Frozen Bilge

[Lake Superior Sailor]

Place something in your bilge ,like closed cell foam to take the crush from the ice,make sure it's jammed in and not floating!......Dale

[Faster]

Originally Posted by AdamLein

Actually...

Under no circumstances should you allow your bilge to fill with liquid plutonium.

... I stand corrected....

[caberg]

Originally Posted by Faster

Not clear why you cant look for/address the source of the water now??

Mostly because nothing would cure in sub freezing temps. I have the whole boat tarped, and I really don't know where the water's getting in. The tarps aren't perfect, but I was very surprised to see that much water in the bilge. All summer I'd never have more than an inch after a week on the mooring even with a big rain. The windows do weep, but I think there must be something else going on.

[chef2sail]

Did you drain hot water heater? Refrigerated box drain?

Dave

[downeast450]

Originally Posted by Faster

btw did you know that water is the only substance that expands (and loses density) when turning from liquid to solid??

Good thing, too! Otherwise our fw would never thaw out! I like having my ice cubes float!

Installing a garboard plug is much simpler than doing a floor rebuild like the beautiful work Faster did. The sleep returned is more than worth the effort.

Down

[SailSnail]

I think it will be alright just don't let it fill with water as fella says above it will allow room to expand.

[smallboatlover]

Im haveing the same problem with rain water getting in nothing has froze yet tho. last time i went i had 5 gallons of water. I just keep checking it every few days. The boats still in the water and will be for the winter. i think antifreeze might help me a little

[CarbonSink62]

My boat sat uncovered for 3 years before I came along. The water was an inch below the cabin sole and frozen solid when I got there. This boat has a cabin liner and if the water had gotten much higher the boat would have been toast.

I threw some 'pet safe' ice melt on top of the ice and came back a week later to pull some 16 gallons of water out of the bilge. I worried and fretted about what the ice might have done, but I found no issues.

Ken

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by chucklesR

As long as you don't let it fill with water and therefore allow room to expand it won't break anything.
Leave the covers off and the bilge pump powered (provided you have a recharge method).

NO!!!!! I have seen far too many melted & blistered bilge pumps that nearly burned entire marinas down. Powering 12V into a stalled pump creates heat. Enough heat to melt the pump or potentially start a fire. Please do not leave a bilge pump connected to a 12V source if there is potential for freezing... This is but one of the many reasons most boat yards, and their insurers, stipulate that batteries must be disconnected while boats are on the hard

Best bet is to visit the boat regularly during warm spells and manually drain it.. Adding some PG wont hurt and may drop the slush/freeze point slightly, unless it gets to diluted by incoming fresh water.. A garboard drain is a good option if your bilge lends well to its installation..

[lancelot9898]

I have a keel stepped mast and there is some water coming in through the interior of the mast into the bilge depending on the rain direction. I haven't read through all the posts, but maybe the tarp is directing the water into your mast if it's keel stepped.