Rick lester
Member
I have a Higbee plaining hull. Im Afraid to go through the ice with. How do you break the ice with your sneak box.
Thanks
Rick
Thanks
Rick
Breaking Ice
- Thread starter Rick lester
- Start date
Screaming "full speed ahead" when you hit the ice is a nice touch. Depending on how thick the ice is it doesn't do a whole lot of damage unless there is something for it to grab - that is assuming you have some sort of runner or strake to protect the hull.
I've run through lots of hard sweet-water ice with my glass over wood boat and not hurt it. Thin ice is loud, but maintain a steady speed. Thicker ice requires using the hull weight to break it - jump the boat up on the ice and let it sink through and break the ice. I've had times when I was sure I had destroyed my hull and found no damage at all. Take baby steps and figgure it out yourself and build confidence.
I've run through lots of hard sweet-water ice with my glass over wood boat and not hurt it. Thin ice is loud, but maintain a steady speed. Thicker ice requires using the hull weight to break it - jump the boat up on the ice and let it sink through and break the ice. I've had times when I was sure I had destroyed my hull and found no damage at all. Take baby steps and figgure it out yourself and build confidence.
Dennis Johnson
Active member
If a higbee is made of FG or alum. no prob. what Tod & Craig said. My mallard I made last year broke up to 1.5" ice this year over that thickness it just poped ot top of the ice & set there, not enough weight to break thru. Go easy on the RPM's, the ice ya break thru will go under the boat & the prop will chew it up, too high of rpm & might sheer a sheer pin in thick stuff. Go forth & enjoy some late season birds.
Dennis
Dennis
Bob B
Well-known member
Rick,
since I have no idea where you are from I am going to say you are right to be scared and you should keep it that way.
Breaking ice is a dangerous play in the dark and if you make a mistake you are in a heap of trouble fast with help a long way off.
I have ripped the bottom out of a boat in Hard Fresh Water Ice and lived to tell you about it. It was that close.
My fathers best friend and his son died in the cold, late season, water hunting.
since I have no idea where you are from I am going to say you are right to be scared and you should keep it that way.
Breaking ice is a dangerous play in the dark and if you make a mistake you are in a heap of trouble fast with help a long way off.
I have ripped the bottom out of a boat in Hard Fresh Water Ice and lived to tell you about it. It was that close.
My fathers best friend and his son died in the cold, late season, water hunting.
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I'll ditto those thoughts. Yes, I have broken ice on many occasions. Breaking thin ice is pretty much routine for me in any given season but,,,,,,,,,,,,
At some point in time you will encounter thicker ice, even on the same day. A couple times that I have been out in an ice jam or, more correctly, out stuck in an ice jam,,, in the dark,,, all alone,,, over freezing water,,,,,,, well lets just say that the pucker factor quadruples real fast.
I now always carry a long pole with an ice pick point on it for the times I will be motoring thru ice. This pole has both a point and a hook which I can use to move large ice chunks if I need to.
Be careful out there.
I'll ditto those thoughts. Yes, I have broken ice on many occasions. Breaking thin ice is pretty much routine for me in any given season but,,,,,,,,,,,,
At some point in time you will encounter thicker ice, even on the same day. A couple times that I have been out in an ice jam or, more correctly, out stuck in an ice jam,,, in the dark,,, all alone,,, over freezing water,,,,,,, well lets just say that the pucker factor quadruples real fast.
I now always carry a long pole with an ice pick point on it for the times I will be motoring thru ice. This pole has both a point and a hook which I can use to move large ice chunks if I need to.
Be careful out there.
Jay Anglin
Well-known member
I've broken lots of ice over the years in aluminum and glass boats. Both performed fine and depending on the ice composition you may not even be able to tell you busted ice when you examine the hull later. Sooner or later gel or epoxy will show the wear if you don't have skid plate etc of some kind obviously.
On the other hand if you make a habit of it like I do nothing will old up better than a metal boat, steel being the best but most of us have aluminum. I use my Lund and run hard through it. Often times if you get up on plane the slight bow wave will push under the ice and actually buckle it out in front. I always make sure my bilge is operable and NOT FROZEN and have a 5 gallon bucket tied to the boat somewhere to allow emergency last ditch effort bailing...of course it helps to have a partner for this. And of course wear your PFD and pray and say "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" repeatedly when it gets really thick. Seems to work good. Have some kind of implement to move big chunks out of the way if necessary...like a push pole or even a shovel...anything. My favorite one I ever had was an Aspen pole I cut in the UP that was 20 feet long and had a nice fork at the end. It worked great.
Another great trick is to trim up and do donuts and buckle ice with your wake. You can break some really thick stuff this way and depending on how big you need the hole to be it's just a matter of how many donuts you want to do. If you have to get somewhere you can continue moving forward by edging the bow into the next patch of intact ice and use the motor to blow the busted up ice out of the hole. This works surprisingly well and you can even direct the wake to push certain directions. Then repeat the process. Playing the wind helps of course, nothing worse than opening a hole and then have the wind blow the pack ice back in. If you have a junk prop or one that is well worn use that one because as your wake blow through the broken pieces it will catch chunks and while I've only broken a prop once doing this, usually it just peens the leading edges of the blades down. Stainless would work better. If you have sheer pins then make damn well sure you have a bunch handy and the appropriate tools to remove the prop and have the ability to easily tilt the motor up. If your tilt mechanism freezes you'll need to address that.
On the other hand if you make a habit of it like I do nothing will old up better than a metal boat, steel being the best but most of us have aluminum. I use my Lund and run hard through it. Often times if you get up on plane the slight bow wave will push under the ice and actually buckle it out in front. I always make sure my bilge is operable and NOT FROZEN and have a 5 gallon bucket tied to the boat somewhere to allow emergency last ditch effort bailing...of course it helps to have a partner for this. And of course wear your PFD and pray and say "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" repeatedly when it gets really thick. Seems to work good. Have some kind of implement to move big chunks out of the way if necessary...like a push pole or even a shovel...anything. My favorite one I ever had was an Aspen pole I cut in the UP that was 20 feet long and had a nice fork at the end. It worked great.
Another great trick is to trim up and do donuts and buckle ice with your wake. You can break some really thick stuff this way and depending on how big you need the hole to be it's just a matter of how many donuts you want to do. If you have to get somewhere you can continue moving forward by edging the bow into the next patch of intact ice and use the motor to blow the busted up ice out of the hole. This works surprisingly well and you can even direct the wake to push certain directions. Then repeat the process. Playing the wind helps of course, nothing worse than opening a hole and then have the wind blow the pack ice back in. If you have a junk prop or one that is well worn use that one because as your wake blow through the broken pieces it will catch chunks and while I've only broken a prop once doing this, usually it just peens the leading edges of the blades down. Stainless would work better. If you have sheer pins then make damn well sure you have a bunch handy and the appropriate tools to remove the prop and have the ability to easily tilt the motor up. If your tilt mechanism freezes you'll need to address that.
Jay Anglin
Well-known member
About 5 years ago I busted a mile long channel out to go swan hunting on a large lake in Northern Indiana. I accessed the lake from a creek that always remains open. I opened my hole up along shore and turned around to see a guy in a big Lund idling in my channel towards me. The ice was 3 to 4 inches thick. He was making a horrendous racket because his boat was wider than mine and it was pinching into the ice channel but not breaking it...water was about 8 feet deep. I'm sure it tore the hell out of his boat...and it was flat out dangerous as well. I would guess you could hear him about 2 miles away. Finally within within ear shot I ask,"Hey, what in the hell are you doing?" and the guy replies "Trolling for musky". Seriously, I ain't making it up.
My greatest ice chunk hit (more like a Great Lakes Iceberg) was in April on Lake Superior. The lake was wide open with heavy freighter traffic in and out of both harbors. I was fishing the upper harbor in Marquette...I launched off the beach. I was drifting over two "bubblers" that discharge warm water from the adjacent coal plant which powers the Tilden and Empire Mines owned by Cleveland Cliffs outside Nagaunee, MI. If you drive an American or Canadian made vehicle of any kind there's a good chance that some of the steel started out as taconite pellets that were loaded at the Upper Harbor oar dock that came from one of these mines. Just about anything you can imagine hung around the warmer water but the big attraction were the little jack Cohos that have the sweetest meat of any freshwater salmon I have eaten.
Anyway, once you drift past the bubbler about a quarter mile you fire up the motor and run back upwind. I was making my upwind run being sure to give the bubbler plenty of space..maybe 200 yards, and "WHAM!" I'm thrown forward onto the floor of the boat, the prop is out of the water screaming because I didn't have my kill tether on so I crawled up and shut it down. I realize the boat is higher in the water than normal. I look around me and essentially I was "beached" on an ice berg about the size of an Econoline van. Thankfully the gear case of the motor stopped right at the end of this thing so I was able to use my foot to push the boat back far enough to trim down and get the motor fired up and go into reverse. With more coaxing with my foot I got the boat off albeit with a wet foot. The ice was crystal clear and apparently it was so dense that it was wallowing just under the surface and was extremely difficult to see in the light chop. I went to straight to shore and pulled the boat out. There was zero sign of the hit on the motor or the boat and everything was perfectly operable amazingly enough.
My greatest ice chunk hit (more like a Great Lakes Iceberg) was in April on Lake Superior. The lake was wide open with heavy freighter traffic in and out of both harbors. I was fishing the upper harbor in Marquette...I launched off the beach. I was drifting over two "bubblers" that discharge warm water from the adjacent coal plant which powers the Tilden and Empire Mines owned by Cleveland Cliffs outside Nagaunee, MI. If you drive an American or Canadian made vehicle of any kind there's a good chance that some of the steel started out as taconite pellets that were loaded at the Upper Harbor oar dock that came from one of these mines. Just about anything you can imagine hung around the warmer water but the big attraction were the little jack Cohos that have the sweetest meat of any freshwater salmon I have eaten.
Anyway, once you drift past the bubbler about a quarter mile you fire up the motor and run back upwind. I was making my upwind run being sure to give the bubbler plenty of space..maybe 200 yards, and "WHAM!" I'm thrown forward onto the floor of the boat, the prop is out of the water screaming because I didn't have my kill tether on so I crawled up and shut it down. I realize the boat is higher in the water than normal. I look around me and essentially I was "beached" on an ice berg about the size of an Econoline van. Thankfully the gear case of the motor stopped right at the end of this thing so I was able to use my foot to push the boat back far enough to trim down and get the motor fired up and go into reverse. With more coaxing with my foot I got the boat off albeit with a wet foot. The ice was crystal clear and apparently it was so dense that it was wallowing just under the surface and was extremely difficult to see in the light chop. I went to straight to shore and pulled the boat out. There was zero sign of the hit on the motor or the boat and everything was perfectly operable amazingly enough.
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Paul Meisenheimer
Well-known member
Breaking ice is fairly common up here. I have a few rules I follow in anything more than a little skim ice. Keep in mind I only hunt fresh water.
I have an 16' aluminum boat with ice runners and I am fairly comfortable with how much ice it can break. I still don't ever feel comfortable doing it. I have gone out and broken a path for smaller, lighter boats to get back to the ramp after they got stuck in the middle of thicker ice. If you can't go forward and you have sheets of ice on both sides of you, turning around is a real challenge.
Ice that has been broken once and refrozen solid tends to be a lot thicker and stronger. Stay away from it. If it is still moving with the swells you are probably OK. When you go out make sure you are confident you can get back. On a really cold day it is possible for the ice to thicken up to an inch.
- Take the path of least resistance even if it takes you out of your way.
- If breaking ice is required wait for daylight. It is always better to see what your surroundings look like.
- Go slow but steady.
- Don't think twice about turning around. If you even think it might be time to back off, it is definitely time.
- Don't ever become complacent in ice. It is always dangerous.
- Pay attention to any lump or build up above the waterline. It means there is a lot more below. (Think Titanic)
I have an 16' aluminum boat with ice runners and I am fairly comfortable with how much ice it can break. I still don't ever feel comfortable doing it. I have gone out and broken a path for smaller, lighter boats to get back to the ramp after they got stuck in the middle of thicker ice. If you can't go forward and you have sheets of ice on both sides of you, turning around is a real challenge.
Ice that has been broken once and refrozen solid tends to be a lot thicker and stronger. Stay away from it. If it is still moving with the swells you are probably OK. When you go out make sure you are confident you can get back. On a really cold day it is possible for the ice to thicken up to an inch.
John Fraser
Well-known member
If you have to turn back, be real careful about running in reverse. Once I had run through the thin ice in a bay but when I got to the mouth of the bay the ice there was stacked up thick. Couldn't get through it. While turning around I put the boat in reverse and a sheet of ice that was stacked underneath the surface ice got into my prop and bent it up bad. Luckily it was only a couple of hundred yards back to the ramp.
Rick lester
Member
Thanks for all the help and ideas. The other guys dont want to use the ramp. Gong to try someware else and hope for no ice.
Im located in New Jersey
Rick
Im located in New Jersey
Rick