ICE, i now own an ice boat

[scottyt]

well after some pretty low temps my boat is frozen in. right now the ice is 3/4 of an inch thick or so. the good thing is as the boat moves the ice is doing a good job of cleaning the water line. i am in a small cove off of a larger cove, the large cove is ice free. i am about 75 feet from soft water.

the funny one is i jumped on the boat and heard a noise come from the back end, well it turns out my swim ladder was down. it was actually disconnected from the boat but standing up nicely for retrieval. no worries of loosing as it tied to the boat too.

[Minnewaska]

Solid ice around a hull can do some nasty things to your boat. Be careful.

[sailingdog]

it can also do nasty things to your docklines....there's a very good reason the replace mooring balls with ice sticks for the winter.

[WanderingStar]

Also watch your bilge pump. I winter the boat in every year and have been frozen in hard several times. One thing I didn't anticipate is that the overboard hose would freeze, letting the bilge pump run the battery flat. I turn off the pump in really cold weather, and turn it on when I visit if necessary. My hulls have never been damaged by ice, though the pintles on an outboard rudder were bent once. If your rudder is transom hung, unship it.

[AirborneSF]

I'm in Solomans, and had to break up ice around the boat with a pole. Ice around here isn't going to crush the hull, but will scratch the paint.

[T34C]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

it can also do nasty things to your docklines....there's a very good reason the replace mooring balls with ice sticks for the winter.

What is an Ice stick? All the people around me replace their mooring balls with several plastic jugs, many of which don't survive the winter.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by T34C

What is an Ice stick? All the people around me replace their mooring balls with several plastic jugs, many of which don't survive the winter.

Looks like this:



Many are made from just a section of 4x4 with a big eye in one end...

The ice has a harder time gripping it, unlike a mooring ball, which is a nice pull cord handle for the ice floe to use to move your mooring.

[scottyt]

i am tied to a floating dock so no issues with lines.

also my pump does not use a float switch so no issue there. as for paint, its coming out in the spring for a bottom job so no worrys.

as for water in the bilge, my bulge is only 4 inches deep, but wide. if there is water it wont do any damage if it freezes.

[kwaltersmi]

Did someone say ice?

Here's a shot of my path to the local cruising grounds in January:

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by scottyt

i am tied to a floating dock so no issues with lines.

also my pump does not use a float switch so no issue there. as for paint, its coming out in the spring for a bottom job so no worrys.

as for water in the bilge, my bulge is only 4 inches deep, but wide. if there is water it wont do any damage if it freezes.

Actually, even with a floating dock, there can be issues if the ice floe grabs the boat and moves the boat away from the dock.