IceBound On The River

After 30 years living and cruising full time aboard our Charles Wittholz designed trawler M V Surveyor, we sold the boat this spring, but not before she spent a winter #IceBound on the Bobcaygeon River, as it empties into Pigeon Lake.

Just so happened, that the first few days of 2018 were the coldest in our region in 50 years, so it made it that much more interesting to have a boat afloat.
We live just upstream by the rapids 5 min away and we were able to keep an eye on things with onboard webcams.

This little 10 min video chronicles the last winter our beloved great boat spent with us:
https://vimeo.com/308992617

For those that do live in cool areas icebound can be just fine.

Before freezing in , if you can level the boat P&S , it will make drains work as designed.

As the ice starts to thin , there will be a period when the heat of the boat melts the ice in contact with the hull.At that time ant wave or wind motion will cause the boot stripe to abrade , as well as make noise in the boat.

That's the time (the ice will be thinned) to use a 2x4 to knock the hole large enough so the dock lines keep the boat from grinding on the ice.

A winter aboard is usually a great quiet time at most marinas , enjoy!

There is a reason I don't bother with these forums anymore; people don't read what I write, they just add whatever "wisdom" they think they have to show off....., usually there is no wisdom.....

Wow such hatred, maybe buy another boat so you can relax is in order?

Hatred? Not at all, but this FF person seems to be offering advise, while talking without really knowing much, the way I see it.

I have lived and cruised aboard for 30 years (on the same boat), 10 of those on the Great Lakes full time, in winters too.
So, I think I speak from a little more hands-on experience when I tell you FF is not really doing anyone any favors with his inputs.

I.E.:
"Before freezing in , if you can level the boat P&S , it will make drains work as designed."
- Wrong! If the boat freezes in, the ice will squeeze it upward so that it rises from the ice and never on an even keel, so you can forget "level the boat", LOL.
If it is a flat bottom hull, it will be crushed instead of squeezed out!
He is right about the noise and damage to boot stripe, probably why all of us living aboard in winter use some form of deicing; agitators or air.

"That's the time (the ice will be thinned) to use a 2x4 to knock the hole large enough so the dock lines keep the boat from grinding on the ice."
- Wrong! If you let your boat freeze in it will look after itself better than you messing with it. As a marine surveyor with 45 years of experience, I can tell you first hand that liveaboard boaters around Toronto and Port Credit do more damage to their gelcoat chopping ice around the boat than if they leave things alone.

And, if FF is going to dish out advise, then he forgot the most important:
You can never, ever let your boat freeze in WITHOUT SECURING ALL SEACONNECTIONS! That means all of your below waterline drains and seawater intakes must be freed from ice building inside the fittings!
This is done by devising some way of displacing the seawater / lake water from the throughhull fittings below the seacocks. The commercial guys do it by injecting some lighter-than-water liquids such as vegetable oil or lard.
Some take the hose off the seacock, slide a round piece of styrofoam down into the throughhull fitting and then close the seacock. The seacock will cut the styrofoam but the part that remains below the valve assembly will displace the water (so that when water expands during the freezing process, it has wiggle room, instead of cracking the throughhull / seacock). In the spring they shove a dowel through to push the styrofoam down, out of the seacock and then it pops up beside the boat.....

So please don't think I am hateful! - "hate" is used in many dumb ways these PC times.
I just have no patience for people who like to type on these boards as if they were some authority on a subject, but actually are misleading the readers!

Well, speaking from authority....

My experience with ice and cold tells me that the only rational activity would be skiing or snowboarding. Couldn't imagine boating in such cold conditions. Much below 65 is brutal!

Now, where's my hot tub .....

Then you miss out on a lot of cool stuff but yes, you have to like it.
Challenging but extremely rewarding.....

Best times were a couple of winters we spent in our closed-up marina, just us and the critters; everything from wild turkeys to deer, wolves, lynx, a pair of cougars, coyotes, .... peaceful, serene, we loved it.
Just as much as we loved 20 years in tropical waters - paradise is where you make it!
If I was able to continue maintaining the boat the way I think it needs to be, I'd still be living aboard. Hardest part was getting the wife to move ashore and away from all her critters.

Capt; it looks like this river location is quite far from open water. What sort of route to arrive in Lake O?
Reminds me of boating in the finger lakes in my area of the current universe.

Maybe not "hatred" per se...

But it was definitely a dick move.

My $.02

In my humble existence the ice was sea ice and only about 1 1/2 ft thick , fine for a car to drive on , but not about to pop a boat up like a water melon seed.

As a liveaboard there was always enough heat to leave sea cocks functional , I guess in fresh water where the ice could be 6 ft thick and freeze at a higher temperature it would be a problem.

Here in the FL wilderness (nearest traffic light 13 miles) downloading is a difficulty.

My bride went to the local library and downloaded some loom info , total time 17 min.
At home she went to the same site , estimated download time 5 DAYS!!!

So sorry if not viewing your video is a problem.

Expanding any thread is always a problem , as there is never TOTAL info given, just opinion.


And there are lots of opinions.

diver dave said:

Capt; it looks like this river location is quite far from open water. What sort of route to arrive in Lake O?
Reminds me of boating in the finger lakes in my area of the current universe.

Click to expand...

No, the above aerial is a different location from the river.
The aerial is when we lived on the boat in the winter.
The video river dock location is at the mouth of the river as it empties into the lake, and the lake is open water in summer.
It is Pigeon Lake, which is accessed along the Trent Severn Waterway from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron's Georgian Bay, all part of the "Americas Great Loop Cruise".