Hi Tsenator,
I've lived aboard in Connecticut for most of three winters. My boat was stored in the water with a heavy canvas cover. The salt water in my area freezes, but not to a thick layer of ice. Most of the ice "damage" was a scraping action that took off the top 3" of bottom paint at my waterline.
Even though you're living on board I'd recommend a full winterization. We had several folks here at my marina who were counting on electric space heaters. All went well until the power went out for two days. If you're near to the boat, and have a backup generator and plenty of gas, then maybe you could catch things in time to prevent damage.
Hope this helps,
Jeff Small
www.smartcaptain.com