The River is Frozen

[RobnBern]

I called the marina today and was told it was frozen. We had crazy winds from the west for 2 days, which blew most of the water out of the river, which caused boats all over the place to sit on the bottom. I normally have 4'-6' under me. Then, apparently, a freeze started. We're near the mouth of the river where it dumps into a larger river and, as they've told me, "for the first time since 1975, you can walk across the river." I'm so worried. All systems are winterized. 750 watt bilge heater. Oil radiant heater in the cabin. The bubblers are only clearing an area of about 5 from the center of the bubbler.

My concern, as I go into this 5th year of ownership, is hull damage from the ice. Certainly, I'm worried about the engines etc but I've no frame of reference for the problems of river ice on the hull.

Any thoughts??

 

[kaz911]

What I have seen before is usually the hull is fine on V shaped hulls or sailboats. The ice would push them upwards - and they will come to rest on top of the ice. The only thing I did not pay attention to is drives and shafts - don't know what happens to them. It has been quite a few years since I have been in icy climate

 

[Gofirstclass]

Rob, how about adding another bubbler? I put one in a slip several years ago AFTER the slip had frozen over. I used a 1/3hp submersible pump that was connected to PVC that I'd run along both sides of my slip. The pump was lowered about 5' down into the water where the water doesn't freeze. It pumped that warmer (35*) water up and through the PVC system. I drilled 1/4" holes about every 18". The holes were drilled so that the water was sprayed from the sides of the finger docks toward the direction of the boat.

When I installed it the temp was -7*. About 2 hours after I'd plugged it in the ice around the boat was almost completely gone, and within a day my entire slip was ice free.

If you want more information on how it was put together just let me know.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Rob, Here's the setup I used. The pump output opening was 1.5" so I ran 1.5"PVC up to a reducer "T" that stepped the outlet ends down to 1.25". The 1.25"PVC ran from the center of the slip out to the corners. From that point I ran 1"PVC along the sides of the slip. I hung the pump using a rope so I could raise and lower it as needed. The PVC along the edges of the docks was hung using galvanized pipe strap.

I had no idea how many holes I'd need to drill in the PVC so that the water pressure wasn't just blasting the water out so I just kept drilling more and more holes in the sides of the pipe. As I drilled more and more holes the output pressure (out of the holes) dropped to a point where the water spraying out of the holes reached most of the way to the boat. I ended up drilling 1/4" holes about every 18" all the way around the pipe. At the ends of the 1" pipe (at the opening of the slip) I put end caps an drilled holes in those that aimed the water spray out toward the bow of the boat.

Got any more questions???? Fire away, and I hope you boat doesn't suffer any damage.

 

[RobnBern]

Hey guys....thanks for the information. My daughter and I just got back from the boat. Fairly sure they are ALL sitting on the bottom. I've never seen the tide so low. Some of the boats have ice up into their exhaust, but we don't have any such thing. The water at the stern is covered by a thin layer. Everything else seems pretty thick. There's evidence of people having walked out onto the main river. The engine room and cabin were "toasty" warm, so that really made me feel good. We'll see what happens during the thaw. Some of the pictures are pretty cool (just because I've never seen the river this frozen before).

 

[vandal]

What people do up here is put rock salt around boat to weaken ice just a little it will prevent hull from getting pressed in from ice.

 

[RobnBern]

Really?? I've never heard of that. I wish I could make the pictures smaller, I'd post them. But they're 5mb each

 

[Mikemapva]

Love to see the pics, since that's my marina! We're on the hard next door at Captain John S. Beach, and this year, I'm glad we are.

 

[1956olds]

Can you put them on photobucket and post a link

 

[RobnBern]

Try this link to photo bucket "Frozen". Let me know if it works please. Mike, I'm always in the water, as are most of the guys on E dock. This year, for whatever reason, I spent extra time winterizing, stuffing thick foam in the vents, relocating the bilge heater to a more central spot, etc. I'm SOOO glad I did!!! Look at how low the water is due to the big blow we had the night before/of the crazy freeze!!The only spots with clear water are where the bubblers are close to the surface. http://s1060.photobucket.com/user/medic1510/library/Frozen?sort=3

 

[Do Over]

It works....man that's crazy stuff.....I would hate having to keep my boat in an uncovered slip.....doesn't anyone use bubblers?

clif

 

[RobnBern]

I'm in a covered slip (notice my daughters green kayak on the bow?) As for bubblers, the short answer is No. Usually, the docks are covered by the few bubblers that some of the owners have. One bubbler usually keeps several slips open. This year, as you can see, a single bubble won't even keep a single boat open. If you look at the one boat with the frozen platform, that's a 24' bow rider in a covered slip. His bubbler is spraying up and making so much ice, that his boat is now listing.

 

[dwna1a]

I use a sump pump with 3/4 PVC pipe. The pipe is only wide enough to extened to just past each side of the boat. The pump is on a timer and cuts on for an hour every other hour, and then at 2am till 7am. We had to bust the ice away from my stern to get the pump in and within the first two hours she was floating free. Last week many of the boats were being pushed up from the ice, while the docks were being pushed down from the snow. It's been a rough week at Jamestown.

 

[Mikemapva]

Try this link to photo bucket "Frozen". Let me know if it works please. Mike, I'm always in the water, as are most of the guys on E dock. This year, for whatever reason, I spent extra time winterizing, stuffing thick foam in the vents, relocating the bilge heater to a more central spot, etc. I'm SOOO glad I did!!! Look at how low the water is due to the big blow we had the night before/of the crazy freeze!!The only spots with clear water are where the bubblers are close to the surface. http://s1060.photobucket.com/user/medic1510/library/Frozen?sort=3

Those are incredible pics. I think one of the pictures is the Wellcraft with the hard top that is right next to my slip on C dock. I've never seen it like this before.

Mike

 

[ZZ13]

I moved just in time. My last two years there in 2012 and 2013 I took the boat by water from Belmont Bay to PWM for service, in mid February.

 

[Mikemapva]

I moved just in time. My last two years there in 2012 and 2013 I took the boat by water from Belmont Bay to PWM for service, in mid February.

Bill,

You sure couldn't have done it this year. The Potomac is frozen over too.

Mike

 

[blaster]

 

[RobnBern]

Hello guys....we've still got snow on the ground and 75% of the water is still frozen in the river. Our boats are now free floating, however. My bilge is bone dry and still nice and warm. There's ice at the end of my lane, so even if I wanted to move out of the slip, I wouldn't get too far. I'll certainly be looking at other options for next season to protect the boat.

 

[estoltz]

Well that explains why my surveyor called and rescheduled my survey for the boat at PWM. That sea trial would have been a bit bumpy

 

[Mikemapva]

Hello guys....we've still got snow on the ground and 75% of the water is still frozen in the river. Our boats are now free floating, however. My bilge is bone dry and still nice and warm. There's ice at the end of my lane, so even if I wanted to move out of the slip, I wouldn't get too far. I'll certainly be looking at other options for next season to protect the boat.

Thanks for the update. I was wondering if things had improved since you posted last week.