Winter Liveaboard on Lake Ontario

sailingdream · December 23, 2009, 08:42:43 AM

Hello to all and Merry Xmas.

I thought I would post this little update on my first go at winter live aboard on my C34 '90. I have done summer live aboard since mid 2007, and this yr I decided (with the help from others at the club to try winter live aboard). I am located in Toronto on Lake Ontario. All 300+ boats at the club were pulled out of the water at the end of Oct and this allowed me (and the other 10 live aboard boats) to move closer to shore and closer to the club house, makes for a quicker run to the bathroom at 3am :) .

November was very mild, compared to other years; I believe this yr was the first in about 160yrs that Toronto didn't get any snow. This was good for this newbie to slowly get my feet wet and get used to living on a boat in colder weather. About mid month I began to build my frame and shrink wrap the boat (will post pictures in a day or so). This was a challenge for me since this was the first time to shrink-wrap the boat; the previous yrs I had just blue-tarp'ed for winter storage. After the shrinking was all done I realize shrink wrapping wasn't all that bad and pretty easy, once I got the hang of it and an actual good shrink-wrap gun. I was able to shrink the boat down in about 2-3hrs. And what a difference it made to maintain heat and also warm up the boat during the day too with the greenhouse effect. Most days the outside temperature was in the range of 5C(41F). For the most part of November my source of heat was my heat pump (reverse cycle on my AC unit, which is installed in my V-Berth and a 1500watt Oil filled heater.

Onto December, we had a wicked storm come through. With wind gusts over 45knots, for 3 days! At the time I wasn't working so I was down below those 3 days. And after 3 days I was getting pretty tired and feeling like I was in a washing machine. ANY direction possible to move the boat it moved, up/down, side to side, front to back, ALL at the same time. I thought for sure something was going to break.

Winter finally arrived at the beginning of the month with colder temperatures and some pretty cold nights when the mercury dropped down to -10C/14F (and with the wind it felt like -20C/-4F). After those cold days my heat pump gave out, not sure what happened but I will have to take a look at it in the spring but I think the water pump stopped working due to failure to pump water, the line that the water spits out the port side must have froze and prevented the pump from pumping water and failed. Too bad, because it's amazing how much heat that system was able to kick out from water temps of about -7C/44F, last time I checked it.

So now I'm left to using the oil filled heater and space heaters (2 of them). Which is still not too bad. I only leave the Oil Filled heater running during the day when I'm not on the boat and than fire up the two space heaters when I get back from work, and fire up the electric blanket as well to get that chill from the cushions. The past few nights it's been down about -10C/14F at night and just with my small source of heat I'm able to stay comfy in a t-shirt.

Each winter live aboard has access to 4x30Amp and 1x15amp sockets. Our hydro is metered (I believe at 10cents per kilowatt hr). I run 3x30amp cords to the cockpit. One going to the house power on the C34. The other for the 2 space heaters which run at 900watts (7.5amp) and the third one for the 1500watt heater. I didn't want to place the load on the house power on the boat running heaters. On the boat itself I have a 22" LCD TV and computer running. Most times I use the 12V lights, so I'm not placing a lot of load on the power system on the boat itself. Don't use the water heater.

I keep the aft cabin closed and the head. Makes for less space to heat up. Even though the doors are kept closed it's not freezing, COLD, but not to the point it feels like your outside. When my daughter comes down she stays in the aft cabin and I can heat it up in no time with a space heater and she's comfy with an electric blanket too.

I winterized my engine and the aft water tank. I still use my head and midship water tank. We run a REALLY long hose from the club house to fill the tanks for those who decided to keep running water on the boat over the winter. And for the head, we have a portable pump out station.

It's almost Xmas and Toronto has still yet to get a good dump of snow, there is next to nothing on the ground. But cold enough to avoid staying outside for long.

Wow that was a long report :) So far I would do winter live aboard again, it not that bad. Let's hope we don't get those really really really cold days.

Btw. I also have 2 bubblers to keep the ice from around the hull. The past week it's been cold enough that ice is forming in the bay and around the docks. At night I hear the ice rubbing on the hull. It hasn't gotten to the point where I need to keep running the bubblers running full time. I turn them on in the morning while I get ready for work to break up the ice and turn it off when I leave. By the time I turn them off the water around the boat is free of any ice. There are people at the club all the time that IF the need arises that they need to be turned on someone will.

Lance Jones · December 23, 2009, 01:29:09 PM

And I thought it got cold living aboard in Atlanta!!!!!

sailingdream · December 23, 2009, 01:45:23 PM

85F cold in Atlanta? :)

Plus there is the risk that if a liveaboard has been drinking alittle too much and they happen to fall into the drink you have about 3 mins before your history when the water temps are close to freezing. This happen at my club last yr, lucky they(yes they, 2 guys) were able to get out in time. A marina down the lake from me, one fellow wasn't so lucky, they found him in the morning.

Stu Jackson · December 23, 2009, 05:37:19 PM

Having a ladder on a dock near you is extremely important. Get one installed, or your only other chance for survival is to put antifouling paint on your ladder and leave it in the down position.

sailingdream · December 23, 2009, 06:13:45 PM

Very true and the club has installed ladders in between each finger and left down over the winter. I also made rope a ladder and installed at each dock cleat to be used to climb out of the water, just in case.

Jim Hardesty · December 24, 2009, 06:58:10 AM

Being in Erie,PA I know how challenging living aboard during a Canadian winter must be. Are you out on the island? If so then do you commute by ice breaker?
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL HO! HO! HO!

sailingdream · December 24, 2009, 07:35:53 AM

No I'm not, I'm located here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=humber+bay+park&sll=43.379706,-79.766778&sspn=0.00471,0.014012&safe=on&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Humber+Bay+Park&ll=43.615837,-79.480913&spn=0.007426,0.013862&t=h&z=16

There are 10(boats) liveaboards at the club. The club next door I don't think there any liveaboards.

sailingdream · December 29, 2009, 09:29:51 AM

Burrrrrrr... It was a cold one last night...

Outside temp before the windchill was -14C/+6F and with the wind it self like -25C/-13F

Down below it was a balmy +17C/63F

Lance Jones · December 29, 2009, 01:27:53 PM

Unbelievably cold in Atlanta last night -- coldest yet! Temps down to 28F. With windchill, it was 23F

Water was turned off to prevent dock water pipes/hoses from freezing and bursting. Right when we needed to top off too. No worries for me to shower at the Bathhouse; but, the Admiral doesn't like the walk in these Arctic conditions!

sailingdream · December 29, 2009, 07:56:02 PM

Try that walk at -13F ! :) Forget the shower, that cold air sure wakes a person up! :)

sailingdream · January 03, 2012, 08:25:48 PM

Just wanted to do a quick follow-up on this thread.

This is Winter #3 for me. So far so good, winter has been mild except today when it's gone down to -15C/5F..

This yr we have a whopping 12 liveaboards.
Three, yes 3 C34's(including me), and 2 C30's. Of of the C34's there is a '87 or '88 model and the other a '92.

efhughes3 · January 03, 2012, 09:29:05 PM

Do you folks get decent enough weather to get together for meals or drinks occasionally? Talk about a common thread to bind you all together!

sailingdream · January 03, 2012, 09:56:11 PM

We do, we have our "Monday Night" meals together. Liveaboards and none. And we try to have a weekly theme to the dinner as well. We use the clubhouse most of the Mondays. We have have had Italian, Asian, Portuguese, Japanese .... dinners. Always a blast.
Otherwise we are always having casual chats on the docks or do tasks around the club such as clearing snow, or walking the docks turning on/off bubbler's.

Doesn't look like I posted any photos. I will upload a few and post them. Show you what a C34 surrounded in ice looks like :)