Frozen Windermere Marina

sealegsjim

sealegsjim

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I posted a message a few weeks ago about winterising precautions with my boat afloat in a marina and received vaious answers most of which said the engine etc should be OK as marinas don't tend to freeze over and to be fair they assumed the marine was seawater.
I have been away on holiday for the past couple of weeks and so I couldn't get to the marina but noticed via the web that the temperature was consistently below freezing; -10C at times.
I went over to the marina yesterday to find my boat covered in snow and the marina frozen over and I was very worried for the state of the Yanmar and calorifier etc. Inside the boat the Jabsco was frozen and a bottle of water was also frozen and the battery was low.
I recharged the battery and the engine started first time and ran with no ill effects and the calorifier was fine. Was I relieved! I have attached a photo to show the state of the marina
 
sealegsjim said:
I posted a message a few weeks ago about winterising precautions with my boat afloat in a marina and received vaious answers most of which said the engine etc should be OK as marinas don't tend to freeze over and to be fair they assumed the marine was seawater.
I have been away on holiday for the past couple of weeks and so I couldn't get to the marina but noticed via the web that the temperature was consistently below freezing; -10C at times.
I went over to the marina yesterday to find my boat covered in snow and the marina frozen over and I was very worried for the state of the Yanmar and calorifier etc. Inside the boat the Jabsco was frozen and a bottle of water was also frozen and the battery was low.
I recharged the battery and the engine started first time and ran with no ill effects and the calorifier was fine. Was I relieved! I have attached a photo to show the state of the marina
Click to expand...

Hmm thank goodness for that. You must have been REALY worried. Thank goodness your engine dint freeze up. Let this be a warning to others.

Peter
 
At the beginning of 1997 I moved to Holland, although didn't take the boat until summer. Throughout January the temperature never rose above -10C. The marina at Hellevoetsluis froze to a depth of 30 cm, with all boats afloat. Skaters disported themselves around the pontoons and right out under the bridge to the Haringvliet. The harbourmaster told me later that he had not heard of any damage to boats, although I don't suppose that included burst pipes. In subsequent years we were frozen in many times but never suffered damage.
 
sealegsjim said:
I went over to the marina yesterday to find my boat covered in snow and the marina frozen over and I was very worried for the state of the Yanmar and calorifier etc. Inside the boat the Jabsco was frozen and a bottle of water was also frozen and the battery was low.
I recharged the battery and the engine started first time and ran with no ill effects and the calorifier was fine. Was I relieved! I have attached a photo to show the state of the marina
Click to expand...

If you started your engine when it and the calorifier were frozen then you're a braver man than me. Lucky, too ...
 
I think I said a while ago that I wouldn't consider this winter to be that bad until Windermere froze over...
We have had temperatures of -13 in the Lakes recently. No-one I know can recall anything like it. The river Kent is one of Englands fastest flowing rivers and was frozen over in places last week.
However, I have said this before, there are scores of boats on the inland waterways, especially canals, which are frozen in every winter with no ill effects. Many of these are GRP as well.
 
Ubergeekian said:
As a matter of interest, when was the last time that Windermere froze completely - enough for skating and ice-yachting everywhere, à la Winter Holiday?
Click to expand...

I understand there was a complete freeze over in 1962/3, but I think 1895 was the last time it was solid enough for skating. I may be wrong as it was pretty cold in 1947 as well.

You have to go back to the late 18th century for the days of bonfires and roasting wild boars, I think.

There are various explanations offered for why we don't get these conditions today, one of which is impurities in the water as leisure use increases.
 
Nealo said:
I understand there was a complete freeze over in 1962/3, but I think 1895 was the last time it was solid enough for skating. I may be wrong as it was pretty cold in 1947 as well.

You have to go back to the late 18th century for the days of bonfires and roasting wild boars, I think.

There are various explanations offered for why we don't get these conditions today, one of which is impurities in the water as leisure use increases.
Click to expand...

Many thanks. As I recall, 1895 (or possibly 1896) is mentioned in Winter Holiday - Mrs Dixon reminisces about seeing a coach and four crossing the lake.

OK, next question - are there ice yachts in the Lakes? Again they appear in Winter Holiday, and I've long wondered if Ransome made them up for it. Or do some of the smaller lakes freeze often enough for a worthwhile fleet?
 
Nealo said:
I understand there was a complete freeze over in 1962/3, but I think 1895 was the last time it was solid enough for skating. I may be wrong as it was pretty cold in 1947 as well.

You have to go back to the late 18th century for the days of bonfires and roasting wild boars, I think.

There are various explanations offered for why we don't get these conditions today, one of which is impurities in the water as leisure use increases.
Click to expand...
Seemples, the opposite of global warming, finally the evidence is there for all to see, the lying toads were full of kaka!
Its global cooling we are getting!
Stu
 
I think you were lucky, at the weekend i checked 3 boats with problems through freezing.

1 x hot water heater split through frost damage.
1 x core plug pushed out, block should be ok?
1 x frozen calorifier disconeted, will have to wait till spring to find out about that one?

Why take the chance??
 
Ubergeekian said:
Many thanks. As I recall, 1895 (or possibly 1896) is mentioned in Winter Holiday - Mrs Dixon reminisces about seeing a coach and four crossing the lake.

OK, next question - are there ice yachts in the Lakes? Again they appear in Winter Holiday, and I've long wondered if Ransome made them up for it. Or do some of the smaller lakes freeze often enough for a worthwhile fleet?
Click to expand...

I know even less about ice yachting than the watery kind, but I'm guessing they go pretty damn fast?? In which case they would be outlawed on every Lake in the National Park. (Windermere has 10mph limit) Or it would be a pretty boring spectacle.
 
Watch out chaps, the cold blast is coming back this Thursday with more sub zero temperatures and more snow. If you are worried drain your water systems NOW.

Last year several Lochs froze up here, and they were about to host an outdoor curling tournemant on a frozen Loch, until some health and safety doo gooder put a halt to it. It was something like 30 years since they last had a curling tournemant on a frozen Lock, and I guess the H&S lot weren't about then.
 
Nealo said:
I know even less about ice yachting than the watery kind, but I'm guessing they go pretty damn fast?? In which case they would be outlawed on every Lake in the National Park. (Windermere has 10mph limit) Or it would be a pretty boring spectacle.
Click to expand...
Except that the speed limit does not apply to wind power.

The lake froze over enough for many people to walk on it in 1929. This pic from Bowness Bay.

BownessIce1929.jpg


Bowness%20Ice1929.jpg

I have a friend in his late '70s who skated around Belle Isle in the '60s. I think he said it was '68, but it may have been the big freeze in '63.

Brian%20and%20Bob.jpg

The lake is unlikely to freeze over completely now as the ferries and the car ferry keep it open. Althou---gh.
This pic was taken last week and the only water that is not frozen is that dark ribbon about 3/4 way up the picture.


Frozenwindermere.jpg
 
I always record the water temperature (measured at the transponder 2' below water line) in my logbook each week and was quite surprised to see it had actually risen by 2 degrees this last Friday compared to the Friday before. I know the air temp was higher, but hadn't expected water temp to go up quite so quickly.
The water in A-C pontoons at the Quays were starting to freeze over two weeks ago, but all was clear last weekend.
 
Lakesailor - thanks for the postcards. They are fairly adjacent to where Chiron is moored up at Waterhead.

I would imagine that its not the winterising that is the problem around there but the actual getting to the lake/Loch in conditions like this when you may well encounter the mountain rescue going the other way.

We also experienced a total lack of gritting having taken place the weekend 14th/15th November as a completely unpredicted 2" fell on Friday morning.
 
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