Coldest night -10 and boat in water

[Paulfireblade]

I have a max/min thermometer in the cabin which recorded a low of -3 so had to put the heater on before my Meaco would work. Boat in water at Foxes. The cockpit shower which I hadn’t drained down was frozen solid but looks like i haven’t burst the head or mixer tap cartridge this time!

That is a relief, I must confess I have never used the cockpit shower on the East coast so it is permanently turned off.

 

[johnalison]

I have a max/min thermometer in the cabin which recorded a low of -3 so had to put the heater on before my Meaco would work. Boat in water at Foxes. The cockpit shower which I hadn’t drained down was frozen solid but looks like i haven’t burst the head or mixer tap cartridge this time!

That's surprising, but Fox's is further from the sea and a lot further north than Titchmarsh of course. The only thing that normally suffers on board is the olive oil.

 

[QBhoy]

The recent cold snap may well prove to be the exception to that rule. The sustained sub zero temperatures with hardly a thaw has compounded the potential ice related issues.
I found ice, and some water in the dehumidifier yesterday . This despite the boat not being locked in ice
Going back today to give the boat an hour of warmth from the Eberspacher
View attachment 147828

Yeah. Definitely been proven that way up here. Fair number of boats had damage. Mainly to domestic water systems mostly and a few worse off unfortunately. Just from relying on heaters.

 

[mrming]

Pleased to report no evidence of damage to the fresh water system. Got away with it this time, and will be draining it in good time in the future.

 

[Narked]

I live in my van in NE Scotland, and i woke up to my whale foot pump and hoses etc frozen that morning, Unfortunately, i didn't have temp sensor or similar to see what the internal temp was.

 

[graham]

In Cardiff the coldest night last week was about -6 The River Ely had an inch of ice on it plastic cups of water I left near the engine were frozen solid for days.

I think the vetus exhaust water trap would have frozen solid if I hadnt sucked some antifreeze mix through the exhaust before the cold snap arrived.

I change the antifreeze in the engine every couple of years. The stuff Beta Marine supplies mixed 50 50 with water will survive minus 20 C so no worries there.

Being moored in fresh water makes us more vulnerable to frost but I have seen ice on salt water in the Bristol Channel once or twice.

It amazes me that for very little cost saving some people will take a gamble .Its worth using correct antifreeze just for the corrosion inhibitor content.

 

[Peter Pilot]

Don’t know about the Caledonian Canal - but they drained the Crinan Canal to avoid freezing in this cold spell Tour the hidden depths of the Crinan Canal - Scottish Canals

Union Canal is frozen solid

They took away my opportunity for a bit of ice skating...LOL.....It's been pretty warm this winter. The canal was drained from lock 5 to Crinan for maintenance. It's filling up again now. Planned opening 4th April.

 

[Refueler]

My boat has sat for years in water through winters dropping to -30C at times. The ice just envelops and lifts the boat ...

Ice can reach 0.5 to 1.0m thick

I put Anti Freeze through the engine (raw water cooled) after closing seacocks.

I put about 0.5ltr AF in the toilet bowl and pump through ... inlet pump is closed off and never seems to be affected.

I put a good squirt of Washing Up liquid in the engine bilge.

I have a Frost Protector 0.5KW heater in main cabin with all doors / engine covers open to allow heat to circulate.

 

[Peter Pilot]

My boat has sat for years in water through winters dropping to -30C at times. The ice just envelops and lifts the boat ...

Ice can reach 0.5 to 1.0m thick

I put Anti Freeze through the engine (raw water cooled) after closing seacocks.

I put about 0.5ltr AF in the toilet bowl and pump through ... inlet pump is closed off and never seems to be affected.

I put a good squirt of Washing Up liquid in the engine bilge.

I have a Frost Protector 0.5KW heater in main cabin with all doors / engine covers open to allow heat to circulate.

Good info: Using AF is a very cheap and simple way to protect your boat.

 

[Refueler]

If I have a drop of AF left - I throw that in the bilges ....

I'll be honest and say that I would not leave a modern sandwich construction boat in as I do my boat ... mine is solid GRP construction hull ... when I was cutting hole for speed log - I measured it at 50mm ..... and upperworks are 25mm .... she's a 1973 heavy build.

 

[Beneteau381]

I am glad you had sail. No chance for us. The ice was 30mm thick in our marina and the boat was locked solid to the dock wall. Ice now covers half the mainly freshwater fed dock. It was topped up with a rain shower this afternoon. This has now frozen solid!

I am finding similar temperatures in our bilges, in our engine room,in our galley and in our heads. No sign of anything freezing.

My in exhaust temperature sensor has never shown less than 2 degrees.

The ice is most likely because we actually have a distinct surface layer of freshwater on the dock surface. In the summer you can see how the salty tidal water flows in under the freshwater layer which flows in the opposite direction. In winter there is even less turbulence caused by boat movements to cause the two to mix.

We wont be worrying about ice by Monday!

What I found in Pwllheli when we used to lift for the winter wasthat the plastic jabsco filter housings used to crack, finally worked out that the fresh water systemwas getting cold enough to freeze and crackthem. Moving on to whenwe usedto overwinterin the water, the seawateraroundthe pile mooringsused to get a thin layer of ice on it occassionaly

 

[Ardenfour]

I went for a sail in the bay here when it had a thin layer of ice - strange feeling when the boat is gripped stationary. What I didn't expect was that the ice removed all the anti fouling at the waterline.

 

[Refueler]

I went for a sail in the bay here when it had a thin layer of ice - strange feeling when the boat is gripped stationary. What I didn't expect was that the ice removed all the anti fouling at the waterline.

Ice is surprisingly effective at removing most things !