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Cruising in ice


Angela962

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I think this needs qualifying. I have bitumen blacking and did a bit of cruising through ice 3 to 10mm thick the other day and mine still looks fine. I think it takes more than a bit of light ice breaking here and there to damage even bitumen.

 

That's what I thought too after I cruised through thin ice, until later when the area around the waterline started to rust.

 

It can be quite difficult to see the condition of the blacking at the bow after cruising through ice. Dark millscale and blacking seems to be the same sort of colour for example.

So based on my experience it is my opinion that putting blacking on is not an easy task, but done right it will not come off in ice below one inch. A millimetre or two will have no impact on blacking unless the blacking is not properly adhered to the hull.

 

 

Less than one inch? My experience differs from yours.

 

Also blacking that's a couple of years old is also likely not to be well adhered to the hull, even if it was when it was first applied.

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That's what I thought too after I cruised through thin ice, until later when the area around the waterline started to rust.

 

It can be quite difficult to see the condition of the blacking at the bow after cruising through ice. Dark millscale and blacking seems to be the same sort of colour for example.

 

 

 

Less than one inch? My experience differs from yours.

 

Also blacking that's a couple of years old is also likely not to be well adhered to the hull, even if it was when it was first applied.

And its best not to go out in the dark if it frightens you.

  • Greenie 1
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If you rock the boat it makes it alot easyer to break the ice also helps to break up ice around the boat so you can turn in thick ice rather than just breaking a gap in it. Rocking is alot of work but doing so you can get threw much thicker ice safely. Worst ive come across this year was around 10-15mm thick was hard going but not at a point it caused any problems or damage.

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I have a vivid memory of crossing the Oxford summit, from Claydon to Napton, back in the winter of 1978/79, to make it to the Blue Lias for what was then a traditional New Year gathering. Typically about 20-30 boats would congregate there from all around the area, mostly full length or former working boats. Mine was the only boat moving through the ice that day, which was probably a little over an inch thick. It took me (if memory serves) about eight hours to complete the eleven miles, thanks mainly to the difficulty in taking the twists and turns around Wormleighton. When I eventually arrived at Marston Doles, the lock-keeper, Esme Dowling, had set the whole flight for me in readiness. He said he'd heard the sound of the ice cracking more than four hours previously.

 

We repainted the hull every spring, and the ice certainly cleaned off all the crud.

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