Jump to content

Coronavirus and leisure boating


KT2

Featured Posts

We share a narrowboat and wonder how others intend to ensure safety handing over the boat to the next users?  Advice or ideas gratefully received.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

I would give the boat a deep clean by wiping all internal and external surfaces likely to be touched with 60%+ alcohol wipes.

That cavalier? Meths, meths and more meths! In all seriousness, meths is good for external stuff, grabrails, cleaning keys, door handles, flushes etc. Okay, don't use it on a kitchen top or your hands (so they say, I have been doing). What about all the soft furnishings etc, last man out coughed on that cushion that first man in touches? Simply, no way to reduce the risk to zero be it handing over a boat or lending a car to a family member. You can only do your best and be as vigilant as you can. One thing about the virus is that you need to get a certain amount in a certain time, so if you manage to wipe out the vast majority of any that may be there then you will probably be okay even if someone did have it before you.

 

One thing I would imagine to be useful is leaving the boat empty with all doors & windows open for a few hours between handover, noone on there. Clear the air and hopefully partly dry out anything coughed out and sitting on a surface. Then the next users can give the boat a deep clean, use it, and when leaving, clean it again and repeat process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Maybe the number of weeks used will need to be reduced to leave 2 or 3 clear days between handovers.

That's definitely the kind of timescale needed to be on the safer side but  we probably won't see hire car companies doing this, or hotels, or day boats, or ...

Walk onto a boat assuming it to be a biohazard area, decontaminate to your own satisfaction, use and enjoy, assume you may be ill, thoroughly clean before leaving. Not much else can be done other than putting all life on hold.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, BilgePump said:

That cavalier? Meths, meths and more meths! In all seriousness, meths is good for external stuff, grabrails, cleaning keys, door handles, flushes etc. Okay, don't use it on a kitchen top or your hands (so they say, I have been doing). What about all the soft furnishings etc, last man out coughed on that cushion that first man in touches? Simply, no way to reduce the risk to zero be it handing over a boat or lending a car to a family member. You can only do your best and be as vigilant as you can. One thing about the virus is that you need to get a certain amount in a certain time, so if you manage to wipe out the vast majority of any that may be there then you will probably be okay even if someone did have it before you.

 

One thing I would imagine to be useful is leaving the boat empty with all doors & windows open for a few hours between handover, noone on there. Clear the air and hopefully partly dry out anything coughed out and sitting on a surface. Then the next users can give the boat a deep clean, use it, and when leaving, clean it again and repeat process.

 

A steam cleaner will kill viruses and bacteria on soft furnishings, carpets etc, as well as hard surfaces, but needs shore power on a boat and is bulky to store.

Edited by cuthound
Missing space
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

A steam cleaner will kill viruses and bacteria on soft furnishings, carpets etc, as well as hard surfaces, but needs shore power on a boat and is bulky to store.

and is yet another thing to clean with alcohol wipes!

 

Not sure how the handover happens with most shareboats but if it would normally be a Saturday morning, would there be mileage in each owner knocking a day off each end of their slots, thus giving the boat 48 hours empty? Okay, 7 days becomes 5, two weeks becomes 12 days, but it would only be this year and may give owners a bit of peace of mind without having to shuffle all slots to allow time between owners. Leave boat empty on Friday morning, next owner arrives Sunday morning?

Edited by BilgePump
Missing question mark
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

The safest way that I can think of is to wait 2-3 days after the changeover before going in the boat.  It's just not possible to wipe away all trace of virus in a couple of hours.

Guessing that the viability of a 2 or 3 day gap will depend on where the handover's to take place. If the boat is in a secure marina or safe part of the network then it should be okay left empty but in some places owners may not be that keen on leaving their boat unattended for more than an hour or two. This is all new territory so owners will need to come up with their own specific solutions and each syndicate's going to be different. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until we're allowed to overnight we've not really thought about it that far. Once restrictions were lifted to visit, two of our owners went to check she was afloat etc. but nobody has been since.

 

We've lost two of our weeks already this year due to the virus, and looking like our next week in June will be too soon for the easing to have happened.

But thats sharing, you have to take the rough with the smooth, there's always next year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd always prefer to clean myself. In the many marinas where our previous shareboat was the cleaning was always questionable - as long as the box was ticked on the paper left that's the job done. I would doubt these current cleaning companies could offer a suitable COVID-19 'deep clean' that would make people feel happier...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We had the car serviced and MOT tested this week . (yes I know the mot cert has been extended but imagine there will be a waiting list when that is lifted).

The garage picked it up - put a cover on the seat and the driver probably wiped the steering wheel. We haven't touched the car since it was returned . No problem a sits not going anywhere .

Even then I expect the wipes will be brought out .

 

Just shows how sacred we have become of the invisible virus.

 

I can't  imagine having to clean all surfaces in an entire boat . It would take a while . Leaving it unoccupied a few days seems like the only way .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd tend to favour extending the gap between crews, but why guess? The hire companies must have been giving this a severe thinking about for weeks, surely?  No need to invent a new methodology for yourself when an industry best practice must already be on the stocks... I fervently hope!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would determine if there is indeed  a 72 hour longevity of virus,  allow an hour to clean the boat surfaces, all the handles are particularly likely suspects

I would have asked previous occupier to clean as much as they can and remove all bedding, I might ask if they could wash anything like curtains, and remove cushions.

After wiping all surfaces with the Dettol type floor wipes, I would go round with white paper towels sprayed lightly with sanitiser: any dirty paper towel, clean wash with soap and water and dry again.

Make sure the taps, handles, any places one grips things, are thoroughly cleaned. Use bleach spray on chromed surfaces, wipe off.

I would take a waterproof type mattress cover and all bedding, a few towels and some strong blackbin bags, just put anything used in to bags for laundry. 

Plenty of rolls of paper towels, don't forget to wash all cutlery and china in anti-bac and extremely hot water, leave for two minutes, then air dry/paper towels before you use it. Deep clean toilet area.

Take your own throws to cover soft furnishings.

when I go to the supermarket, I wipe everything anyone else could have touched, which means I do not let anything contaminated in to my boat.

Edited by LadyG
  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

  No need to invent a new methodology for yourself when an industry best practice must already be on the stocks... I fervently hope!

I don't rely on this, the local petrol station /newsagent has absolutely no plan: there could be a one way system,, but instead the entrants and the exiting customers have to squeeze past each other, there is absolutely no sanitising stuff, I was offered baby wipes [to purchase]. I suspect they have been open throughout the pandemic. No sign of any deep cleaning.

Edited by LadyG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I don't rely on this, the local petrol station /newsagent has absolutely no plan: there could be a one way system,, but instead the entrants and the exiting customers have to squeeze past each other, there is absolutely no sanitising stuff, I was offered baby wipes [to purchase]. I suspect they have been open throughout the pandemic.

I too see a lot of variation in how shops have adapted.  From one extreme where they've done nothing, to the other extreme where every possible care has been taken to minimise risk.  I'm avoiding the first type.  I hope others are too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

I would determine if there is indeed  a 72 hour longevity of virus,  allow an hour to clean the boat surfaces, all the handles are particularly likely suspects

I would have asked previous occupier to clean as much as they can and remove all bedding, I might ask if they could wash anything like curtains, and remove cushions.

After wiping all surfaces with the Dettol type floor wipes, I would go round with white paper towels sprayed lightly with sanitiser: any dirty paper towel, clean wash with soap and water and dry again.

Make sure the taps, handles, any places one grips things, are thoroughly cleaned. Use bleach spray on chromed surfaces, wipe off.

I would take a waterproof type mattress cover and all bedding, a few towels and some strong blackbin bags, just put anything used in to bags for laundry. 

Plenty of rolls of paper towels, don't forget to wash all cutlery and china in anti-bac and extremely hot water, leave for two minutes, then air dry/paper towels before you use it. Deep clean toilet area.

Take your own throws to cover soft furnishings.

when I go to the supermarket, I wipe everything anyone else could have touched, which means I do not let anything contaminated in to my boat.

Maybe syndicate members will be limited to only a few nights out of their week with all the prep/cleaning?  Can't see this lasting long...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a smoke machine at work to sanatise buses  

but you can buy 

aerosol s  called  X mist  that would do the cleaning and sanatiseing

Graham

Edited by jacko264
To add a word
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.