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Extreme Cold

14K views 109 replies 24 participants last post by  n2ubn 
#1 · (Edited)
We chose to stay on Kentucky Lake this winter because, according to the weather history, it's not usually a place with extreme cold.. Not often in the "really cold" range.

Now it seems we are facing the coldest extremes in 20 years here on the lake with subzero temps.

Woke up yesterday to snow and ice. Sunday it's supposed to drop down to single digits and stays there until Tuesday...

Of course our sailboat seems to lack any sort of insulation and the admiral has a smoking addiction and every time she opens the hatch to smoke, every bit of heat we have goes out and is replaced with winter cold.

Fortunately the temps will be back in the mid to high 40's by Thursday.

This photo is from Jan 2

 
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#3 ·
Where on KY Lake are you?

I have my boat on the Lake Barkley side of Grand Rivers at Green Turtle Bay Marina. I drove up to check on the boat and despite the snow/ice on it, it still looked like it was doing pretty good. I'm not looking forward to the single digits expected on Monday.
 
#6 ·
We are over at Kenlake Marina. They have treated us very good over here. It's no GTB, but we have the basics at a quarter of the cost.

IMHO, the crew over here are very people oriented and down to earth. We felt really out of place over there at GTB with all those rich folk. They didn't treat us like we were on their level.

But anyway, we've met some nice people over here and one who said he's going to give me sailing lessons on the lake this coming season and is going to help me step my mast when the weather improves.
 
#5 ·
I am in KY, East of you. The cold and heat seem more intense here because we always have humidity. "That cold KY rain" "AZ its a dry heat" Here in the summer at 85* I run into the AZ natives that beg to be home in triple digit temps.
I would Treat myself to a room. You may have to see if you can find a motel, church or shelter.
Mammoth Cave is great in the winter. The crowds are not as big and the underground temp is the same year round. It is a National Park well worth the trip. :)
This state is no place for a weather man. I have been hearing temps forecast as low as -6 But then back up to +50
I have a tarp over my boat for the winter. My boat is on a trailer. I have found the tarp will warm it up when I am out messing around in it. the tarp acts like an emergency blanket. At the extreme cold I do not know if you will have much help from a tarp. Maybe some one else can comment ?
Good Day, Lou
 
#7 ·
Monday is going to be rough, but then it'll warm right back up. We stay pretty warm. We haven't had to turn the heater up on high yet. It's still on it's low setting. If it gets too cold, I'll pull out the propane heater and run electric and propane together.

I'm not overly concerned considering it's not supposed to be a long cold spell. We spent some hot springs in the Desert of Southern California and come cool summers in the Eastern Sierras when we traveled around in our Motorhome... It's been a long time since we've experienced extreme humidity... I can say we aren't looking forward to that.
 
#8 ·
I am thinking someone with some cold weather live aboard experience will comment soon.
I have seen some magazine articles with sailboats chasing Ice bergs. The boats all had wood /coal stove. The charley noble a nick name for the flue pipe.
I have been reading propane makes condensation they also have some diesel heaters that can make a cook stove

good day Lou
 
#9 ·
Yes, propane causes horrible condensation problems. Since we switched to electric at the dock, we don't have near the problems with it.

On top of that, I'm a little leery of running the propane at night while we are sleeping. I don't worry so much with the Electric heat on.

Even with the heat on last night, we woke up to ice on the port holes in the vberth this morning.
 
#13 ·
3yrs ago I bought that -Bubble- insulation at Walmart in Murray,Ky in the weather strip dept. Also you might use that painters removable tape and tape the bubble wrap inside the boat , or Velcro in the sewing dept,(as I did in 9 degree weather in Kenlake marina).
.....For me, the Tarp was helpful, but ugly. Of course the inside bubble stuff was ugly. But you have even more cold than I did. I also used a Mr. Heater at times for a boost while awake with No carbon Monoxide readings. You could also plug in -two- shorepower
connections and buy another heater. **I did all of the above and shut the door to the front cabin & slept in the main cabin. (as you & wife know that humid cold is miserable)
 
#14 ·
I wasn't sure whether to put the bubble wrap inside or out, so I did a mixture of both to see what worked best. Yeah, I know... Duct Tape.. But it is on the metal and not the hull and I have goo b gone stuff that is supposed to clean off the mess it's bound to make.

Yes, we have a Mr. Heater too and have never run it overnight due to the fear of waking up dead. They get expensive to run over time and opted for a radiant electric heater that works well on low.







 
#15 · (Edited)
Looks like a Bear in hibernation. (nice pictures). Kenlake Resort short 15 min walk up hill to west. room rates in
Winter
(Dec 1, 2013 - Feb 27, 2014) $49.95 Sun to Sat. If you get cabin fever they have a
huge dining room. Does the marina still have a courtesy car so you can get food ?
MAST raising at Lighthouse marina 20 miles back toward Kentucky Dam.
Its an all sailboat marina ! How would they raise it at Kenlake ?
 
#16 ·
I met a guy here who is very experienced with sailboats and knows how to use 2 sailboats to raise the mast on a 3rd. GTB wants a minimum of $150 to step the mast and Lighthouse Landing wants a Minimum of $180

Kenlake Marina kind of has a courtesy car, but not really. Knowing that I am going to be here for a few months, I went up to Illinois, on Jan 1st and got my Kia Sedona out of storage, got Kentucky insurance and have it here at the marina. We are taking showers at the Tennis Center.

I had a friend of mine pick up my van in Kenosha, WI where we put the boat in and take it back and store it for me at her house.

Like I have said many times, The crew here, Scott and Ben, have treated us golden. We really like it here. We were using their "courtesy car" several times a week for a month before we finally brought the van down.
 
#18 ·
I think you can add more plastic . That bubble wrap idea was excellent !
Good time to visit the public library ? They will have movies internet and such. Monday It will be ugly. I can adjust my attitude if I set a time goal and havea mission or chore to do. Post a massive amount ? volunteer ? Think about a visit to some of the caves in that half of the state. If you get a room. Corvette museum and factory is in Bowling Green. A drive will cost you $ but you will be warm. Just hear this ...after you spend time out in the cold your body will say SLEEP when you get warm. Sleep, Drive ,Die ! :( If you take a drive pick a destination get a room make it a holiday?
I work outside as a pipefitter. For me and most of the other trades that are outside, a winter diet changes to more meat ,chilly beans, Bean soup, you just start to crave food like that. Most of the folks have no idea they change what they eat they just do. Its not just because something hot taste good .You body needs change. Chilly cook off in the summer ?.. no thanks it is time for a cool salad.
I can feel some for you, Lou
 
#20 ·
Rhapsody, but a heat pump - cool in summer, great heat source in the winter. Mine is a 17,000 BTU monster that really puts out the heat and cool air, but only draws about 15 amps. No condensation, constant circulation of air, and perfect climate control with just the touch of a thermostat. The price has really come down on these systems over the years - think about it.

Gary :cool:
 
#65 ·
We have the same heat pump type ac/heat on our power boat. We keep the boat in Lake Michigan and try to get it in as soon as the ice is off the lake and the marina will allow us (late Mar or early Apr).

The heat pump uses the lake water, so when the water temp is still in the 40's the heat pump hardly puts out any heat at all. Running it maxed out 24/7 on cold days/nights we are forced to supplement the heat pump with ceramic space heaters.

Our heat pump is 20+ year old technology so maybe today's are better???

On thing a heat pump does do is almost eliminate condensation. If we just run the space heaters we get water dripping from everywhere.

On a side note, I'd think a insulated boat would be better in any climate, hot or cold. The only reason I can figure most production boats are not insulted in the factory is cost.
 
#21 ·
The high in Minneapolis today was -12ºF and we're headed towards -20ºF tonight. Not a lot of sailing going on around here... Although a small bit of the Mississippi is still open, there was a lot of frost fog coming off of it this morning.
 
#26 ·
We did not choose to seek shelter. I kept a blanket over the companionway hatch and pulled out the propane heater to supplement the electric heater we use.

We used both heaters during the day and only the electric one at night. I'm pretty sure we maintained about 50 degrees in the boat overnight and prob 60 during the day.

We ate our normal meals. I think we had tacos on the night it was so cold.

Sleeping in an ice covered bed sucked pretty bad. Here are two photos of what it looked like in the V-Berth where we sleep.





Yes, that is ice build up inside the boat.
 
#27 ·
I looked at the webcam for GTB today and it looked like the marina had frozen, or maybe the camera wasn't refreshing.

Earlier this week, on Tues, I went out at 0 degrees for work and at the end of the day it got up to 19, then Wed, started at 19 and went to 35. I haven't done outside work in this cold of temperatures before. I made sure I had plenty of cold weather gear on to stay warm and it still wasn't enough. I'm in the military, so each of those days we went out to shooting ranges. More field work to come next week too :(
 
#28 ·
Wow 769 you are like a rock I work outside but it is semi out as I am in the building trades and we have some heat shelter but work was cold but manageable as I am able to warm up at lunch and breaks. Then I can go home to a warm bed.
My hat is off to you two, Lou
 
#30 ·
I am so interested because you are doing this now and coping. You say you have sweaters so I will make an assumption that you did not have high $ high tech gear. Could you show the heaters ? You proved how to improvise adapt and overcome a difficulty.
How does your 1st mate feel. What is the crews the attitude.
I did stay a night out in a pup tent with only a candle in north west PA. during Jan winter 77-78. Not sure of the exact temp but it was negative no wind. It was a thing for a young person to prove. I am older now. I would not think of doing it ever again. I do not think I slept and I hiked out at daybreak. I believe I can tolerate heat better than cold if I have water to drink
I do not think my wife is ready for this much but she can be tougher than me at times.
Regards , Lou
 
#31 ·
The last house we lived in for two years was a very old house and about as drafty as you can imagine. We had to have the heat running non-stop and cranked up to 80 in order to keep it 60 in the house during those cold upper midwest winters. I could not get warm in that house. Prior to that it was a drafty motor home for 5 years.

So, that is one thing that a sailboat, that floats, has... It's pretty sealed up with no draft. Once we covered the companionway hatch with a thin $2.88 blanket from Wally World, it wasn't hard to deal with.

I've already put the Mr. Buddy propane heater away, but the picture I've posted is the heater we use when we have electric.

Cage Room Electrical wiring


We don't have any fancy cold weather gear. As a matter of fact, most of our cold weather gear is in storage because we had planned to be in Florida before it got cold.

I supposed that if a person is determined, they can do anything. It's not that bad. The bad part is when my wife opens the hatch to suck on a cancer stick and all the heat goes out and it takes 10 minutes to warm things back up again.

We have woken up more than once and have had the blanket edges frozen to the interior wall of the hull in the V-berth. We were warm and dry, but not so much on the wall.

Here is pic I found on the internet of the propane heater we use. I have a 10 hose I bought at Camping World that goes from the propane tank through the companionway hatch and into the cabin. The propane tank sits on deck in such a way that if there is a leak, it will "drain" off the side of the boat.

Technology Electronic device Gadget Electronic instrument
 
#32 ·
I prefer a compact oil filled radiator. There's no exposed heating elements and much less danger of a fire.

Downside:
They take longer to heat up and the heat is not directed like a heater with exposed electric elements.
Even though the heating element is not exposed, these cannot be used with explosive vapours as I see flash when the thermostat clicks on or off.
 
#33 ·
I agree with your observation of the oil radiator. We've had one before and they absolutely do not work in a drafty space. We didn't get one this time because we need quick intense heat for after we have to open the hatch.

I did discover some damage from the extreme cold.

Both caps to my heat exchanger have to be replaced. Fortunately it's a cheap fix. Ice was in there and froze them out bending the caps. I flattened them back out, but the gaskets are shot. I determined I'm just going to replace the whole 3 piece assembly.

Fortunately my impeller isn't bad. There is lots of pressure to the water. If I had more experience in boating, I would have shut off my water intake and ran the water out of the exhaust. I have an closed cooling system, so the engine itself was not damaged by the freeze, just the ends for the heat exchanger.
 
#35 ·
Well, I got the heat exchanger end caps today for half the price I saw them selling for on several site.

If it wasn't so cold out, I'd replace them today. But the have to get out in a cockpit to do one side of the engine.

It supposed to warm up over the next few days, so I'll place them then.

I'll post pics of the old ones when I'm done.

Button Pink Magenta Circle
 
#57 · (Edited)
Well, I got the heat exchanger end caps today for half the price I saw them selling for on several site.

If it wasn't so cold out, I'd replace them today. But the have to get out in a cockpit to do one side of the engine.

It supposed to warm up over the next few days, so I'll place them then.

I'll post pics of the old ones when I'm done.

View attachment 18849
Here are the old Heat Exchanger end caps. I went to replace them this morning only to find that the ones that I ordered were 1/4 inch too small. So I have to exchange them now.

Button Auto part

Button
 
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