After two nights on the boat with outside temperatures of around 25ºF / -4ºC, we have realized a few things:
It isn't as bad as we had imagined. Yet.
Everything goes with just the right amount of clothes on.
The electric heater works fine as a hair dryer, too. Must use something in order to not have the hair freezing to ice and we'll save on electricity if I use only one electrical device instead of two.
Wool socks are our best new friends.
Must invest in more warm base layers and underwear.
Four layers of blankets and staying very close to one another is well enough to go through a night with a room temperature of 57ºF / 14ºC. We're trying to get the heater to 60ºF but it's just not happening, boat is too badly insulated so that is something we need to get working on too before it gets too cold and snowy. Watched The dark knight rises late last night from underneath all those layers and it was pretty cozy in all the bizarreness that is our new situation.
The hot, clean, modern showers in this marina are what probably will save us this winter. Not to mention the heated swimming pool they've got! If only they were a little closer. Walking two minutes is normally a piece of cake, but what about when the temp hits below -0ºF/-20ºC? We have a shower onboard naturally, but no hot water tank, ha! Never really planned on sailing this far North as you might remember, but now that we're here… we've got to do what we have to do.
Making dishes in cold water isn't really an option when it is this cold in the air, so boiled up water on the stove works fine when it's been cooled down for some time.
Slow cooked stews, hot soups and homemade wholewheat breads will probably be the main diet of the season. All in an attempt to warm both us and the boat in any way it is possible, as often as possible.
Almost every live-aboard in this marina have their boats covered with the super cool clear plastic wraps with real doors that we had heard about, must find a place that sells the plastic so we can get it installed on Duende too. Shouldn't be too hard of a job to install ourselves. Just some plastic, wood and pvc tubes…
Probably need to get one of those electric oil filled heaters too.
Luckily the water in this marina never freezes due to the river locks that are in constant use just next door. So the water in our water tanks shouldn't have to freeze either, or? Can some coldblooded souls enlighten us please. We're still so new to this type of winter living..
This is how it looked when we sailed towards/arrived in Boston the other day. Ahahaha… poor Alex, the cold weather hater #1. For real!
It is somewhat interesting when you have to do certain painful things in life, just to gain something greater at the end, don't you think? We are so happy to have found this superb marina in the city that is so near all the places we need to be near this season, but it comes with quite a heavy price somehow. We're obviously willing to suffer a little, but it's funny the way that nothing really ever is hundred percent perfect. Life is life is life and we have to do what we can the way we can do them in order to reach the goals that we have in mind.
We'll be able to continue staying in our friends house in the forest 30 miles away from here whenever we wish, but staying there makes the commuting a serious hassle. That is why we have opted to have the boat here in the city to minimize frustrating time on trains, subways and buses. Nothing more annoying than having to waste four hours per day of ones life in traffic or on slow, cold overfilled trains. I'm sure this will be the best possible option for this winter, only fourteen more weeks to go now anyway and then it should all start getting lighter and warmer again I hope.
And this is what helps Alex going through this long winter despite his sincere hate for cold. Will tell you more and show you some of the phenomenal music he's been working on lately as soon as I can..
Lived aboard in Newport for several winters though our boat had built in heat. Still, biggest suggestion is to get the window "double glazing" plastic kits from Home Depot. Comes with double sided tape and moderately thin shrink wrap plastic. Insulating your deck hatches will reduce the condensation, heat loss, and protect the varnish/paint of the spigots quite a bit. You shrink it tight with a hair dryer so they are hardly noticeable and make a big difference to the temp aboard.
Not that it seems you're prone to it, but this is an excellent bit of perspective for a couple who are staring a long cold winter in the face much more directly than most of us are: http://www.moq.org/forum/Pirsig/cruisingblues.html Something to work your way through and digest a little bit before it hits you like a 2X4 in the middle of january.
Be sure to pitch the "roof" of your cover steep enough and make it strong enough to withstand 12" to 16" of heavy wet snow. Usually happens 2 or 3 times a winter.
You guys are very brave! I'm pretty new to this sailing stuff and honestly, you guys got me convinced to buy a sailboat. I'm just wondering... Can you dry-dock the boat and still live in it?
Taru take $60 to Lowes and buy 2 packages of 2ft x 2ft interlocking foam floor squares. Cut them to fit and lay them on all your sole. These made the biggest difference for us. We could walk around in bare feet even when it was 20° outside. Kept the heater from working so hard too.
Deb S/V Kintala www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
The marina water doesn't freeze because of the motion, not the temperature. Freezing your tanks, pipes, and engine is real, especially if you aren't on the boat and running the heater.
Lived aboard full time for 7 years in Seattle and Puget Sound. Not as cold as Boston for sure, but the challenges are similar. Nothing compares to a diesel heater running 24/7. Add a water heating coil and snake the hot water lines through the lockers to another radiator in the forepeak and you can be more comfortable than in Antigua! Well, at least you won't be too hot....
If you are going to be dependent upon electric heaters don't even consider leaving the boat unattended unless you've rewired the AC system all the way from the shore plug to every AC outlet and can trust it not to burn down the boat! And do get a few goldenrod style heaters to put in lockers that have no airflow.
Previous comments about winterizing the engine, head, water tanks and anything containing water are spot on. I particularly like Deb's suggestion about the floor tile. Just put in a floor for a day care center with them and they are great.
You've already gotten excellent suggestions on how to help insulate and heat the boat. I think you two are very brave, given your discomfort with the cold. I'm a native new englander that loves cold weather and I'd be hesitant to live aboard in the winter up there!
Not sure if you guys are looking for a portable/temp unit or something more permanent, but Dickinson heaters have a very good reputation if you're going to install something.
Hi Taru, we sail on the Chesapeake into December and anchor out. At night use an electric blanket. Set it on med. to high to warm the bed and low through the rest of the night. It draws a fraction of what an electric heater uses and we run ours off the inverter when at anchor.
Vincent: Yes you can dry dock the boat and still live in it, many people do in fact. We've opted for staying on water as it is both colder, more expensive and less convenient staying with the boat on land.
Hi Alex and Taru, we live aboard our tiny Marieholm IF in Reykjavík, Iceland. We're pretty new to this lifestyle but I'd say fleece blankets and fleece bedding is probably the best tip I can give!