1987 Catalina C-22 Swing Keel vs. Ice

[philwsailz]

Hi all,

Phil here from the very cold climes of North Central Oklahoma...

I try to be a 12-month sailor, and only haull my boat in the spring for spring cleaning and annual maintenance. My '87 Catalina C-22 swing-keel has seen hard water the last two winters, but not quite as solid as she is embraced in right now. Do any of the rest of you winter over in the water?

The boat is in a well-protected cove at our local lake. The lake is not exposed to fluctuations in level due to dams opening and closing, only input, spillway over-topiing runoff, and evaporation. So there is little in the way of current or wind to disturb the boat. She is at a dock, not at a mooring, and she has fore and aft lines, redundant in a "v"-shape fore and aft, with spring-lines as well. The boat is secured to the dock well, but not restrictively so.

As I shared, she is frozen in at the moment, in about 2" or 3" of ice. We are seeing 0 deg. F the next two nights, and I know the ice will get thicker before it gets back into the 40's early to mid next week.

I see a thin line of liquid water around the outside of the hull, so I realize the boat is really pretty comfy, as in a very well designed cradle. My concern is the keel cable thru-hull. My biggest fear is that the volcano will crack if it gets freezing water in there, and will sink the boat on a thaw.

What do the rest of you think? Anyone have real experience with this sort of ice? My guess is that we will be 4-5 inches by the weekend...

 

[Sumner]

Do you have power to the boat? If I was really concerned and I can see your point and I had power I might think about putting a small flood or spot light in there and shining it on the thru hull if you can. Not much wattage, you don't want it hot just enough to give some heat to that area.

Hopefully someone else will post that they have a similar boat and will say it is no problem. Good luck and you guys are getting some cold weather. I have two friends from that area that usually call me and rub it in about it being warmer there that where we live at 6000 feet in SE Utah, but it was the other way around this morning when I was talking to one of them,

Sum

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[justjon]

Water expands as it freezes and the real danger is cracking your boat when the ice freezes next to the hull. I would put styrafoam pieces next to the boat to absorb this expansion .. Ever read Shackletons accounts of being iced in. Sank same ...

 

[Joe]

No direct experience, but I've read some articles on the subject. One of the methods is to keep the water moving by dropping a "circulator" under the boat (it's like an underwater fan).... I invite you to research that further because it seems like an economical solution. Here's what I had in mind: http://www.atlanticfountains.com/circulators.htm

Here's a quote from the site that describes the process: "Ice-free areas are kept open by moving warmer bottom water to the surface and by simple physical movement to inhibit ice formation."

follow up:... it appears these units are a bit pricier than I thought... may have to strike the "economical solution" comment.

 

[Sumner]

No direct experience, .......

You mean Mission Bay hasn't ever froze over :dance:. When I was in boot camp in San Diego and they only gave us one blanket and the barracks weren't heated I thought it was going to freeze over.

I wouldn't be as concerned about the outside of the hull thinking with it's shape hopefully it would raise up if the ice pushed on it, but I do know that boats are crushed in ice. If it is like our boat with the round thru hull for the up-haul on the keep if ice did form in there very thick it wouldn't really have a way to relieve the expansion.

If you can't do anything about it I would think the ice wouldn't melt all at once and you would know you had a leak in there and could do something about it then while the ice would maybe help to hold the boat up.

Let us know what the outcome was,

Sum

 

[philwsailz]

Water expands as it freezes and the real danger is cracking your boat when the ice freezes next to the hull. I would put styrafoam pieces next to the boat to absorb this expansion .. Ever read Shackletons accounts of being iced in. Sank same ...

Not to be argumentative, but Shackleton lost his boat doe to ice flow. Movement... The arctic ice pack does move, and it does heave and buckle. I am not experiencing any movement as I am in a protected fresh-water cove. Therer is no analogy, only similarity.

And yes, ice expands as it freezes, just as solids expand as they get warmer. But, the expansion is about the centroid of the mass, otherwise, we would not be able to get two stuck glasses apart by running hot water over the outer one. With a solid that has a hole, the hole grows larger with increasing temperature not smaller. 'Not sure the extent that this directly applies, but I am not concerned at all about crushing.

I thnk I am going to go get a 60 watt incandescent bulb in an inexpensive aluminum reflector clamp-light and put it in there next to the volcano, just to keep it above 32* F. I have access to power at the dock, so this will be easy.

Thanks for the responses guys!

 

[txtowman]

more danger inside

open all the access panels inside make sure the inside of the hull is dry and run an incandescent 60 or 75 watt light bulb inside, it will keep it above freezing.

 

[larryw]

I had a C-22 back in the day and I think I'd just put it on the trailer for the ice season, but then, I live in SoCal, what do I know from ice?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Not to denigrate your boat ... but sh*t only seems to happen to really expensive boats. I've seen a lot of piece o' crap boats (again, I am admiring your C-22) locked in ice all winter and they never seem the worse for it (at least they still float). Generally speaking, when ice freezes, it seems to expand in the direction of least resistance, otherwise ice trays would never hold water. If the trunk has open areas where the water will expand, I doubt you would have much of a problem. Ice will crack an engine block, when the space is confined and the water expands beyond the capability of metal to strain. But fill a plastic milk jug with water and let it freeze and it won't phase it.