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Stephen,

My math may be to much of an approximation, but I just divided 1200 pounds (my guess at the ballast weight) by 8 (approximate weight of a gallon of water) and got 150 gallons. One cup of bleach won't affect the freezing point that much, would it

Ray

What about some kind of tank heater for the ballast water, like the one my wife uses for the horses water tanks in winter. Just stick it down the hole in the inside vent. Sounds like a new invention for Mac's. It would give you hotwater heat while your pluged in. Of course with warm water in the ballast you would need to add some kind of antigrowth in the ballast water.

If the lake never freezes, then the ballast would not freeze....right?

I would say that is wrong. Ie, the ballast would freeze before the lake does since it is surrounded by air on 3 sides. So, if the lake is just about to freeze, the ballast may still freeze. And as someone else pointed out, motion has a lot to do with it. If there is water moving in the lake, that may prevent it from freezing. No similar motion in the ballast tank unless the boat is moving all the time.

couldn't u just put a gal of antifreeze in the ballast tank and that would take care of the freezing

I'll bet that would work....BUT...what kind of harm are you doing to the environment when you let it out?

I agree that its not worth the risk since it is so easy to just empty the ballast. A little water left in the ballast isn't going to be a problem even if it does freeze since there will be plenty of room for expansion..

AND...don't you love getting freezing advice from someone who lives in FL?

I did actually live up north for over 20 years though...

Dimitri said:

I did actually live up north for over 20 years though...

Don't you really mean cool

Ray

My math may be to much of an approximation, but I just divided 1200 pounds (my guess at the ballast weight) by 8 (approximate weight of a gallon of water) and got 150 gallons. One cup of bleach won't affect the freezing point that much, would it

I think your ballast volume is correct Ray.

One cup (approx 250 mL) of bleach is actually a 4-6% solution of Sodium Hypochlorite in water, so most of your bleach is just water, which doesnt change the freezing point at all!! The effective amount of 'solute' you have added is something like 10 mL, which wont have much of an effect as you might guess.

THe doppler shift of the slower blue hull raising the time dependent cross section for neutrino capture would have a greater effect than this, but thats a calculation for another day.

The angle of the dangle in relationship to the....................Ohnevermind

Ray

I'd be concerned about my ballast freezing in a slip too, so I'd recommend a kilt!

I'm with c-130. If the lake doesn't freeze, the ballast submerged in the water should not freeze either.

Boats in slips with freezing water conditions can be bad.
If the water freezes up solid, the boat will be solid in the ice, and no problems.
If the water only freezes to a thin skim of ice, bad news.
The boat can rock around with the wind/waves and the thin edge of the ice will be doing no favors to the hull at the water line.

The old folks where I grew up always said the thin ice could cut the bottom off of a boat.
They may have been overstating it, but still, we always took the skiffs into the more protected shallows to freeze up solid for the winter.

Why not just scoop some rock salt (ice melter) into the ballast tank.

If you use Antifreeze - where will you empty out in the spring? 150 gallons of solution is alot to dump no/

If the lake doesn't freeze the ballast definitly won't freeze. The lake is exposed to the cold air the ballast is insulated by the fiberglass and will hold its temperature above freezing longer than the lake. I would not recommened using an electic water heater as it could start a fire or melt the ballast tank. If you are still conserned RV places sell an antifreeze for there systems that would be envirmentaly safe. Also adding just a tablespoon of antifreeze would keep the water from expanding if it did freeze.