Winter hangs on

[South lake]

Here in Ohio, winter just won't leave. I keep our R-25 on Lake Erie but last week I went up to get it and bring it to our house on a Lake in West Central Ohio. I launched it Friday. Monday the temperature was in the low 30's and the boat had a little ice on the railing, etc. I took it out on the lake in heavy fog and cruised with a nice cup of coffee. The heater kept the cabin toasty and needless to say, I have the only boat on the lake right now. It gets lots of looks from people on shore.

Here's the ice before I went out and a view from the helm as I was cruising.

Then this morning the temperature was 17F and the slip the boat stays in started to ice over because there's no water movement there so I moved it. Never thought I'd have an ice breaker.

But as the sun comes up I'm thinking I just might have to go out and amaze the neighbors again...

Just got to love a Ranger Tug!

 

[Just Dreamin']

Ice Breaker. One never knows what these amazing tugs will do.... :lol:

 

[Pearl]

Lucky you, I would have to break through 15" of ice here in North Dakota.

 

[trailertrawlerkismet]

Nice photo's by South Lake, wish we were as lucky in Northern Michigan, it just keeps snowing.....every day so far this week but I'm optimistic that boating season will start soon for us non snow birds. SO optimistic I'm charging the boat batteries up, buying cleaning supplies and making a list of boat chores for when we bring Kismet home from storage next month.....let the summer fun begin!

What lake in West Central Ohio are you on?

Jim F

 

[Jake]

Jeff,

Great photos, love that hull color. We awoke to snow this morning over here in Fort Wayne.

Jake

 

[South lake]

Hi Jim.

We're on Grand Lake St Mary's. Celina, OH is on the northwest corner of the lake and St Mary's, OH is on the northeast corner. It's a very shallow lake and people don't expect to see a tug out there. The 26 inch draft is the real surprise.

In a few weeks I'll take the boat back up to Lake Erie and put our pontoon in the water here. But for this time of year it's nice to be able to go out and just enjoy the lake in our little tug.

 

[South lake]

You're not far away from us Jake. We lived in Fort Wayne before we moved to Celina. Hoping this winter ends soon...

 

[walldog]

Thanks for great pictures Jeff, glad to see you are out and about at sunrise and on your boat. Fantastic!

 

[Knot Finishe]

Not much beats drinking coffee on a boat at sunrise. Oh, wait - temperatures of more than 17F wouldn't hurt.
Cool photos, and great enthusiasm.

 

[baz]

Nice set of photos...

I'll pray for better and warmer weather for you out there while I bath here in the PNW where daytime temps are in the 50s. 🙂 ...and the current weather forecast calls for high 50s and sunny weather for next 5 days.

Yesterday we had high gale strength winds and I went down to my Marina and walked out onto the fishing pier that juts out beyond the marina to see how the waters were reacting to the strong winds coming from the south. The wave heights looked very reasonable considering the wind strength but there were lots of white tops. The Ferry and other commercial tugs were about and did not seem to be bothered. The wind was strong enough that I had to lean forward so as to not lose my balance.

Our R25 is pretty well setup for going out all year round and I cannot imagine not being able to use it for 4-6 months of the year.

Again, I hope the weather and temps improve for you so you can get out...

 

[South lake]

Barry you make those of us who have winter jealous but just think how much more we enjoy that first run after the winter layup. It's like getting a new boat every year!

 

[Favunclerich]

Jeff,

What are you doing to keep your plumbing from freezing with a 17 degree temperature?

Rich

 

[baz]

Barry you make those of us who have winter jealous but just think how much more we enjoy that first run after the winter layup. It's like getting a new boat every year!

Yes, that feeling has to be good down deep... and sorry for my PNW weather report... but just wanted to post something as a comparison.

I personally like deep winter conditions and having the hairs in my nose stiffen up when breathing in the cold air... it's invigorating. We lived in northern Connecticut for 4 years and shoveling tire tracks to get out of the driveway was fun for the first two years, but those darn snow plough trucks always managed to create a mountain of snow/ice at the driveway end making it nigh impossible to get out. Weak batteries give up the ghost easily in cold weather... We left Connecticut just as I was contemplating buying a 'real' snow plow machine for the driveway and sidewalks. 😉

 

[South lake]

I haven't commisioned the fresh water system this year yet. I have two cabin heaters running and so far the cabin and bilge/engine areas are staying well above freezing. I also haven't started the generator and it is still winterized.

I must admit, the temperatures caught me a little by surprise. Much colder than we usually have in March. So far today we just got up to 32F. The temps are supposed to improve some but not much and we're looking at snow on Sunday. If we get enough I know what our Christmas card photo will be for next year 😀

 

[Irish Mist]

Great pictures very Jealous.. Would be great braving the cold in a warm tug...Is still lots of ice where I am in Ontario. It is A later winter Taking a road trip ( with out the boat Unfortunatly ) south to Flordia just in Savanna and we had snow all the way to Charlotte ..enjoy the time owning the lake 🙂

 

[South lake]

Well after dealing with 17 degree Fahrenheit temps and ice in the channel, the spring snowstorm racing across the Midwest finally arrived last night.

Here's a photo from 8:00am on Sunday 3/24/2013:

And here's 8:00am on Monday 3/25/2013:

But it is beautiful and when the snow stops I'm going to clean it off the boat and go out on the lake as long as the wind stays down.

 

[Levitation]

Amazing how few miles North or South it takes to see significant differences. I am 250 miles North of Celina and the pond in front of the house is solid ice and the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron is iced in as I flew over it Sunday.
And Jim being about another 170 miles North of me is even more iced in,. And to think I foolishly left sunny Florida to came back to this.

 

[South lake]

Last year we had an unusually warm spring with temperatures here up to 80 at this time of March. Not so this year but in another week, we'll see things warm up and all will be good with the world...