My 25 footer sits in the Columbia River at my friend's boathouse, with a
significant current under it. This winter, I haven't been concerned about
winterizing it, since it has fresh water cooling, and even more pertinent,
daytime highs have been above freezing.

Starting tomorrow, highs will be 28 degrees through Saturday. I have a
covered hallogen light that can be easily placed in the bilge, near the
water tank. The power source is reliable. Will that do the trick or
should I drain the water and apply antifreeze? I'd prefer not.

-Greg

You mean potable water tank? if so, mebe yes, mebe no...
Also, if you have a hot water heater, be sure to drain it regardless. If
it freezes, it will rupture. Ditto for inline fresh water filters. The
glass or clear plastic bowl varieties should be installed inverted, so
the water drains out when not pressurized. If left full, the bowls will
freeze and break.
JR

Dene wrote:
My 25 footer sits in the Columbia River at my friend's boathouse, with a
significant current under it. This winter, I haven't been concerned about
winterizing it, since it has fresh water cooling, and even more pertinent,
daytime highs have been above freezing.

Starting tomorrow, highs will be 28 degrees through Saturday. I have a
covered hallogen light that can be easily placed in the bilge, near the
water tank. The power source is reliable. Will that do the trick or
should I drain the water and apply antifreeze? I'd prefer not.

-Greg




--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

Hi

Lets see..........bet that a 2 buck light bulb made in china by a 9
year old will protect your $10,000 engine.

If RW cooled, stick you engine water intake into a bucket of
antifreeze. Keep it running until you see the stuff blowing out the
side of your boat. If FW cooled do the same and then check your FW
collant with a 3 buck tester. Top FW system if necessary.

Dene wrote:
My 25 footer sits in the Columbia River at my friend's boathouse, with a
significant current under it. This winter, I haven't been concerned about
winterizing it, since it has fresh water cooling, and even more pertinent,
daytime highs have been above freezing.

Starting tomorrow, highs will be 28 degrees through Saturday. I have a
covered hallogen light that can be easily placed in the bilge, near the
water tank. The power source is reliable. Will that do the trick or
should I drain the water and apply antifreeze? I'd prefer not.

-Greg

Ice doesn't expand much at 28 degrees. When it starts getting down the
low 20's watch out!

wrote in message
ups.com...



Your power source may be reliable, but how about that light bulb?
Possible damage to your engine or other systems is one heck of a bet to
place that "this light bulb won't burn out before spring".

Even with "fresh water cooling" your engine should be running a strong
coolant solution, so there should be no real chance of a freeze up at
28F.

If you drain your potable water tank, and hot water tank, and make sure
the lines are clear there would be no need to add anti-freeze.

You keep that cold weather down in the Columbia, OK? :-)

Isn't Seattle getting the same Arctic blast. Maybe not....you don't have
the open aircock called the Columbia River gorge. I'm on the east end of it
and our wonderful east "breeze" just started. The fun begins.

Spent the morning prepping both boats, the one I bought and the one I'm
selling. The one I bought, Maxum 2400, is in the boathouse, engine hatch
up, canvas down, with a thermostat controlled heater in the cockpit.

The other one is in a covered moorage. Water has been drained, from the
water tanks, and manifold. It has the hallogen light hanging in the engine
hatch, which the boat broker will routinely check. Hoping for the best.
They are predicting low 20 degree temps with a frigid 30-40 mph east wind,
that actually warms the air some.

Hopefully these measures will get me through this... Both boats are FWC.

-Greg

Dene wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...



Your power source may be reliable, but how about that light bulb?
Possible damage to your engine or other systems is one heck of a bet to
place that "this light bulb won't burn out before spring".

Even with "fresh water cooling" your engine should be running a strong
coolant solution, so there should be no real chance of a freeze up at
28F.

If you drain your potable water tank, and hot water tank, and make sure
the lines are clear there would be no need to add anti-freeze.

You keep that cold weather down in the Columbia, OK? :-)

Isn't Seattle getting the same Arctic blast. Maybe not....you don't have
the open aircock called the Columbia River gorge. I'm on the east end of it
and our wonderful east "breeze" just started. The fun begins.

Spent the morning prepping both boats, the one I bought and the one I'm
selling. The one I bought, Maxum 2400, is in the boathouse, engine hatch
up, canvas down, with a thermostat controlled heater in the cockpit.

The other one is in a covered moorage. Water has been drained, from the
water tanks, and manifold. It has the hallogen light hanging in the engine
hatch, which the boat broker will routinely check. Hoping for the best.
They are predicting low 20 degree temps with a frigid 30-40 mph east wind,
that actually warms the air some.

Hopefully these measures will get me through this... Both boats are FWC.

-Greg


My boat is in a shed, up in Bellingham, where I hope to heck work has
commenced. I'll go up there next week and take a look.

Yeah, we're getting the cold blast tonight. Strong north, northeast
wind all afternoon, right out of the Fraser River Valley and the
Canadian Rockies. I like the wind from Hawaii better, even if it is on
the wet side most of the time.

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes. A few weeks back, we
ordered our old home fireplace converted to a Nat-gas log with a custom
built leaded glass door. The fireplace opening has an arched top so the
door had to be built back east somewhere and won't be ready for another
month or so, but just as I was leaving the house this morning the crew
showed up to run the gas line and install the actual log. Coldest night
in the last few years, and we have our newly improved fireplace
running. :-)

And just in time for the, what...75% increase in NG prices. Now THAT'S
what I call planning. Gonna be an expensive log....
How much does it use, say full tilt per hour?

JR

wrote:

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes. A few weeks back, we
ordered our old home fireplace converted to a Nat-gas log with a custom
built leaded glass door. The fireplace opening has an arched top so the
door had to be built back east somewhere and won't be ready for another
month or so, but just as I was leaving the house this morning the crew
showed up to run the gas line and install the actual log. Coldest night
in the last few years, and we have our newly improved fireplace
running. :-)



--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

JR North wrote:
And just in time for the, what...75% increase in NG prices. Now THAT'S
what I call planning. Gonna be an expensive log....
How much does it use, say full tilt per hour?

JR

At current Natgas prices, it will cost about $1 an hour to burn. If
those prices double, it will cost $2. Firewood or Prestologs probably
cost more, burn dirtier, pollute the air to a greater extent, etc. If
we run the log more than 4-5 hours per week in the winter I'd be
surprised.

One of the best advantages of this gizmo is you can have a fire for
highly defined periods of time. We turned it on and sat next to the
hearth with a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir and talked for about half
an hour this evening. When we were done, we simply turned it off. Will
come in handy when we need to leave the house and would otherwise be at
least slightly nervous about leaving a fire burning.

JR North wrote:
And just in time for the, what...75% increase in NG prices. Now THAT'S
what I call planning. Gonna be an expensive log....
How much does it use, say full tilt per hour?

JR

wrote:

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes. A few weeks back, we
ordered our old home fireplace converted to a Nat-gas log with a custom
built leaded glass door. The fireplace opening has an arched top so the
door had to be built back east somewhere and won't be ready for another
month or so, but just as I was leaving the house this morning the crew
showed up to run the gas line and install the actual log. Coldest night
in the last few years, and we have our newly improved fireplace
running. :-)



Last night I watched a nice episode of 'Pilot Guides' on the Pacific
NorthWest.
Switched over about 20 minutes late, so I missed most of the Washington
part...but Oregon looked great. Some of the locals almost apologized
that it was actually beautiful sunny weather..and not rainy & dull.
Saw the hugh sand dunes at the nature reserve, the view along highway
101?? and Portland...along with other places. I'll have to catch the
entire show again. It would be a nice trip if someone could guarantee
me fine weather...we get enough dampness here.

Don White wrote:
JR North wrote:
And just in time for the, what...75% increase in NG prices. Now THAT'S
what I call planning. Gonna be an expensive log....
How much does it use, say full tilt per hour?

JR

wrote:

Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes. A few weeks back, we
ordered our old home fireplace converted to a Nat-gas log with a custom
built leaded glass door. The fireplace opening has an arched top so the
door had to be built back east somewhere and won't be ready for another
month or so, but just as I was leaving the house this morning the crew
showed up to run the gas line and install the actual log. Coldest night
in the last few years, and we have our newly improved fireplace
running. :-)



Last night I watched a nice episode of 'Pilot Guides' on the Pacific
NorthWest.
Switched over about 20 minutes late, so I missed most of the Washington
part...but Oregon looked great. Some of the locals almost apologized
that it was actually beautiful sunny weather..and not rainy & dull.
Saw the hugh sand dunes at the nature reserve, the view along highway
101?? and Portland...along with other places. I'll have to catch the
entire show again. It would be a nice trip if someone could guarantee
me fine weather...we get enough dampness here.

We treasure our reputation for krutzy weather. That terrible,
miserable, weather that is so foul no reasonable person would
voluntarily endure it is about the only defense we have left out here.
If we had the same warm weather and number of sunny days as the lower
latitudes we'd become Californicated even more rapidly than the current
trend.

Now, while it just might rain non-stop for 48 weeks every year and moss
just might grow up our phone poles like kudzu vines do down south,
there is a small window of almost guaranteed sunshine and warm weather
that I'll risk having my tongue chopped off to tell you about. Mid-July
to Mid-August. Most years there are very few rainy days and some years
there are none at all during that four week stretch.(Shhhh!)

Best time to visit the Pacific NW, IMO, is immediately after Labor Day.
Early September is usually much more warm and pleasant than June up
here, and most of the families with kids in school are off the water
after the first week. Downside is that in some of the more remote areas
some of the fuel docks, marinas, and other services begin shutting down
right after September 1.