Should I be worried yet with this sudden cold weather?

[nickjh]

All,

I live in Surrey and have limited ability to get to marina for the next week or so..The boat is moored in Gosport and is in the water, which i do most years until i have enjoyed some xmas crusising. This sudden cold snap has caught me out and i have not yet put the heater in the engine room or cabin.. The domestic water system has some water in still. Should I be unduley concerned and rush down there?

What is likely to happen as it stands?

Please make me feel better!

Mariah 27.5ft petrol motor boat with Bravo3 leg.

Thanks

Nick

 

[jhr]

You're probably better off in the water than out. It'll keep everything warmer and I reckon you should be OK. I suppose the worst that could happen is that a pipe freezes, splits and, when it thaws, water comes gushing out of the domestic supply and spreads itself around the boat.

But not likely, imho.

 

[Nautorius]

Mine is admitedly on the hard at a Thames marina and the inside carpet was frozen solid without having a heater on it, (a small leak had not dried out) Fortunately it is winterised already.

I always thought that if it is in Sea water (harder to freeze)you should be OK for now as I believe it needs a prolonged cold period to do real damage. Others will no doubt give you better advice,

Paul

 

[hlb]

Course all the pipes will break, as will the bog, the engine will fall apart into three pieces. Other than that it should be quite OK.

 

[tcm]

good advice.

I wd advise NOT to rush down to tend to the boat. Last time i did this i slipped on the ice on the pontoon.

Seriously, it is noticeably warmer by "a bit" just next to the sea. Like, in summer, it's a bit colder on the beach than in the garden. Same thing innit, cos the sea doesn't get so cold. Unless you are up a river inwhich case er ooer.

 

[Nautorius]

But that happens all the time for no reason anyway /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It will be great to have something to blame it on,

 

[Nick_H]

With your boat in the water at this time of year, your hull is a great big radiator, so you shouldn't have any problems with freezing up. Good to get some heat and a dehumidifier in to keep the interior mould free though.

 

[Medskipper]

Hi Nick,

Boat should be ok if you are in salt water. I was down at Chatham at the weekend and no sign of a freezing problem inside the boat at moment.
Its best to drain down the domestic supply because the pipes are small and will split if they do freeze. The longer this cold spell goes on the greater the risk! but at least the temperature is rising above 0 degrees during the daytime.
I had a friend who owned a house boat on the Thames a few years ago, and it was plumbed up to the mains, a joint froze and split inside the boat, the boat filled up with water and before anyone could do anything at all it sank! horrible mess, but still the insurance covered the cost.

I'm in Surrey also near Epsom, what part are you?

Barry

 

[l'escargot]

Mines in the water on the IW. Went down today, first time in a week, no sign of any freezing inside.

 

[duncan]

as others have said the water temperature is still very warm relative to the air - boats on hard will have potential issues but in the water you should be fine.

by Feb the inshore water may have lost another 10 degrees C

as a real life example we were washing our hands in a bucket of sea water when fishing Sunday and it was damm cold if we didn't change it every half hour. fresh it felt very warm (although it was only 15 degrees)

 

[Phill]

My boat is based in a Thames marina and is still in the water. I couldn't get there last week or over the weekend and wasn't too worried about the chance of frost damage.
When I got there today, some of the domestic water pipes were frozen and the water heater heat exchanger is cracked. Its fully winterized now but guess cold air coming down the flue was enough to do damage.
Anyway, had a lovely lunchtime trip between locks without seeing another boat underway.

 

[duncan]

river is a lot colder than sea currently too - chills much much faster

 

[steverow]

No..Chill out..


Steve.

 

[Nick_H]

Sorry to hear your boat was damaged. However Nick's boat is in Gosport which is not only sea water, but actually quite deep sea water, so the water will still be warm and the chance of freezing is very low.

 

[aviator]

Out of interest I asked Sealine for instructions on my Eberspacher heater timer and was told that they didn't recommend using heaters un-attended since a) the marina won't like it b) the insurance company won't like it.

Hmmm.........

 

[blueglass]

read this thread with interest as also had some concerns. Boat in water, still in commision but with heaters and dehumidifier on. Me 200 miles away. My concern is that the pontoon power supply trips out as soon as you look at it, - (a familiar problem I imagine) so a phone call to Marina (Poole) had them check and yes of course it had tripped out. Switched back on but for how long is any body's guess.
My question is does any body know at exactly what temperature does static seawater freeze? The sea itself needs a lower temperature again, as it is in constant motion, but what about the stuff in my engine block?
any idea?

Dave

 

[Vara]

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen99/gen99263.htm

 

[blueglass]

thanks for that. so it freezes at only minus 2 degC or even higher - that's a bit worrying as we had minus 8deg here (shropshire) a few nights ago. I know the air temperature around the pontoons is unlikely to drop that low but even so...mmmm

Dave

 

[duncan]

as you say the air temperature at water level is unlikely to drop that far - yet!

we have lost 5 degrees on the inshore water tempreature since this post started, and in places like Poole Harbour the water temp is now starting to fall a lot! By Feb you could well see water temperatures low enough to struggle to combat sustained air teperatures at -5 or so I would have thought?

Having scrapped the ice of the boat Sunday morning before heading out (Poole) however, I did find that the fresh water system remained 'liquid' - presumably because the tank sits right in the middle of the boat and at water level. By Christmas I empty it when leaving the boat anyway.