AND IT SURE BEEN A COLD COLD WINTER

And it sure been a cold, cold winter

And the wind ain't been blowin' from the south

It's sure been a cold, cold winter

And a lotta love is all burned out

It sure been a hard, hard winter

My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground

And I hope it's gonna be a long hot summer

And a lotta love will be burnin' bright

Winter - Rolling Stones

Yep, that Rolling Stone song has captured this winter feeling for me. The bright spot of hope came in the mail when my mooring permit application came in for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, this required another trip to the boatyard to get some information off of the boat. I picked the warmest day when the high temperature was to be only 29 degrees F to slip slide my way to the boat. There was no wind this time which made it feel better than the visit last week. But, unlike last week I found the harbor had completely frozen over which does not happen too often:

Even the floating docks are frozen in place

The Harbor Master is not going anywhere these days:

The same for the Commercial Fishermen as the fleet is also frozen in place:

Hard to believe that spring is only a month away when I look out from the snow filled cockpit of the boat at the ice covered habor. But, I got the info I needed and put the mooring permit in the mail because the sailing season will arrive at some point. At least I hope so.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALESSANDRO VOLTA

My electric propulsion system will be starting it's eigth year on board BIANKA in a few months. So I feel it's time to give a tip of the hat to Alessandro Volta's 270th birthday. One of the men who help make it possible.

"Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (February 18, 1745 – March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist[2][3] credited with the invention of the first electrical battery, the Voltaic pile which he invented in 1799 and the results of which he reported in 1800 in a two part letter to the President of the Royal Society.[4][5] With this invention Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debased the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry."- WIKIPEDIA

 

WINTERLUDE 2015

I finally got down to the boatyard yesterday to check on the boat. I had been in the Caribbean most of January. Most of it cruising on a 43 foot Catamaran in the U.S. and Spanish Virgin Islands. The idea was to miss most of the harshest part of winter. Then come back at the end of January. February would be a short month and then spring begins in March. The plan did not quite work out. I got back the day before a blizzard dumped two feet of snow here on the Isle of Long.  Much of that snow is still on the ground along with snow from smaller storms and frigid temperatures. Yesterday looked like it would be the last day where the temperature would be over 30 degrees Fahrenheit for over a week. So I bundled up and headed to the boatyard. It was a slippery walk on icy drifts to get to the boat  but, I luckily I did not slip and fall.

So far so good.

There was a little less snow under and around the boat.

But, the cockpit still had the remains of the Blizzard from two weeks ago. The deck was very icy and I had to be very careful I did not slip on the frozen surface as I stepped into the cockpit. Entering the cabin things looked as I left it over a month ago. But when I checked the bilge:

I found it half way filled and frozen solid into one big block of ice. Probably as a result of blowing snow during the blizzard finding it's way under the cockpit lockers and melting into the bilge. Where recent Arctic temperature blasts refroze it:

I also found the bilge pump fuse had blown. Replacing it would not help at this point since the bilge pump is also frozen into the ice. Not much to do except pour a half gallon of antifreeze on top of the ice:

When the temperature moderates the ice will melt and hopefully the antifreeze will prevent it from refreezing. More Arctic blasts are expected in the next week though. So it will be awhile before it melts. I just hope I don't have to wait until Spring for it to melt.

WINTER HEAT

 It's looking like another cold cold winter here at Rancho de Captain Mike. I write this staring at slushy cold winter landscape in the middle of a winter storm watch. Earlier this week a Blizzard hit the area dropping about two feet of snow. I had spent most of January in the Caribbean hoping to miss the worst of the winter. Looks like I was a few weeks too short. After digging out from the blizzard I still had icy patches on the walks. Then I remembered I still had some items on the winterizing check list from the boat. As usual I had taken the Honda 2000 generator off the boat for the winter. One of the nice things about being able to use the Honda 2000 for my on board electric propulsion system is it's portability. I take it home just in case I may need it if the power goes out over the winter. I also get it ready for the next boating season. I had not yet drained the gas entirely from it's gas tank when the blizzard hit. So in order to kill two birds with one stone I fired up the generator and used it to help melt the icy part of the walkway with it's downward facing heat exhaust:

As you can see it does a good job melting the ice. I just move it along the path ever few minutes until it had used up all the fuel that was left in the fuel tank.  As an added bonus I also hooked a radiant Dish Heater in the garage and used it to help warm me up during breaks  as I continued to dig out from the storm. After seven years the Honda 2000 generator continues to be a useful and  versatile workhorse both on and off the boat.