It’s C-C-Cooooooold In Minnesota! Live ish From The Tundra!

Frozen Beavers? Is this one of the signs of the apocalypse?

A huge thanks to Dave Bortner, Bruce Bildsten and Mark Setterholm for reporting in the the minus-ville. The land O Frozen Lakes. Take it away gents!

Holy crap..-26.. no that cant be.

Winter-Eyes – Dave Bortner at Freedom Boat Service
Whether is a well digger, a brass monkey, or a practitioner of Wiccan, all the anatomical hyperbole fails in Minnesota today. -25 still air, and -50 or so wind chill creates “moon scape”, and packs the snow with permanent white caps.
I must confess a tiny bit of anxiety creeps in when it’s -25 in the morning. Can’t help but wonder if we could have possibly gotten a bad batch of anti-freeze. Well, if we did, it’s done now!

Dave face in the reflection says it all, yes it can

We strongly prefer cold storage for wood boats, as they dehydrate and re-hydrate naturally with the environment. Any heated storage takes moisture out of the air, and unless you humidify to 50%, boats will dry out more than they would naturally.
Therefore, winterizing all boats sleeping with us for the winter is a necessity. I imagine this will create some controversy, but we strongly prefer running anti-freeze through each engine in the fall. We take particular care to measure both the temperature of the anti-freeze, to make sure thermostats open, and the freeze point (at least -63).
I know some of you prefer draining the engine, but there’s always a risk of missing a drain plug, or a low point in the cooling system, or even forgetting to address your Chris-Craft six-cylinder copper exhaust pipe which holds water below the engine and the waterline.

Yikes. Thats cold!

We’re reminded, today, why we recommend winterizing your boat even if you store it in a heated space. Our local natural gas utility is asking all their customers to keep their thermostats at 60, and avoid using any appliances that consume gas, like water heaters. Why? They’re trying to avoid gas outages that result from extreme cold temperatures, low gas line pressure, and massive consumption. You never know when you may lose heat in your heated space.
I was curious today, with still air temp -25 and wind chill -50, how cold our cold storage is, and how cold the boats are. As you can see from the photo, engine block temp of only -8!
Not so bad, I’ll probably be able to sleep tonight!

AHHHHH!

While you are sitting reading this you can click on over to Freedom Boat Service and droll all over the boats for sale..

26 replies
  1. Jaxon
    Jaxon says:

    Wasn’t that bad here. Still able to get the fat guy out and drag him around a bit. Not real long till he started whining and made me go back to the car. 40 and rain this weekend! Enjoy the good stuff while it lasts!!

  2. Wudzgud
    Wudzgud says:

    -26 in beautiful Long Lake, Illinois. The two coldest places in the winter……A boat yard and a lumber yard. I own the latter. My coffee isn’t even hot this morning.

  3. Rick
    Rick says:

    Y’all should come visit here on Long Island for a break. Our 4 this morning will feel positively balmy.

  4. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    The temps here barely dipped below 0 and it is already up to 4. As for winterizing, I learned from the mistakes of others that draining doesn’t always get all the water out. My process is drain, run with antifreeze and then drain again and store with plugs open. Hopefully there is no liquid in there, but if there is, it should have enough antifreeze in it to not be a problem.

    • Howard Lehman
      Howard Lehman says:

      We in northern Wisconsin are used to cool weather, but this is cold. -33 when I got up today. But the shop is warm-ish, and tomorrow should end our cold snap. A good time for another cup of coffee varnish. Thanks Matt for all if your great work on Woody Boater! Howard

  5. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    breakfast crowd reported low of + 10 here in ole central VA.
    May head down and check the boat…and the boatsafe heater….nothing else to do…..+10 here is like your -50. Schools opened late etc.

    John in Va. Lake Dora is not frozen…..keep the faith

  6. Darthtrader
    Darthtrader says:

    This morning of agony and Tales of Woe wouldn’t be complete without a message from the Big Sand Bar. Come on down to FL. where water comes in two colors versions; Blue and Brown, and is still considered a liquid provided for recreational boating and an enhancement for waterfront property. The primary use, however, still remains to make ice for drinks, and a reflector for sunsets. There’s even a Boat Show in March. No excuse not to come on down. By then your truck will start and they may have cleared the roads.

  7. Briant
    Briant says:

    Yikes. It was 43 above zero here in Oregon last night. A big thank you to all of the people that live in the Midwest and East that are dealing with this cold weather….not sure why you put up with that crap, but hey, thanks again! (I give thanks so that you all don’t just pack it up and move here…we’re already getting too damn crowded.)

  8. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P)
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P) says:

    It is a balmy -2 here in southern Ohio. It is -20 in Michigans beautiful U P.
    Im not going up there for awhile. It is a strange feeling to think that all my boats and motors are below 0

  9. RiverRat
    RiverRat says:

    It is plus 4 by the Big Lake and minus 14 inland, Always nice to be by the water if you like to shovel lake effect. Saw a picture of someone riding their fat tire bike on The River.

  10. Dennis Mykols
    Dennis Mykols says:

    -35 in some areas of the lower peninsula of Michigan this week, then low +40’s this weekend!
    This is why we have the old saying in Michigan:
    “don’t like the weather, stick around for 10 minutes !!!

  11. Lee Wangstad
    Lee Wangstad says:

    Oh my! Is that the infamous Beaver House in Grand Marais? Like, right across the street from World’s Best Donuts? I’m glad I’m not up there this week, although it’s probably easy to get a parking spot this time of year. Woke up to -33 this morning. And no, I don’t revel in it, not a tough guy or anything like that. It’s just worth putting up with it for the other three seasons that we enjoy so much.

    • briant
      briant says:

      Other three seasons?? Would those happen to be the one week of spring, one week of fall, and “summer” which is nothing more than six months of humidity the same as that of the planet surface of Jupiter with meat eating mosquitos and gnats? No thanks. Glad you love it though!!

    • Fave
      Fave says:

      Lee, these are my feelings exactly, Some cold weather, i.e. known as winter, is good…….need it for skiing, ice skating, ice fishing, winter carnivals, snowmobiling and more. Then, after that we have three other great seasons to enjoy! Something for everyone! Not anything boring or Ho Hum about northern winters!

    • Dave Doner
      Dave Doner says:

      I couldn’t agree more. Without “winter” there would be no outdoor ice skating, cross country or downhill skiing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, winter carnivals and more. This is just one of the four distinct seasons we have…….nothing boring or ho hum about any of the northern seasons.

  12. Andy C
    Andy C says:

    I had the same thought this morning. Went to check all the winterized motors in my warehouse and I could not even get in the front door. The plow guy next door plowed an 8′ high bank of snow right against the front door!

  13. Don Palmer
    Don Palmer says:

    I remember a number of years ago I had to travel to Winnipeg for a call on Boeing Canada and it was -35F. I will never forget seeing a guy on a bicycle riding to work! Canadians are the tough ones! (and they have good beer!)

  14. briant
    briant says:

    Uh at the risk of sounding like Troy….that pic with the beaver joint is interesting. Beaver flicks? Whoa. That means something totally different out here on the West Coast. The Beaver House….? is that the new name of the Mustang Ranch or yet another merchandise outlet for the Oregon State University Beaver stuff? Hey, I can joke about it all….Oregon is the Beaver State. We used to be knee deep in Beavers but the early settlers shaved those numbers down to a Brazilian few. Beaver fur kept many pioneers nice and warm during the rainy winter months. We don’t see many furry little Beavers anymore though.

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