A little worried about my "frozen" findings...

[rhillman75]

Sorry, originally posted in the wrong forums. Upon venturing out to the boat storage place this evening to check our boat cover due to oncoming weather set for tomorrow (up to 12" of snow) I was in dis-belief that my cover as well as numerous other boat covers had their support poles fall or fail. We just traded for this 1989 Regal Ambassador 233XL last year, winterzied it, and it went straight to storage. The boat has port holes on both sides of the outdrive for water flow. What I noticed was that both port holes had icicles attached to them that were at least 12" long and about 1" in diameter. I could barely see above the icicle on one port, but on the other port, I could see the flexible black hose at the end of the port hole. So at this point, I am wondering, "am I screwed and is it frozen all the way through?" The cover did have a block of ice on it that I managed to break up and toss, however,what troubles me the most is... how is water coming out of the port holes when I believed they were for only water discharge when hooked up at the dock. I did fill the fresh water tank and waste tank with 1 gallon of the pink stuff, but this was clearly frozen, clear water. Any thoughts from fellow cabin/cruiser owners that may have experienced this?

 

[Bondo]

Re: A little worried about my "frozen" findings...

Sorry, originally posted in the wrong forums. Upon venturing out to the boat storage place this evening to check our boat cover due to oncoming weather set for tomorrow (up to 12" of snow) I was in dis-belief that my cover as well as numerous other boat covers had their support poles fall or fail. We just traded for this 1989 Regal Ambassador 233XL last year, winterzied it, and it went straight to storage. The boat has port holes on both sides of the outdrive for water flow. What I noticed was that both port holes had icicles attached to them that were at least 12" long and about 1" in diameter. I could barely see above the icicle on one port, but on the other port, I could see the flexible black hose at the end of the port hole. So at this point, I am wondering, "am I screwed and is it frozen all the way through?" The cover did have a block of ice on it that I managed to break up and toss, however,what troubles me the most is... how is water coming out of the port holes when I believed they were for only water discharge when hooked up at the dock. I did fill the fresh water tank and waste tank with 1 gallon of the pink stuff, but this was clearly frozen, clear water. Any thoughts from fellow cabin/cruiser owners that may have experienced this?

Ayuh,.... I wouldn't be to concerned 'bout the scuppers havin' water runnin' out,....

I'd be Real concerned if the Bilge Plug at the bottom of the hull wasn't pulled, 'n Ain't leakin' water,....

Boat's on the dry, have to be allowed to Drain,... cover or no cover,...

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: A little worried about my "frozen" findings...

The deck drains did what they are supposed to do-- allow water to drain from the deck. If water froze there it should have only backed up until the thaw when it flows free again. Easy to test to see if there is a problem in the spring with a garden hose. Was there ice coming from the hull drain too?

 

[greenbush future]

Re: A little worried about my "frozen" findings...

Looks like you will need some bigger support beams to hold your cover up and in the right position to keep snow out of the boat. I use open lawn chairs for my smaller run about boat, you may need some 2x4 frames built to help the keep the bows pointing up allowing most of the snow to slide off and out, not collect and drain into the inside of your boat. Not uncommon, and a good thing you are checking on your baby over the winter months.

 

[rhillman75]

Re: A little worried about my "frozen" findings...

The deck drains did what they are supposed to do-- allow water to drain from the deck. If water froze there it should have only backed up until the thaw when it flows free again. Easy to test to see if there is a problem in the spring with a garden hose. Was there ice coming from the hull drain too?

I did not notice any icicles on the hull sides where the sink and shower ports are. It was pretty late and I was working by flashlight and it was 10 degrees outside, so I am returning this afternoon to get a daytime perspective of what's going on. We had a pretty good thaw over the weekend but we are expecting about 12" of snow in the next 24 hours. And yes, I always pull the bilge plug for the winter. It was just a major shock to see the icicles coming out the port holes. I didn't have enough time to really go through everything in November last year. My main concern was that the block was drained and the water/waste/pump system had antifreeze in it.