Being a new boat owner, every day is a new day. Our boat does not have a trailer. Something to consider for the future, but for now, we have to overwinter in the slip. Thankfully, we belong to a great sail-only yacht club that has even better members.
Since we're in Kansas, ice is always a possibility in the winter. Sure, we can have 50 degree days in January. But, we can also have 0 degrees with -12 windchill (like this week). Get a week or more of that, and suddenly there is six inches of ice to deal with. Fortunately, our boat came with a Kasco de-icer. The previous owner and I splashed it in mid-December. However, it was found to be inadequate at keeping the ice completely at bay when it got this cold.
Another member of our club offered to help adjust it; I didn't have to make the hour drive out there. He found that actually suspending it from a rope on only side, then using the two existing ropes to tilt it at an angle toward the back of the slip yielded much better results than just letting it sit under the hull aiming straight up. The pictures below hopefully tell the story.
Since we're in Kansas, ice is always a possibility in the winter. Sure, we can have 50 degree days in January. But, we can also have 0 degrees with -12 windchill (like this week). Get a week or more of that, and suddenly there is six inches of ice to deal with. Fortunately, our boat came with a Kasco de-icer. The previous owner and I splashed it in mid-December. However, it was found to be inadequate at keeping the ice completely at bay when it got this cold.
Another member of our club offered to help adjust it; I didn't have to make the hour drive out there. He found that actually suspending it from a rope on only side, then using the two existing ropes to tilt it at an angle toward the back of the slip yielded much better results than just letting it sit under the hull aiming straight up. The pictures below hopefully tell the story.
