WOW never got into this subject. Thank for the info.

We've been -20 to -25C at night since New Year's, daytime highs haven't gotten above -15C since then as well. Minus 10F is minus 23C. I have 3 gallons of -50 RV antifreeze on the floor of my unheated garage and it's -20C (-4F) and they don't show any signs of freezing at all. Perhaps not all RV antifreeze is the same?

Also makes you wonder how they calculate burst protection, as in how much expansion they allow for. Some materials would stretch and recover like the water lines on our boats, others, like copper pipes, will just burst.

Y'all,
NOW I understand this freezing problem!
We're expecting a hard freeze down to 17F tonight here on the Gulf Coast!
Coldest we've seen in 25 years:eek: Must be global warming...
Sorry for all the jokes about not having to winterize over the years.

Chooch,

So, how do you fare with these highly unusual FL freezing temps?

By us, it got down to 32F at the lowest point this week, but I figured there was no way the boat's water system would freeze if the boat was sitting in 55F water.

How about that Florida cold!

I think you can rest easy, though. Our boat is in Telegraph Harbour, BC for the winter, with one 1500 watt heater on top of the stove, and a 90 watt "cans" in each cabin. Friends checked their C42 in the same marina in mid-to-late December and reported back that High Flight was still floating...in 1/2 inch ice! This is salt water! Temps had been in the teens for a several-day period. I'm hoping everything is OK, and will be headed up there next week to check things over.

Telegraph Harbour is on Thetis Island, just southeast of Nanaimo.

Be carefull checking boats in the winter, I have not gone sailing since New Years Day. On Monday I walked out back of my house onto my dock here in sunny Florida. The temp was about 32 degrees which is the lowest temperature I can remeber in the 18 years I lived here in Southwest Florida. I stepped on my boat and discovered what I thought was morning due was actual frozen due (Ice). Fortunatly, being an old guy I was holding on to a life line stantion and a piling. In my younger days I found no need to hold on to anything when getting on or off a boat. If this was then, I would have went sliding across the boat or off the boat.

Duane,
Finally, a break in the cold. All of our tropical vegetation is down for the year (Banannas, elephant ears, staghorns, etc.). Have to wait and see how the palms survived. At least it will be a good insect kill. This was the worst freeze to hit us since the 80's. The clear skies at night, without the insulating cloud cover, caused the temps to plummet.
Tara survived; all water lines and drains are intact. The floating piers at NAS were covered in ice as the marina kept the water flowing from each slip's faucets. I cranked up the M25 to pump up the CO2. Nowhere near as good as water vapor as a greenhouse gas, but the pseudo-scientists think it might help warm things up a bit.
Just another day in paradise :cool: .
How did y'all fare down south?

Thanks for the sitrep, Chooch. Glad it wasn't worse for you.

Our canal home neighborhood saw temps no lower than 33F according to our supposedly accurate thermometer. Being surrounded by so much water at well over 50F surely helped that. We had no issues with water freezing anywhere and all the plants seem OK. We did cover all the sensitive plants with sheets.

We're visiting friends a bit south of us this weekend and the temps came up nicely on average. Let's hope it's at least another 20 years before we get nailed like that again.

Cheers!

Pat T. and other northerly sailors,

If you pour the blue stuff on ice will it melt the ice? I normally leave several inches of the pink stuff in the bilge. Several days ago I visited my boat and found a substantial amount of frozen, almost clear water in the bilge. I would like to find a way to melt some of this so I can bail it out before we have more rain. The weather lately has gotten a little milder but still below freezing.

Read and interesting article today that made me think of this discussion. The article was related to Rotax engines used in some very light aircraft that had been suffering cooling problem. These engines unlike most larger aircraft piston engines are liquid cooled. The solution to there cooling problems was a new product produced by Evans Cooling Systems. This company makes a waterless coolant that raises the boiling point of the coolant at normal atmosphiric pressure to 375F, a big jump from 230F for most water based coolants. The article also brought out many water based cooling system problems I had not considered. One of which being that in a typical cooling system under high power often the coolant may break down locally and vaporize the coolant. Steam has a very poor thermal conductivity and may cause the local hot spot to rise extreamly high. They found that on heavy trucks and racing engines that a majority of the engine failures were related to this breakdown in the cooling system.
They have and interesting web site with lots of pretty picture and colored charts and graphs.

I am not sure how much value this high temp aspect of this coolant would be though if your raw water side of the system failed and the closed side of the system could not cope. Having another 150 degrees of temp margine before the coolant failed may save you an overhaul.

I mention this product in this conversation as the waterless coolant has one other benifit of mention a freezing point of minus 77.

Oh yes, it is non toxic, will not rust, bust or gather dust.

Just stumbled into this thread and wanted to add a warning.

Before you suck any antifreeze in through the sea water strainer or engine consider the following:

[B]#1 [/B]The -50f pink stuff (propylene glycol) is not intended to be diluted nor is the -60 or -100.

This quote is from Camco one of the largest producers of "RV" antifreeze.

[Quote=Camco]

Q. How much water should I add to your -50 RV Antifreeze to achieve a -25 burst protection?
A. Camco -50 RV Antifreeze should not be diluted. It is a pre-diluted solution that is designed to be used full strength. Additional water dramatically alters the expansion properties of the solution, making an adequate burst protection difficult to achieve.[/quote]

[B]#2[/B] Your engine has a strainer (unless you by-pass it and drain it), hoses, HX and wet exhaust system that will already be full of water. One or two gallons of -50 pink stuff may not sufficiently prevent a freeze up if diluted with the 1+/- gallon of fresh water probably already in the system.

[B]#3[/B] If your vessel has engine driven refrigeration, like a Sea Frost unit, be sure to drain the refrigeration HX before sucking in the antifreeze as this alone contains at least a gallon of water.

Here in Maine we can see -20f to -30f. Sometimes for up to a week at a time. It is critically important that the -50 antifreeze NOT be diluted and that it can withstand the temps in your region. You don't want to be buying a new HX, Water Lift or raw water pump..

I actually drain all hoses, the wet exhaust water lift, sea strainer, engine HX and my Sea Frost HX before sucking any antifreeze through. This allows me to buy less antifreeze as it is not getting diluted. Up here in Maine I use the -100 stuff for a couple bucks more but only because of our potentially really low temps.

Nearly every spring I hear of someone at the local yards who froze their engine, usually a DIY. Cha-ching $$$$$$$$.. Merely seeing pink out the exhaust does not tell you what the freeze point is or how diluted it has become. Engines & parts are expensive, antifreeze relatively cheap. I would suggest either running more through, like four to five gallons, or drain the system before sucking it in or check the freeze point of what is coming out the wet exhaust by catching it with a cup.

Of course if you're in MD or NJ this might not be a concern but in areas where it gets to -20 below or colder it is a real concern as even antifreeze can freeze, especially stuff that has been diluted with fresh water..

Mainsail,

I truely am a clueless Californian, I had reviewed this post topic quickly when it first came out and it excaped me until your most recent post that the issue was related to freezing water in the raw water system and in the bilges. These are issues that I had assumed that only Captain Shackleton needed to worry about.

I still find the waterless coolant of interest to us less religious folks who can not walk on their water.