"Oh that's a pain," she said, "changing out all the summer clothes for winter ones."
That's not even the half of it.
If you are considering living onboard a boat in winter in CHICAGO, of all places, here is what you will need to prepare:
1. Plastic for the inside windows2. An electric heater
3. A diesel furnace
4. 3-4 space heaters to put around the boat
5. Colored lights (if you're feeling festive)
6. Super strong duct tape to seal up every vent (and there are many)
7. Strips of grey sponge with adhesive backs to seal up the cracks around doors and anything else
8. Shrinkwrap. This is a whole 'nother chapter and future blogs will include a complete lesson in how to build a structure and then wrap your boat in plastic and shrink the plastic tight as a drum with the equivolant of a flame thrower.
We learned a lot last year, especially when the Chicago River froze and Mazurka was locked in the ice like Shackleton's Endurance. We learned so much that PassageMaker Magazine (THE trawler and ocean motorboat magazine) is going to feature an article about our adventures in its January/February issue.
Here's hoping we avoid a repeat performance this year.
5 comments:
Chicago needs MORE festive lights. High visibility where you are is a plus for all Chicagoans & shopping tourists. Laundry can be done free for the time of a drive across the state.
We shrink wrap boats here at our marina in Florida. I don't know how you can live under that plastic all year. It must be love!!!
The captain has designed an ingenious way to wrap the top half of Mazurka so that the windows are clear and we aren't living in an igloo. I don't know if even love could keep us in white plastic all winter!
it's sleeting and 35 degrees here...how's the weather in Florida? Need a new dockmate?
The temp is 75 and cloudy, but I would rather be in the cold and snow. Next year at this time we will be living full time in the Keweenaw Peninsula as neighbors to the wonderful Schneiderhans.
The initiative to make your house winter ready shows dedication. Living in a place where the only winterizing is switching from a/c to heat just seems lacking. Good on ya!
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