oldharry
Well-Known Member
Do you actually remember 1062?
Oh yes, definitely - terrible winter, almost as bad as 1962/3
Ice on the water in the marina - when to start to worry?
- Thread starter rolf.nielsen
- Start date
Oh yes, definitely - terrible winter, almost as bad as 1962/3
JimBrown
Well-Known Member
Ice doesn't do any harm until it moves.
When Ullswater or Windermere freeze, there's no problem unless there is any wind strong enough to either ram the ice flows into a tethered boat, or if the boats are frozen into a floe which is on the move, the mooring chains will snap or the block dragged along the bottom. It's worse when the lake is only partially frozen so there is still open water at the windward end for waves to form.
The winter of 85/86 saw a lot of boats torn free or damaged as well as the wooden jetties on the leeward edge of the lake completely trashed. Wind and wave propelled slabs of ice a foot thick are both heavy and hard!
When Ullswater or Windermere freeze, there's no problem unless there is any wind strong enough to either ram the ice flows into a tethered boat, or if the boats are frozen into a floe which is on the move, the mooring chains will snap or the block dragged along the bottom. It's worse when the lake is only partially frozen so there is still open water at the windward end for waves to form.
The winter of 85/86 saw a lot of boats torn free or damaged as well as the wooden jetties on the leeward edge of the lake completely trashed. Wind and wave propelled slabs of ice a foot thick are both heavy and hard!
Woodlouse
Well-Known Member
When I wintered my boat in Norway we had an underwater fan put under the boat to agitate the water that way. Same principles as the bubbler, just a different solution.
Spi D
...
Yes, that solution is known in Denmark too. Not many bother, though.
ex-Gladys
Well-Known Member
I'm sure there's a story in Magic of the Swatchways of a winter trip and they moored in Burnham and ice washing down the Crouch cut away planking at the bow, writing off the boat...
grumpy_o_g
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Try the Mobo forum - there's a couple of Scandinavian gentlemen who are regularly on there.
benchmark
Well-Known Member
Warning 
ld thread revival time . With a short video I made last week when the whole marina was iced up like a brick but my boat was ice free. I have trim flaps and underwater lights that I am careful do not get frozen to the surface ice slab , as they can get damaged if I step on the boat and put weight on it.
I am using a Kasco de Icer suspended under the boats hull.
ld thread revival time . With a short video I made last week when the whole marina was iced up like a brick but my boat was ice free. I have trim flaps and underwater lights that I am careful do not get frozen to the surface ice slab , as they can get damaged if I step on the boat and put weight on it.I am using a Kasco de Icer suspended under the boats hull.
rolf.nielsen
Active Member
Warning
I am using a Kasco de Icer suspended under the boats hull.
I've had my boat in the water a couple of winters since I originally started this thread and I haven't had any issues. It may ice up around it but never so much as to cause any problem. I would only start to worry if the winters were a lot harsher and the ice would start to become really thick, but that never seems to happen in Denmark.
Your de-icing system looks really neat, however! Always great to see a boat owner who takes really good care of his boat - respect!
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Ice regularly forms on the surface of Kip marina during winter cold snaps. It is a centimetre or so thick, the result of fresh water from the Kip burn entering the marina and giving a relatively fresh surface layer. My boat was never damaged, and I've never heard of anyone else's being, either. Obviously it isn't sensible to try and move the boat - there's a big difference between vertical movement across a centimetre of ice to trying to nudge it horizontally, but otherwise it isn't a problem.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Bangor is very similar - similar cause. Although I don't think I've seen it as thick as 1cm. There is a local story that a wooden boat once sank the night after ploughing through this thin ice as the ice removed some of the caulking.
Stoshak
Well-Known Member
We had some thin ice in the marina, and I was quite surprised by the way it affected steering. Boat only wanted to travel in a straight line.
Lots of ice resisting boat rotation I suppose.
Lots of ice resisting boat rotation I suppose.
knuterikt
Well-Known Member
New thin ice on the surface is capable of cutting through wood quickly on a moving boat.
Wooden boats used in icy conditions need some kind of protection, copper skin is most common. The polar ship Fram used Greenheart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram
This is what can happen with a wooden boat after a short trip through new formed (thin) ice.
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LittleSister
Well-Known Member
I don't really have anything practical to add to the thread, but it reminds me of two incidents.
One when there was surface ice in Lymington. The water was clear out at our mooring, but iced up inshore. Rowing out to the mooring in the dinghy involved dropping the oars so the blades punctured the ice, then using those holes as pivots for the oars to haul the boat forward breaking the ice ahead of it. This left a narrow trail of open water behind with pairs of holes either side at regular(ish) intervals.
Someone above cautioned about the weight of snow on a boat, I doubt the 2 foot depth mentioned would be an issue - snow is not that heavy. I recall years ago visiting a friend in mid-winter who was living aboard a boat in Benfleet Creek. Because of the snow he hadn't replenished his (carried by hand) water supply, and had run out. So in order to make cups of tea I went out and collected some of the snow that was thick on the deck, and put it on the stove to melt it. It took a surprising amount of snow to make a few cups of tea. (It didn't taste very nice, either, after all that effort.)
One when there was surface ice in Lymington. The water was clear out at our mooring, but iced up inshore. Rowing out to the mooring in the dinghy involved dropping the oars so the blades punctured the ice, then using those holes as pivots for the oars to haul the boat forward breaking the ice ahead of it. This left a narrow trail of open water behind with pairs of holes either side at regular(ish) intervals.
Someone above cautioned about the weight of snow on a boat, I doubt the 2 foot depth mentioned would be an issue - snow is not that heavy. I recall years ago visiting a friend in mid-winter who was living aboard a boat in Benfleet Creek. Because of the snow he hadn't replenished his (carried by hand) water supply, and had run out. So in order to make cups of tea I went out and collected some of the snow that was thick on the deck, and put it on the stove to melt it. It took a surprising amount of snow to make a few cups of tea. (It didn't taste very nice, either, after all that effort.)
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
New thin ice on the surface is capable of cutting through wood quickly on a moving boat.
Wooden boats used in icy conditions need some kind of protection, copper skin is most common. The polar ship Fram used Greenheart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fram
This is what can happen with a wooden boat after a short trip through new formed (thin) ice.
+1, and that's why I made the point that it isn't wise to try and move a boat when there's even thin ice on the water. Vertical movements won't do any harm, but hitting the ice edgeways on means that it is better supported.
In the winter of (I think) 1972/3, the River Cam froze up in places, and eights that were unwary and hit floating ice edge on ended up with nice slits cut in the bows at water level! Not really comparable with a GRP cruiser, as the wood of which shells were made in those days was only thin veneer, but it demonstrates the principle!