Belhaven Newyears cruise

[Scott Dunsworth]

I am planning to take my Belhaven out on January 1st for three or four days on the Ohio river. If the weather is not below the teens and if the ramps aren't froze over. I have never took a cold weather sail before. But I just can't stand seeing my boat set there in the barn. When I get on the river I'll set a course with the wind to my back and try not to do any beating. That's a good thing about river sailing you can take the easy route and just be picked up down river or up river at any number of ramps.

I am going to use a small Mr. heater secured in the galley to keep the cabin warm 24 seven while out. I hate winter more than anything except just letting my boat set. So with some preparations I'm going to give winter sailing a try.

We have slept in her in the mid 20's before at night and 50's during the day but nothing like this. I plan on leaving the heat on at night also. I always crack the port above the stove and the companion way hatch a bit. It makes me nervous to sleep with something like the heater running. I had a uncle die in a camper by leaving it closed up while heating with the oven.

So I'll probably use the tiller pilot a lot so this big girl can keep his hands in his pockets. Also to make trips to the cabin to warm up and make coffee.

I'm going to try to make a DVD of her sailing, of course it will be from the boat. We'll see how that works out, if it does I'll have my wife go some where with high speed internet and post a short video somewhere.

Scott

 

[Randy Jones]

Scott,

Consider installing a battery powered carbon monoxide detector so you don't wake up multiple times during the night wondering if you're dead yet.  Looks like the detectors cost less than $20. 

[PeterP]

Scott, Ohio cold is serious stuff. I know - my wife is a Buckeye. Can I have some of that cypress if things don't work out for you? PeterP

[Scott Dunsworth]

Randy I got one in the house I may borrow it and a smoke detector also. I told my brother to get one for his trip down the Mississippi river, don't know if he did. He's still alive though, in Ocean Springs MS on the intercoastal now. He's coming home for Chrismas before heading on for south Florida.

Peter I can't do that. I hope to have it all glued up by July and start that long journey of fairing sanding and sanding. I think I'll buy one of those power long boards. I just don't have the stamina that you had!

I have a somewhat funny story about waking up to see if I'm still alive.

I took my first home port to Kentucky lake trip a few years back by myself. I was anchored behind an island out of the channel. Close to a place in southern Illinois called Cave in Rock. I had been reading the history of the area before bed that night. There is a cave right on the river banks. It's been used by the Indians before we ran them off. Later when people where traveling the Ohio by flatboat it was used by pirates. They would attract folks in by offering supplies and help. Then they would steal all you had. Rape the women kill the men and ether set your boat adrift or tear it apart for the wood.

I went to sleep that night thinking about pirates of the Ohio. I had tried to talk to a couple of guys in a large john boat right before dark that where running lines for catfish. They past me real slow and close enough that I could talk to them without screaming. I don't know if these two where bad dudes or not but they had the appearance of a shifty pair. I said how are you'll doing and they just stared at me without a word.

Later that night I thought I heard a outboard idling and slid the hatch open and saw nothing. I had a night vision glass with me but was to lazy to dig it out thinking I was just imaging things. So I went back asleep thinking about the Ohio pirates. Then it happend around 12:30 I woke to a loud crash and the boat heeled and bounce sideways. Now I am slow especially when I'm woke in the middle of the night, but this wasn't my imagination!!! So I grabbed my 9mm and headed out the companion way not knowing what I was going to find or do if someone was boarding me. I looked all about the boat and couldn't see anything. Just then I looked down river and could make out a floating log jam right behind by boat. I wanted to put a couple of rounds into it just for the scare it gave me but thought better. I just checked my anchor line and went back to bed. Sleep came slow though thinking about those damn pirates.

I was lucky that night that all I lost was a little sleep. If that log jam would have hit me dead on it would have run right up my anchor line and then I would have had a mess. After that I always keep a small 12" fender in my anchor well so if I had to let the bitter end of my anchor line go I might have time to tie it on and retrieve my tackle.

Scott

[Tom Lathrop]

Scott,

I think Peter may have been leaving a hint for your heirs

I also think that cave and the pirates was a feature of the movie "How the West Was Won".    I have broken ice to go sailing but got either smarter or more of a candy ass with age.  Sometimes wisdom comes with age and sometimes age comes all by itself.

[Oyster]

Scott, Ohio cold is serious stuff. I know - my wife is a Buckeye. Can I have some of that cypress if things don't work out for you? PeterP

I don't know if there will be much left,,,,,after I finish the box built from the cypress that I promised his offspring and haul off the scraps.

[JeffM]

I went out overnight a couple of weeks ago in my Jewelbox Jr. just to see what it would be like.  (I'm not interested in taking the CS20 out in the cold.)  The JB Jr. is a Michalak 15-footer with a birdwatcher-style cabin: close it all up to stay warm(er) and dry while sailing from inside.  I had it out in the Taunton River here.  Frost on the cabin top at night.  Made tea to warm up as I was getting ready for bed, then closed the last dropboard just after I extinguished the gasoline stove, discovering that it belches a big cloud of unburned gasoline vapor at that point--cabin stunk all night, but I was otherwise comfortable in my heavy bag.  Next day was beautiful and fairly mild.  A down jacket and gloves for comfort.  Hot food and drink at all meals.  A good little excursion.

[Randy Jones]

I could see where you would be comfortable if you stayed dry and get out of the wind.  I'm planning a Jan 1st day sail in Seattle and the forecast is for 34 degrees and rain.  Hard to sell people on mid 30's and raining.  How do you guys deal with frozen boat ramps? Seems to me they would be a sheet of ice.   

[Scott Dunsworth]

Ice covered frozen ramps around here means forget it!

Scott

[TonyDay]

Scott,

If that Mr. Buddy heater is the propane unit like I have, be ready top get wet.  I don't know how it will behave on the Ohio river, but while cold weather camping on the Bay river in NC I discovered these heaters will cause your cabin to sweat unless really well ventilated.  When the sweating starts, it is just like rain.  The higher you turn up the heater, the more it rains until you figure out this is a never ending cycle and EVERYTHING in the cabin is soaking wet.  I had to cut it off and only use it while attending to personal hygiene matters and with the main hatch half open. 

[hokeyhydro]

Yep. The main product of combustion heaters is WATER.  Not to mention gases which can be lethal. Now if you could rig an outside cabin propane heater to a water supply and heat the cabin via an inside mounted radiator/fan gizmo, problem solved.  Or just layer up with nice wooly sweaters and such.

[Frank Hagan]

Propane does give off a lot of water in the combustion products. Alcohol is a bit less, and the old clay pot over the alcohol burner works well. But a lot of sailors have sworn off alcohol stoves because you can't see the flame (until the boat's on fire, of course).

I hate propane because of my prior job where I was involved in the discovery phase of lawsuits for people subjected to CO poisoning. Nasty, nasty stuff, and even doctors don't realize they are being poisoned. I wonder if some of the tent heaters you keep outside would work in the cockpit:

[Scott Dunsworth]

My brother uses a alcohol stove on his boat. Its the canister type, he fills the canister in the cockpit then puts it back in the stove. He told me that these are the safest practical stove to use on a boat. He also told me that the pressurized alcohol stove is the most dangerous. He got his information from pouring over cruiser forums.

What do you all think?

Scott

[JeffM]

I've used three types of stoves, so far. 

When I first started overnighting, I dug an old Coleman 2-burner gasoline/white gas stove out of the basement. 

When that got too rusty, I did a little research and got an Indonesian "butterfly" kerosene circular wick stove: I was impressed with the high flash point (so its hard to set it alight if it spills) and the high energy density (best of any liquid fuel, if memory serves).  (I had used a pressurized kero stove many years ago and liked it, but found it a bit too fussy to maintain and light.)  The wick stove turned out to be rather unwieldly (too tall) and hard to find a place for, and too easy to spill if the stove got knocked over.  Most impressive was the way it went out: you turned the wick down as far as it would go, and the flame would gradually die out while kero continued to vaporize in the hot mantle; then all at once at some random moment the fuel vapor would usually ignite with a whoosh! and a flame would shoot several feet in the air.  Made me cautious about eyeballing the inside to see if it was safe to put the stove away yet.  Lost some hair at times, too.  I was not too sad when that stove went overboard on the Nantucket trip that saw my boat drag ashore and get banged up. 

In between times, I tried out alcohol stoves homemade out of tuna cans, etc.  These are very small and easy to use but throw little heat and burn for a very short time, and the alcohol spills and ignites very easily.  I still keep a couple aboard tucked away just in case. 

I'm now back to the original type: I got a single-burner pump-up gasoline stove that lights with little fuss, and burns hot and long.  It's cheap and compact and well- and simply-made.  I see no point in gimballing since I wouldn't use it underway in any but the lightest air, but I do put it in a weighted frame that keeps it from tipping easily and doubles as a pot-keeper so my saucepans don't slide off if a boat wake comes along.  I use it in and out of the cabin, depending on wind and cold and whether I want my morning coffee before I get out of the sleeping bag.  I'm happy, and done looking for stoves.