Challenge: Keeping Above Freezing

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

If the deck is covered that also greatly reduces potential damage from freezing water in minor cracks.

Another good point for the subzero group. Every freeze will make a crack bigger.


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[gixerjen]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Things like this:

Amazon.com: Designers Edge E-240 Incandescent Brooder Light: Home Improvement

Amazon.com: RED HEAT LAMP BR40 250 WATTS 5,000 HOURS LONG LIFE LIGHT BULB INDUSTRIAL GRADE INFRARED HEAT LAMP: Home Improvement

How much heat does one of these kind of things put out?

[CarlF]

A standard space heater in the US at full power 1500 watt so it's six of these bulbs. I typically used two in a 40ft boat with good results in New England winters. It also kept the boat remarkably dry inside.

My biggest worry with winter storage is water freezing in a hose that goes to a seacock (cockpit drain hoses are a special concern).

I once found a lot of water in the bilge after a first windy spring sail. It turned out a cockpit drain hose had cracked in the winter above the waterline. When the boat healed, the water started coming in. Since then, I go over every hose at spring launch.

Carl

[DeepFrz]

gixerjen, if you are looking to heat a live aboard boat then I would advise you to search the forum on stoves, heaters, etc. There has been lots of discussion about those. Much better to have a proper stove if you are living aboard than a heat lamp. This discussion was about keeping a boat from freezing up while laid up for the winter.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

gixerjen, if you are looking to heat a live aboard boat then I would advise you to search the forum on stoves, heaters, etc. There has been lots of discussion about those. Much better to have a proper stove if you are living aboard than a heat lamp. This discussion was about keeping a boat from freezing up while laid up for the winter.

Ditto on that! The heat lamps will burn your skin if you get too close, let alone touching one. That's why the 250 watt holders that come with a protection wire, and that gets hot too.

[artisthos]

We just got this 19' Starwind pocket cruiser boat back in the water after five years and there are leaks in the hoses that go from the anchor bin and cockpit plus the leaky windows that send water to the bilge.
Will the water in the bilge freeze. It is well below the waterline and the Ohio River could freeze with a slow current. Normally there is not much water but it is still about two gallons. We cannot get it dry. Will this water freeze if the temperature goes below 17 overnight? I think a dose of pink antifreeze used in fresh water systems could not hurt.
We are keeping the boat in the water over winter.
Thanks for a great site.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by artisthos

We just got this 19' Starwind pocket cruiser boat back in the water after five years and there are leaks in the hoses that go from the anchor bin and cockpit plus the leaky windows that send water to the bilge.
Will the water in the bilge freeze. It is well below the waterline and the Ohio River could freeze with a slow current. Normally there is not much water but it is still about two gallons. We cannot get it dry. Will this water freeze if the temperature goes below 17 overnight? I think a dose of pink antifreeze used in fresh water systems could not hurt.
We are keeping the boat in the water over winter.
Thanks for a great site.

It really depends on the boat. But a 19' I'd be a little concerned since there's not much hull thickness. In Northern climates a lot of owners put their boats on the hard just for this reason. If the river is freezing over I'd say a 19' will freeze up inside as well. The lower hull usually maintains the same temp as the water it sits in.

[artisthos]

Thanks for a great site. I got this from the Yahoo Starwind site:

Hi Tom
Water absolutely WILL freeze at 17 degrees and can do a lot of damage in the process. Water expands in the path of least resistance and generally will expand into air space, however,while this is generally true, if there is a hairline crack in the hull anywhere, the water can get into that crack, freeze, expanding as it does, and cause stunning levels of damage. I have seen the results and they are anything but pretty.

Candidly..keeping the boat in the water over the northern winters is a recipe for disaster. I have seen the Ohio freeze before. The shoreline ( where your boat is probably docked) freezes first. While it is grand to have a boat to sail as you want, going down to the dock to find your boat at the bottom, top of the mast showing, is probably not a risk you want to take. You had her out of the water for 5 years. One more winter of working on her to resolve the leaking issues may save her from the landfill.

I live in the Pgh, PA area and there's not a single boat (other than lived in houseboats) docked over the winters here for good reason. I have a friend from Barnegut Bay (NJ) who lived on a canal where his boats wintered directly behind his house. They ran bubblers 24/7, three for each 19' boat and they still came out one morning to find one at the bottom. Its just not worth the risk. The problem is.. there is moisture in every square inch of the boat.. moisture freezes and causes microscopic fissures which expand with each freeze/ thaw cycle. They grow before you notice them and by the time you do notice them, the boat is in trouble.

I worry for your safety. I'm not cautioning you to be a meanie, I just know the "northern boat" drill. While you could put antifreeze in the bilge, how will you get antifreeze into the areas that are already leaking (fissures and cracks) that you can't locate ?

figgi

We are certainly taking it out of the water soon if not this weekend.
Thanks for a great site.
Tom

[River Cruiser]

The boats in the marina stay in year round where I'am at on the Mississippi. We use de-icers to keep ice away from the hulls, we're well protected from current, wakes from tows or wind generated waves so the harbor freezes pretty easily. If your in a covered slip & protected from ice around your hull, all systems winterized then dump some pink in the bilge & you should be good. I would never leave one in if not in a covered slip or if any chance of ice forming around the hull or pushed around it by current or wind. Good luck

[SabreKai]

I can attest to regular baseboard heaters being not much good. I burned out 7 of them between the first of October and the end of April when I lived aboard my Grampian. Figure 1 a month. A couple of them would snap the element and I stretched it to reconnect. Burned out even faster.

No, for living aboard, definitely look into a proper heating system. I have picked up a pressure Kero heater and will be fitting that. I may add to that, depends on how it goes the first winter. Hopefully that will be next winter.