Dealing With ICE in the Marina

What is the best method you have found to keep Ice from forming around a Trawler during the winter while docked? Unlike this year (our boat wintered in Florida), next year our boat will winter in the cold and may be subject to Ice in the marina. What solution have you found to be most reliable for the money?

Norm Miller
Quiet Company
Great Harbour GH47

Sent from my iPad with big clumsy fingers using Trawler

Spottsville said:

What is the best method you have found to keep Ice from forming around a Trawler during the winter while docked? Unlike this year (our boat wintered in Florida), next year our boat will winter in the cold and may be subject to Ice in the marina. What solution have you found to be most reliable for the money?

Norm Miller
Quiet Company
Great Harbour GH47

Sent from my iPad with big clumsy fingers using Trawler

Click to expand...

Quick answer : Haul-out or a bubbler system.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Trawler

I've seen bubbler systems but I suggest asking the marina what they or other boat owners use.

Ocean Breeze NL said:

Quick answer : Haul-out or a bubbler system. Sent from my SGH-I337M using Trawler

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Haul out is not an option...What is a bubbler system? Norm Sent from my iPad with big clumsy fingers using Trawler

I have used one these for several years in Missouri. It's works very well.

The Ice Eater - The Power House, Inc. - Manufacturers of the Ice Eater, Aerators, and Fountains - Owings Mills, MD

Dealing With ICE in the Marina

I thought this thread was about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
You guys are talking about those little cubes I use to keep my drinks cold?

Up in New England, some of us store our boats in the water. Most marinas that allow in-water storage will have ice-breaker bubbler systems. The ice breakers are seen floating between the docks. See attached...

Get a slip beside someone with a bubbler:lol:
How far north will you keep your boat. A little ice is no big deal.

There are a few marinas in Canada that allow boats to remain in the water all winter but 99.9% do not. The only one I have seen personally used a home made air bubbler system. Essentially it was nothing more than a grid of hoses which lay on the bottom under the boat. The hoses had many tiny holes punched in them and were all connected to a simple pipe manifold which in turn connected to an air compressor. I have no idea of the physics behind it but apparently it worked fine. That said, at the time I saw it I thought the ice was dangerously close to the boat. The ones in the link from Chip would probably work great in less extreme climates but up here in a still, shallow marina the water can freeze to the bottom so I don't think relying on a temperature variation would be reliable and even moving water will freeze. It would be worth asking the manufacturer what conditions or circumstances, if any, would render them ineffective.

Dave raised a good point, in that it all depends where your anticipating wintering.

Capt Kangeroo said:

There are a few marinas in Canada that allow boats to remain in the water all winter but 99.9% do not. .

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That may be true for the east coast, but on the west coast (B.C.) the marinas are open year round.

Capt Kangeroo said:

There are a few marinas in Canada that allow boats to remain in the water all winter but 99.9% do not.

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Didn't know that 99.9% of Canadian marinas are back east, I guess we are doing a good job keeping the west coast boating waters a secret............

bubbles cause a circulation pattern that lifts the warmer below the surface water up and keeps things melted..same as "iceeaters" that use a propeller to cause the upward flow...

I'am on the UMR mm283, the boats stay in year round. I have a 1/2 hp Kasco de-icer it keeps my 44' slip ice free. I also have a Kasco controller it turns the unit on when the air temp hits 30f & has a timer that runs it 2 hours on, 2 hours off. Here is a link to one on eBay, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kasco-2400-1-2-HP-De-icer-Water-Agitator-Deicer-New-/280381272042
I've seen them sell used around the marina when someone sold their boat for $50.00, I gave $330.00 for mine new been a few years ago. There is a 410 SeaRay across from me that they let freeze in every year, I haven't seen any damage to it but I'll keep using a de-icer on mine. Good luck

Where ice is a consistant concern some marinas may run "circulators" -boats or no boats - in an effort to protect their docks. May be worth asking. Ice is narley stuff. Sounds good in a glass but it makes a different sound when it rubs up against hulls!

Conrad said:

That may be true for the east coast, but on the west coast (B.C.) the marinas are open year round.

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Good one Conrad, I've been at your secret marina

Just look on the internet Norm.. lots of different kinds.

We don't take any chances.. on the East side of Canada.

I have one of those Kasco Ice Eater pumps and it works well. When I finally got off my duff and installed it this year we had about 3/4" of ice at the sides of the boat and it was getting thicker fast.

That pump hangs beneath the boat and simply pushes (it has a propeller at the top) the warmer water from below up to the surface. Between the movement of the water created by the pump and the warmer water, it had the slip ice free before we left the dock (about 20 minutes).

They're spendy but they work well. Here's a linky to a thread I posted when I installed it...
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s32/i-love-when-plan-works-13643.html

What is the best method you have found to keep Ice from forming around a Trawler during the winter while docked?


I have spent many winter seasons as a liveaboard , sometimes locked in the ice.

No problem with the boat locked in , the only problem is in the spring when the boat can begin to move again the breeze can move it enough to scratch the bottom paint at the WL a bit.

THEN is time for a hammer or an ice eater to widen the hole the boat is sitting in.

The bublers suck for a liveaboard as the noise is constant , for a month or more.

ONLY a wooden boat with calking needs to fear being ice bound , as the cotton in the seams can be started by motion after a solid freeze in.

River Cruiser said:

View attachment 27622

I have a 1/2 hp Kasco de-icer it keeps my 44' slip ice free. I also have a Kasco controller it turns the unit on when the air temp hits 30f & has a timer that runs it 2 hours on, 2 hours off.

Click to expand...

This is what I use, two units, to protect my floating dock on St. Lawrence River. Good solid units that I use fifth season since 2010.

I think I lost them this winter ... looking at the remote webcam ... looks like they might be frozen in solid ice that developed during a power outage.

Almost 20yrs liveaboard near Toronto. I and all my neighbours used "ice eaters".
I used one for our 40' boat, some bigger boats used two. I saw two ice eaters burn out in all that time.

FF said:

What is the best method you have found to keep Ice from forming around a Trawler during the winter while docked?


I have spent many winter seasons as a liveaboard , sometimes locked in the ice.

No problem with the boat locked in , the only problem is in the spring when the boat can begin to move again the breeze can move it enough to scratch the bottom paint at the WL a bit.

THEN is time for a hammer or an ice eater to widen the hole the boat is sitting in.

The bublers suck for a liveaboard as the noise is constant , for a month or more.

ONLY a wooden boat with calking needs to fear being ice bound , as the cotton in the seams can be started by motion after a solid freeze in.

Click to expand...

Ditto. Kept her in a non-bubbler marine the two first winters. Guess ice thikness was 2 - 4 inches at the coldest of winter. Like FF says, only "problem" is when it starts thawing. Warmer water down below will heat your hull ever so slightly; melting the ice and creating a minute water gap between hull and ice. Any movement of the boat will rub your antfouling against the ice.

FF said:

What is the best method you have found to keep Ice from forming around a Trawler during the winter while docked?


I have spent many winter seasons as a liveaboard , sometimes locked in the ice.

No problem with the boat locked in , the only problem is in the spring when the boat can begin to move again the breeze can move it enough to scratch the bottom paint at the WL a bit.

THEN is time for a hammer or an ice eater to widen the hole the boat is sitting in.

The bublers suck for a liveaboard as the noise is constant , for a month or more.

ONLY a wooden boat with calking needs to fear being ice bound , as the cotton in the seams can be started by motion after a solid freeze in.

Click to expand...

Ditto. Kept her in a non-bubbler marina the two first winters. Guess ice thikness was 2 - 4 inches at the coldest of winter. Like FF says, only "problem" is when it starts thawing. Warmer water down below will heat your hull ever so slightly; melting the ice and creating a minute water gap between hull and ice. Any movement of the boat will rub your antfouling against the ice.

Yep, bubblers, like engine room heaters, will work fine until the power goes out for several hours.

You may need a backup plan.

WesK said:

Yep, bubblers, like engine room heaters, will work fine until the power goes out for several hours.

You may need a backup plan.

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Generator

boatpoker said:

Generator

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Yes.

And someone to start it up and keep it fuelled. Or some way for you to be notified to drop what you're doing and get down to the boat with the generator ASAP.

ice eaters need power too...what's a good alternative?

other than Florida of course...

Norm
You can always pick the spendy version. This is an amphibex: something between a boat, a plane and a backhoe. It is used to break up ice on the Red River which flows north from the US and through Winnipeg. It runs on an air cushion and has outrigger floats or hydraulically run air cushions. The more northerly (colder) areas Dam up with the released ice from the southern areas and cause flooding. For boaters, it is the ice in motion that really does the damage. You can look at trees along the river bank in the summer and about five feet up the trunk you will see all the areas where the bark is shredded.

Hard to imagine how this chunk of metal with relatively small footprint can be moved on air cushion ... a pretty machine nevertheless.

Regarding a backup plan ...

This is my backup plan ... if all else fails I call in these guys to fix/reposition the dock.
Not cost effective but what can you do ... nature always wins, give her the time.

WesK said:

Yes.

And someone to start it up and keep it fuelled. Or some way for you to be notified to drop what you're doing and get down to the boat with the generator ASAP.

Click to expand...

I have lived in two harbours in Ontario winters. The liveaboard communities in those harbours are the tightest I have ever known There are always people there to start your genny, secure your power cords or lines and keep the racoons away from your boat.

....or you could also use the Canadian economy version.

I swear thats not me !