Personal "practical" boater's COVD19 hygiene/products

Roberto

Roberto

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It should possibly go in the Lounge but I am too frightened to write there. I'll delete if already posted somewhere else.
Suppose a boat owner wants a practical way of keeping personal hygiene, two documents from the WHO.
First one how to make antiseptic solution (as you may know, hydroalcoholic handrub gel has basically disappeared from shops throughout Europe, or prices have skyrocketed)
Ingredients are readily available: alcohol at least 80%, better 90-99%. I used domestic cleaning alcohol but it has a strong not too pleasant smell, then isopropyl alcohol (also named isopropanol), it's usually 99° so a slightly less quantity is needed.
Glycerin, chemists usually store it and sell it by weight, or cosmetic shops. Very little needed, it's just to avoid skin irritation.
Hydrogen peroxyde 3% (or 10 volumes), likewise usually availableat supermakets.
Finally, distilled/boiled water, top up quantity depending on degrees of alcohol being used.
All instructions here:
https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Guide_to_Local_Production.pdf

How to wash one s hands with soap:
WHO | Clean hands protect against infection
we spent a couple of weeks having access to newborn ER units, they were very strict about duration of washing, thumb washing, intrafinger rubbing, etc etc.
 
I appreciate you are trying to help and understand , but a lot of these chemicals can be absorbed through the skin and cause issues , yes in large amounts but as people are preparing for Armageddon the cleaning of ones hands has become obsessive . I urge everyone to read the data index on these chemicals and the safety signs before use , i.e corrosive. irritant, poisonous . generally a symbol
Isopropyl alcohol is readily absorbed through the skin, so spilling large amounts of IPA on the skin may cause accidental poisoning
Methanol or surgical alcohol is your best bet , but hard to get hold of
 
What about ethanol or meths. The stuff I put I my Origo burners. i am I wondering if that would do for hard surface cleaning, Then realised soap and water apparently works fine anyway.
 
We're flying long-haul on Monday. I couldn't buy hand sanitiser so I got some spray bottles and filled them with vodka. Only 40% alcohol, but better than nothing.
 
AFAIK ordinary soap is more effective against Covid-19 than alcohol based products, because the virus relies on its outer fatty layer to persist (not live - viruses are not alive) between living hosts (us) and inanimate surfaces or aerosols.

Alcohol based sanitisers are more effective against bacteria than viruses.

I might be wrong - the above is just what I have read on Interwob so might be wrong.
 
Last two posts are points well made......nothing kills a virus....my understanding is the best that can be done is to make it go dormant. All the measures being taken by various governments including hand washing .....are to delay but not prevent its spread....and by delaying...the best care can be given....But if you`ve got it......and your body has `weaknesses` then the virus will prevail....and nothing has yet been found that can stop it........Survival of the fitest, I`m afraid
 
I use Endosan products for agricultural spraying, and also for keeping the boat's water system s sparkling clean and free from nugs.

It is a clever mixture of hydrogen peroxide and ionic silver.

Read all about it !

How EndoSan Works | EndoSan Stabilised Hydrogen Peroxide

As I buy the strongest version (50% HP) , I can dilute it many times over to achieve either a shock dose or a maintenance dose, (typically 5ml in a 500ml of water). On board it's used in a spray bottle with an adjustable nozzle for fine mist to jet.

The same product is used in a 10l WHO spec spray I have mixed up to put into lots of squirty bottles, so that there is always a bottle in a car or tractor or pocket.

For drinking water tanks and pipework, galley and head surfaces, everywhere that needs a disinfectant spray that does not cost the earth or leave a nasty taste or smell. Also very useful to keep clean scratches from barnacles and other sea-based life.

Very very highly recommended.

(and no affiliation, just a commercial user)
 
Last edited:
NOHOH said:
Last two posts are points well made......nothing kills a virus....my understanding is the best that can be done is to make it go dormant. All the measures being taken by various governments including hand washing .....are to delay but not prevent its spread....and by delaying...the best care can be given....But if you`ve got it......and your body has `weaknesses` then the virus will prevail....and nothing has yet been found that can stop it........Survival of the fitest, I`m afraid
Click to expand...
Sorry that is so wrong. Viruses are actually very delicate. They can be killed by heat, friction and of course soap. You need hand gel that is greater than 60% alcohol to kill surface viruses. So called hand sanitiser is useless, just gives false assurance. Soap and water is the best approach, alcohol hand gel is only really for when you haven’t go access to soap.
 
ethanol and methanol and any alcohol variants of 60%and above will kill a virus , soap and water is to wash the virus off your hands and down the plug hole before you put your fingers in you mouth , up your nose or you have an itchy eyeball
Methanol is surgical Alcohol which is what he Hospitals use, but if you are using an Isopropyl alcohol as a surface cleaner this is ok to maybe not of food prep surfaces.
A bottle of Abysnth would be good :p
 
viruses wont hurt you on your hands. they have to get in another way, usually the oropharynx.
best to keep that clean with copious amounts of gin.

spitting out is optional, i prefer to swallow.

all in the interests of safety, ocifer.
 
sarabande you say "Also very useful to keep clean scratches from barnacles and other sea-based life."

I have no quarrel but I don't see that on the manufactures web site. What concentration do you think is safe for cleaning skin?

For others, "the viruse cannot enter through the skin.: I have long puzzled as to how the HPV gets through the plantar skin of the foot to give rise to pantar warts aka verruca. Is it through the skin via a minute cut, hydrostatic pressure on a wet foot or some active process, or does it travel through some internal pathway?
 
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