The hybernation begins
 

To all the people in the warmer states--I'm jealous! This is the state of our boating in the frozen northern states. We can't wait for spring!

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I can sympathize. Mine's been asleep for about 6 wks now. :(

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Its going to be a long winter........... Im up in MA, and mine has been tucked away for about 6 weeks as well...

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I am also up in MA and dreaming of springtime. I can only look at pictures of last summer for so long. Beer helps, but only for a short while! Hey MSMITH68...where are you in Massachusetts? Would love to know where you boat. I am always looking for new spots. I am in Eastern Mass and typically take my boat down the Taunton River about 30 miles to Newport RI. Too rough some days, but upriver is usually okay for my little 18 footer. Here is a picture of us docked (the little one next to "Sam I Am" ) in Newport for lunch this summer.

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Sorry about the weather up north. Here in southern Arizona it may get up into the high 70s today and maybe 80 by mid-week. I am thinking of taking the boat out for quick spin tomorrow. I guess it is one of the advatages of being a "desert rat". We don't have large lakes or rivers but the weather is pleasant most of the winter.

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I actually live in Wakefield, MA, and keep the boat garaged up in NH... Its a smaller lake. Suncook Lake, It's a little south of Lake Winnipausaukee. I have never put the boat in salt water, but have always wanted to do the Annisquam River up in Gloucester.....

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Thanks for the reply MSMITH68. I have become more of a salt water boater because we like to visit new places and take long treks on the boat. Cruising down the Taunton River we can see eveything from kayaks to huge barges and even cruise ships in Newport. I always, always thoroughly wash my boat and trailer after each use and run the engine with fresh water. All of my add on purchases have been stainless steel to help fend off the salt water effects. I would recommend you give Annisquam a try......bet you get hooked! Good luck.

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I was wishing it was spring today when I was plowing snow. :mad:

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And today we get 4" more on top of the 7" already on the ground!

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All of us in the Northern states should be happy. Now the days are getting longer, and Spring is on the way. Wishful thinking.

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Ha ha! Hey Scuby, I just made that same comment to some boater friends yesterday! The days are only getting longer and the "Start of Summer Bash" is just around the corner! It's going to be a LOOOOOOOONG winter!!

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Yup, nice positivity! Speaking of Winter...
Here are some of the pics I took of the eclipse as Winter started. I laid in my cabin and watched through the hatch... made a great viewing platform. For the pics, I was just using my EVO and the tinted plexi-glass hatch cover as a filter so they aren't all that great but they're kind of cool to see. It got really red just before 1:40CST.

http://jwcustomcreations.com/WKSB/pi.../animation.gif

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Know how you feel guys I just hate the winter. Life is just work and hibernation with no boating


We also are having a tough winter here in Ireland. The past 2 weeks the temp has been minus 10oC plus. Pretty damm cold. Last 3 winters have been quite bad - coincides witrh the year i bought the boat!!

My Mariah has been holed up in a barn since early october. Fortunately there is a barn full of cattle wintering next door which keeps the temperature in my barn slightly warmer.

Still...we are turning a corner now and in a few weeks will be getting ready for launching again in March.

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I cant wait for spring! Im in northern illinois, we just had 2 days of 50's and now its back in the teens. 3 more months to go GRRR

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Yeah at least it melted the snow away. Makes it feel like winter is moving along.

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We got lucky last week. It was 60 degrees on Thursday. We boated. :thumbup: Drained and refilled with antifreeze right at the ramp.

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Thats dedication right there!

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lol, serious boaters are everywhere.

YouTube - Saisonstart 2011

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50's & 60's??? Damm. North of the border here, we cant get out of our homes until the snow melts and then its not safe until the polar bears migrate north. :yes_grin:

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Chicago Boat Show is next week. That's my first sign of spring! 12 weeks 'til the boat gets wet.

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I cant wait for the boat show, hopefully they will have some interesting and new toys

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It's been ridiculously cold here in KS this week. I'm doing some experimenting with Peak RV & Marine -50F antifreeze and thought you guys might find it interesting too.
I set it out when temps got down around 20. It stayed completely liquid until we had two days that barely got above 10 degrees with wind chills down around -15 to -20.

YouTube - Peak -50 Marine and RV Antifreeze

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I'm still waiting for that damm groundhog to return from the Caribbean.....

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[QUOTE=Dredd;27130]It's been ridiculously cold here in KS this week. I'm doing some experimenting with Peak RV & Marine -50F antifreeze and thought you guys might find it interesting too.
I set it out when temps got down around 20. It stayed completely liquid until we had two days that barely got above 10 degrees with wind chills down around -15 to -20.

Dred- Back in November I went down to the Marina and bought some anti freeze from him. He took it out of a 55 gallon drum. He said to mix it with water 50-50. I bought 3 gallons, thinking that it would make 6 gallons of mixed anti freeze. It should have given me up to -50 protection. I ran the mixture in the motor, then fogged it, then removed the battery. Just for giggles during the first cold spell (it gets below 0 here) I decided to test the remaining 3 gallons with an anti freeze tester. Well, to my suprise it tested to only +20! Now I had a problem--the mixture that was in the engine was the same stuff I tested. I did not want to put the battery back in, and set up the system to run the anti freeze back in, and fog the motor again, so I just pulled the plugs out of the manifolds, and the engine block, and drained it all into the hull, and out the drain plug at the transom. All winter long I have kept a 100 watt light bulb burning under the engine--hoping that will help keep the engine block from freezing. When I inspected the engine last night, all appeared normal, and the block felt warm to the touch. I'm hoping that there is nothing damaged from the freezing temps, and it looks like the block and manifolds are not cracked. This is the first winter that the engine has not had anti freeze in it. I usually put anti freeze in the engine and manifolds to help reduce the rust in the system. A lesson learned here--Don't try to mix your own anti freeze!

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Well, we received 22" of snow that covered the Mariah. The temps have been in the single digits, and below zero at night. I can't wait to be able to get this boat in the water in the spring. We took some time off in January and went to visit some friends in Arizona. The temps were in the high 70's and low 80's. I was thinking that we should have trailered the Mariah down there and had some early spring fun in the middle of winter.

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That would of been my thinking as well 3 jakes. I never knew this hobby would be almost like an obsession. My wife and I cant wait to get on the water, we are even talking about relocating just so we can boat more then 5 months out of the year(thats even pushing it). We also just bought a big suv just to pull the boat!! AHH!! Who cares about the over 3 dollar a gallon prices for gas.

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EandJRX19-Phoenix is a great area to live. Our friends drive their collector cars, and the boat every day if they choose!The summers down there are really hot, but 9 months out of the year, it's pretty nice. They have a car show down there every Saturday of the year. Where we were it rains only 10 days a year. I could live with that.

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Warm is sounding real nice right now, today was a high of 8!

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Another 6" or so of snow here. Hard to say exactly how much because it was blowing so hard.
Anyone headed to the Miami Boat Show to warm up?

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We bought a lot in Port Charlotte Florida on a salt water canal, to someday build a house on. The home prices are crazy low in that area and it's a boaters dream!!

Some day:confused: this winter is killing me, I hope the Purple Shabah is ok under her shelter!! It's dam cold here in Wisconsin:shakehead:

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Wow, that's pretty cool you guys have land down there Purple_Shabah. That harbor is huge and looks like it'd be fun to explore.
We hit the lowest temp in 29 years here the other day. I think it was -17. Have to admit... I worry about the block when it's that ridiculous. We're going to see upper 50s late next week though.

37 days until Spring!