welp. i’m back

[Wotname]

Hey Chotu, great news about the health improvement. Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe it was having a real social life or maybe just plain old good luck but whatever, it is good to hear you are sailing well on the river of life.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Chotu

got a leak in my RIB from bashing through ice

I will add this to my secret list of all the drawbacks of RIBs.

using ethanol gasoline straight out of the gas station pump is just fine. ran all winter on it.

::shrug:: Is this a surprise? I mean, millions of people use E10 and E15 in their cars in the winter.

the manufacturer additives in the (20% bio) diesel i ran in the diesel heaters all winter (from the gas station) worked fine with no hint of gelling

Also unsurprising

something interesting about taking your dinghy through frozen water. At first I was doing it slowly using the V of the hull to break the ice. I think that’s how I got a leak in one of my tubes. it was getting a little frustrating doing that so I opened it up one time. It works much better to put the boat on top of the ice and let the outboard leg rip through the ice. This I learned.

Hope you're wearing a wetsuit, drysuit, or similar.

[SeanPatrick]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZzEzDkeHzI

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Hope you're wearing a wetsuit, drysuit, or similar.

When I worked winters on Lake Michigan, I wore a wetsuit under my Mustang.

and whatever you do, don't wear any type of snowsuit.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Iron E

When I worked winters on Lake Michigan, I wore a wetsuit under my Mustang.

and whatever you do, don't wear any type of snowsuit.

this is a curious a bit of tangent.

why not?

I just wear a good winter clothing, thermals, etc. if it’s incredibly bad snowboarding gear.

There have been a few times that it was just awful where the course I had to take was at the wrong angle to strong wind and every wave splashed me and FROZE to me. Those were not fun moments, but i laughed them off, remembering that it’s still more comfortable temperature wise than florida is in anything but Dec, Jan, Feb. that got me through it

also, early season I had a little incident. I was thinking I could see pretty well with ambient/moon light at night but I guess not. I was WOT through the mooring field and avoided a mooring ball but got slapped hard by the stick on the float nearby to it.

[5BTM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU&t=3s

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Chotu

this is a curious a bit of tangent.

why not?

I just wear a good winter clothing, thermals, etc. if it’s incredibly bad snowboarding gear.

There have been a few times that it was just awful where the course I had to take was at the wrong angle to strong wind and every wave splashed me and FROZE to me. Those were not fun moments, but i laughed them off, remembering that it’s still more comfortable temperature wise than florida is in anything but Dec, Jan, Feb. that got me through it

also, early season I had a little incident. I was thinking I could see pretty well with ambient/moon light at night but I guess not. I was WOT through the mooring field and avoided a mooring ball but got slapped hard by the stick on the float nearby to it.

One of the issues we would run across is that snowsuits designed for skiing, snowmobiling, etc. became extremely heavy when submerged. Even when wearing PFD's, folks would go straight to the bottom when they fell in.
Of course, I don't know exactly what you're wearing, but it would be best to wear suits/gear designed for cold weather and cold water exposure.

Edit: The weight of wet snowsuits also played a critical role in preventing them from being able to lift themselves back into their boat in some cases.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by 5BTM

ha ha ha ha

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Iron E

One of the issues we would run across is that snowsuits designed for skiing, snowmobiling, etc. became extremely heavy when submerged. Even when wearing PFD's, folks would go straight to the bottom when they fell in.
Of course, I don't know exactly what you're wearing, but it would be best to wear suits/gear designed for cold weather and cold water exposure.

Edit: The weight of wet snowsuits also played a critical role in preventing them from being able to lift themselves back into their boat in some cases.

oh… I wear things that make sense for skiing. Actually you can see them in the pictures.

they are not big thick things like that a snowmobile suit of the days of yore

it’s layers.

so it’s the same thing you’d wear sailing if rich and had all the helly hansen gear.

it’s a lightweight, breathable, waterproof gore-tex shell. there is no “insulation” so it doesn’t absorb like you’re talking about. it’s maybe 1/8” thick at the most. it’s same as the helly hansen stuff. i have a coat and a set of bibs like that.

then i wear regular clothing under that if it’s cold. a fleece, thermal underwear.

otherwise if it’s like 25F+ i just wear everyday clothing with a hat, jacket and gloves.

real ski gear is exactly the same as helly hansen marine gear. costs as much too, so no point in buying 2 of them just because one says “marine” on it.

interestingly, i’ve been seeing a fair amount of helly hansen on the mountains too. they are finally figuring out they can sell to that market too

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I will add this to my secret list of all the drawbacks of RIBs.


::shrug:: Is this a surprise? I mean, millions of people use E10 and E15 in their cars in the winter.


Also unsurprising



Hope you're wearing a wetsuit, drysuit, or similar.

some of those things were surprises. Because the majority of people say, on this forum, don’t think you can run ethanol in an outboard and told me I would be in a world of pain running that this winter. There wasn’t really any other choice, so I just did it. And it worked out fine.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Chotu

oh… I wear things that make sense for skiing. Actually you can see them in the pictures.

they are not big thick things like that a snowmobile suit of the days of yore

Holy crap, that's funny... days of yore.

I may even own a days of yore jacket.

[fxykty]

Glad you’re back and feeling good, or is it great! I’m sure the mountain break was good for your soul too.

Your experience in your cat makes me not worry so much for the 5 years or so in the future when we’ll be cruising Alaska through the winter (I’m finding the Alluring Arctic YT videos good for that too). However, unlike your boat we’ve got solid fibreglass hulls, so I think we do need to insulate up to the deck and below the floorboards.

Interesting observations with your dinghy and ice. Our cat dinghy will hopefully ride over the ice? Or maybe we build a couple of fibreglass ‘chaps’ for the lower part of the hull tubes?

For now, we’re enjoying equatorial SE Asia, but we do use a portable air conditioner when we’ve got any sensitive work to do, otherwise everything gets covered in dripping sweat. For outside jobs, it’s the first three hours of daylight or not at all.

[nwh10]

I thought you got lost in a snowdrift on the back side of some mountain.

Looks like a gorgeous bluebird day in that photo... the sun this week has been a nice change from the gray on gray we've had for weeks on end.

Youtube channel? Would tie in well with that website we talked about a while back. Especially now that you have real internet...say what?!? omg not Starlink for real?

[RaymondR]

Having just been through it myself Chotu, you have my sympathy on the deplatforming thing mate.

I have an 8' tupperwear, boston whaler dingy which is modified to make it more practicable. However, I occasionally am concerned about looking like a canape at a cocktail party to the crocodile population which frequent my usual cruising grounds. These things have grown to monstrous size since they became a protected species about 50 years ago and there are occasions when I would like a larger and speedier dingy.

One of the options I've pondered is a longer boston whaler with the rear wheels built into the hulls which fold up over onto the top of the hulls and which would have flat bottomed, rather than the V hulls the extant dingy has. Reading the part of your OP post about skating over ice I thought that the flat bottomed hulls would be perfect for this purpose (I have absolutely no intention of ever again going to any place where ice forms on the water ever again and threw my 50 or so year old Mustang "floater" survival suit away a couple of years ago)

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Glad you’re back and feeling good, or is it great! I’m sure the mountain break was good for your soul too.

Your experience in your cat makes me not worry so much for the 5 years or so in the future when we’ll be cruising Alaska through the winter (I’m finding the Alluring Arctic YT videos good for that too). However, unlike your boat we’ve got solid fibreglass hulls, so I think we do need to insulate up to the deck and below the floorboards.

Interesting observations with your dinghy and ice. Our cat dinghy will hopefully ride over the ice? Or maybe we build a couple of fibreglass ‘chaps’ for the lower part of the hull tubes?

For now, we’re enjoying equatorial SE Asia, but we do use a portable air conditioner when we’ve got any sensitive work to do, otherwise everything gets covered in dripping sweat. For outside jobs, it’s the first three hours of daylight or not at all.

Thanks! good to hear from you!

based on my experience, i’d say insulation is probably required with a solid fiberglass hull.

Through the whole winter so far, my 1” thick R7 core transmitted no appreciable cold feeling inside the boat. you could reach out and touch the hull with your hand both in the bilge when the water was ice outside, as well as on the top side and deck where it was air contact. The most you could feel was a slight coolness. And I mean slight. Otherwise it all stayed at room temperature. Absolutely no condensation on this boat all winter. Not even a little. Not a drop.

one very odd thing when it comes to condensation that I noticed is my clothing itself would get a little musty. that’s the only place for any type of mold would attempt to grow. i am taking about the “house clothing” you wear for days on end inside the boat.

it’s going to be quite an adjustment temperature wise to go from that tropical weather to Alaska. But it will be so refreshing. and at least you can control it. heaters are quiet and take little power. thermal underwear with the waffle pattern is awesome. you can always add another layer to remain comfortable in any conditions

running a takakat on thin ice, i would expect it to jump on top too, with the outboard leg breaking the ice. may not even need the chaps. when the ice gets too thin to stay on top, you may need the chaps or to take it very slowly. when it’s too thick, you’re stuck. that part never happened to me yet. definitely work something out for your davits.

you’ll also need 8 kW of diesel heaters. one for each hull and one for the salon. even then, it takes a couple hours to come from a completely cold boat to something you can relax in.