When do boats freeze?

[ggrizzard]

I live near Daytona and it's gotten colder here this week than it has in decades. The forcast calls for a week or more with temps below 30 F at night.

So, when do I worry about water lines, scuppers and the engine freezing and something breaking?

 

[Steve Kamp]

Since you asked the question, you must be worried.
Rig a light bulb in the engine compartment.
You're in salt water; water trapped in intake lines won't freeze. Close all thru hull seacocks. If deck scuppers freeze over over night, they will thaw and drain when daytime warm temps return. The boat will retain daytime warmth, sustained by the water temp surrounding it sufficient to keep your fresh water pressure system from freezing, but you may feel better if you drain it of fresh water and put enough POTABLE antifreeze in the system to fill the hot water tank and the system from the fresh water tank outlet thru the pump and all of the faucet outlets.
My boat stays in New Bern NC and this is all the cold weather prep I have had to do, even with temps that drop toward the 15 degree mark overnight.

 

[MoonSailer]

In my experience boats that are in the water never freeze. The water stays about 50 degrees and with the hatches closed the inside of the boat stays about 50 too. It is very hard to warm up a boat in the water for the same reason...all of the heat escapes out through the hull into the 50 degree water. http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/wtg12.html It looks like the water near Daytona usually stays above 60 degrees even in winter.

 

[Rob19574]

Your fine in FL. By the time the interior of your boat gets anywhere near freezing the sun will be out to warm everything up. Salt water does not freeze until it gets in the ballpark of 27F....but being that the boat is in the water (assuming), heat comes up from the warmer water so again, you should be fine. Deep, prolong freezes are what you need to worry about.

 

[kloudie1]

It helps to open the settee lockers so that the heat from the water can more easily get into the main cabin.. In your area, the heat from the water should keep everything inside plenty warm as long as the air temp is going over 32 in the daytime. Close all ventilators to try to keep the heat inside the boat.

 

[Bob V]

Except for...

your swim strep shower, if you have one.

Don't ask me how I know this but if you do not drain your line to a swim step shower it can freeze and burst the little plastic shower head in no time at all. The shower head on the end of that hose may look cheap but it is not inexpensive.

 

[shemandr]

There is usually a bottle of water in my car. If it isn't frozen in the AM I'm not overly worried about my boat. I do winterize the boat, mostly because the damage could be very expensive; but here in NY, even with the cold temps we've had that bottle hasn't frozen been frozen in the AM yet.

 

[Andy1237]

shemandr, that not very comforting to hear since the water bottle in our car froze solid and the Dr. Pepper can exploded scattering icee soda all over the interior! Wonder if I left any Cokes on the boat? oops

 

[CalebD]

You really are at minimal risk of anything freezing over hard in Florida as the water temp is near 60F unless the Labrador current is trumping the Gulf Stream.
I like Kloudie's idea of opening up the cabin lockers to let the relative warmth of the water into the cabin to heat the interior. The exterior parts could freeze temporarily but should thaw once the sun is shining again.
You may get some condensation of water in the cabin so be aware of that. Most likely you just need to buy some 'winter-like' clothing to deal with what we do up north every winter. Even here on Long Island the sea water rarely (once in 20 years) gets cold enough (< 25F) to freeze the surface of the Sound. It takes about a week of 20F or less to start the process up here. I really doubt that you will experience that in FL.
Scatter some salt in your cockpit if you are at all worried that your scuppers will freeze but that seems extreme to me for FL.
Cold is just the absence of heat. You will get heat soon. Count on it.

 

[catsailor]

Put in proportion, that is October weather on the Chesapeake

I live near Daytona and it's gotten colder here this week than it has in decades. The forcast calls for a week or more with temps below 30 F at night.

So, when do I worry about water lines, scuppers and the engine freezing and something breaking?

Prime sailing season, with good winds and better temperatures (no sweating, good sleeping). We have no freezing concerns at that time. Relax.

I placed a long winter sailing bit on my blog, if you are intersted in some cold weather tips.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/search?q=winter+sailing

 

[ggrizzard]

Brrrrr!

Thanks for all the replys. It's 4am Thurs and the temp is 28F and falling.
I took your collective advice and opened up the nooks and crannys and turned on a light bulb. I was on Lake Lanier (Georgia) for a season and, though the lake never froze, the water jacket on the YSM 12 cracked in half due to ice in the engine and a cockpit drain cracked in a similar freeze after I moved Intuition back to Fla.

Let's pray for global warming!

 

[Ron20324]

I think (hope) I drained all the raw water from my engine, but some rested in the bottom of the raw water strainer. A bottle of water in the sink was not frozen, but that raw water was. I filled it with anti freeze.

 

[druid]

Well, I live in the Frozen North so I should know...
I've lived aboard a few years and there's an interesting phenomenon: the seawater doesn't get much lower than +4 C here. So, when the air temp goes below 4, it's actually WARMER on the water than on land. Which means that even if the air temp on land is -2 or -3 C, the temp in the boat is still around +4 (or maybe +3...). Even warmer right next to the hull where the thru-hulls are.

So at 28 F (-2 C?) you should be fine - I'd guess the seawater in FL is at least +6 C or so. But if it makes you feel better, put a few incandescent lights in the boat - plenty enough heat to ward off freezing.

druid