Colder Than a What?!!

 This winter, 2013 to 2014, has been kinda chilly.  Back in August 2013 we noticed it was an uncommonly cool month and predicted a cold Winter coming up.  Shoulda gone to Vegas on that one.  We had to fire up our diesel heater about two weeks earlier than usual and it's been running 24/7 ever since then, December 2nd.  I think when we first turned it on we only had about 5/8 of a tank for fuel.  That lasted until this past Friday, January 24.  That's not too bad, 53 days of constant use.  I discovered it was getting low when the heater shut off a few times caused, I believe, by the fuel line sucking air when the boat heeled over in 40 knot winds.  Just the other day I told Cheri we'd have to take the boat over and get her fueled up.  Too bad I didn't do it then.  Ever since we've had temperatures down in the teens and single digits and the ice is about 4" thick around the boat.  Our creek is frozen over completely all the way out to the breakwater.  For a while they were keeping the main channel open for the work boats but it looks like they've given up on that.  Probably not too much charter boat action these days anyway.

For entertainment I've been trying to keep the ice clear around our boat.  I use the boat hook, minus the rubber tip, to punch holes in the ice.  I outline blocks about 18" x 36" and then break them loose and push them under the ice away from the boat.  This leaves a clear channel around the boat which usually lasts about 24 hours.  The other day it was a little colder though, about 6 degrees F, and as soon as I finished clearing the ice around the boat it was already skimmed over again.  Fortunately the wind was blowing really hard so the boat was moving around a lot which kept the ice from forming right next to it.  Some people use bubblers to keep the ice away from their boats.  A bubbler is a high volume pump, like you'd use in a large fountain, which keeps the water moving around the boat.  It's most effective if it's hung from the dock so it sits pretty deep and stirs up the warmer water down below.  My neighbor has one and it does a nice job of keeping the ice away from his boat.  I haven't opted for one of these because they cost about $600 and we just don't get that much ice.  At least not in a normal Winter.

On Friday I decided to add some diesel to the nearly empty fuel tank.  Since we are ice-bound this job had to be done five gallons at a time by hand.  I calculated we'd need another 5/8 of a tank to get through the middle of March.  That's about 100 gallons.  I have five Jerry cans, five gallons each, used just for diesel.  I spent all day running back and forth between the boat and the gas station.  Currently diesel is going for $3.97/gallon but we have a local place that sells "off road diesel" for $0.20/gallon less.  That adds up to a lot of beer.  I ended up putting in 140 gallons.  About half way through, my feet got so cold I couldn't feel my toes and I had to take a break.  Life on a boat, nothing but fun.

Our diesel heater is rated at 1/10 gallon per hour when it's just maintaining the temperature.  When it's trying to warm up a cold boat it takes more.  So over the course of an average winter we run it constantly for about 2500 hours.  Figure 250 gallons of fuel at $3.77 per gallon.  That comes out to $942 to stay warm from December 2nd through March 15th.  That's about $0.38 per hour.  Not cheap but I think some folks who have their homes stuck in the dirt are paying much more than that.  At least I feel better when I say that even if it's not true.

Other fun things we do in the Winter include keeping the water tank full.  The marina shuts off the water on the dock around the end of November so we have about 300' of hose that we keep laid out until the following Spring.  Every time we use it we have to hook up all the connections and then walk down to the end of the dock and turn on the water.  It takes about 45 minutes to fill our 250 gallon tank.  Once it's full I walk back to the end of the dock and turn it off.  Then I open all the connections and drain out each length of hose.  If you don't do this then water will freeze and plug the hose and you won't get any flow the next time you go to use it.  One of our neighbors keeps forgetting to do this so every time I see that he's filled his tank I take the time to empty out the hose.  He told me the other day he can't figure out why his 50' section of hose always freezes.  Go figure.

In the forward cabin my side of the bunk is against the starboard side of the boat.  With the temperatures down into single digits I can feel the cold air pouring over me like water.  Cheri got a roll of foil faced bubblewrap and covered it with some quilted cotton cloth that's used for batting in quilts.  She taped this over the inside of the hull.  She then took some more of the bubblewrap and cut it to fit in the ports and hatches.  She also made a larger panel that hangs inside the doors of the companionway.  These fixes have made a huge difference in the warmth of the boat and completely stopped the cold airflow on my side of the bed.  This cheap insulation is laughed at by the R-value experts but on our boat it's working very well.


I took some pictures this morning.  Yesterday we had a heat wave with temperatures up into the low 40's.  For the rest of this week we're back into the 20's and lower.  This is cold for this area and it's lasting much longer than usual.  We feel fortunate that we've managed to stay warm and comfortable.  There are four other live-aboards on our dock.  The guy next to us is using a kerosine space heater which keeps one compartment in his boat liveable.  A couple from Canada have only electric space heaters and said parts of their boat have been in the 40's!  No thanks.

BTW - this is hopefully our last cold Winter for a while.  259 days until we sail away.  Woohooo!