit house with ashtmatic patients, I could as often as not detect the smell of mould in the house, and used to think of them as asthmatic houses.
 
Sailfree said:
Living on the boat we are getting the odd black dots on the headlining which I assume is the start of mildew spores.

SWMBO suffers from allergies and asthma and reads that mildew is bad.

Want to wipe down interior and thinking of using a very mild bleach wash. Dont want to ruin headlining with too strong a concentration.

With lockdown limited to products available from general supermarket.

Any advice please?
Click to expand...



I bought some spray stuff from Lidl, might be worth a look.
 
Sailfree said:
Want to wipe down interior and thinking of using a very mild bleach wash. Dont want to ruin headlining with too strong a concentration.

With lockdown limited to products available from general supermarket.

Any advice please?
Click to expand...
What is your headlining made from? PVC would be OK with bleach, fabric would need more care. Lidl are selling Cillit Bang Mould spray at the moment, which claims to target black mould, but I don't know the active ingredients.
 
Headlining is PVC. I need to try and source a Portuguese supermarket product as with lockdown I'm limited! I can translate constituent parts. No product called flash here!
 
Sailfree said:
Headlining is PVC. I need to try and source a Portuguese supermarket product as with lockdown I'm limited! I can translate constituent parts. No product called flash here!
Click to expand...


Yes, the reason for my post:

Avenida Abílio Santos e Sousa 3, 2450-287 Nazaré, Portugal

Or just use dilute bleach, it's fine.
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