Ice in bilges / Rock salt question

[Bill Henchy]

Thought I'd ask for feedback. I can't keep the bilges completely dry along the garboard, and have been given different opinions on the subject of rock salt in the bilges; some in favor as preventing ice and rot, some aginst as being bad for the fasteners. What's the conventional wisdom here? And would a bit of ice hurt anyhow?

[ 01-09-2004, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: Bill Henchy ]

[High C]

Originally posted by Bill Henchy:
Thought I'd ask for feedback. I can't keep the bilges completely dry along the garboard, and have been given different opinions on the subject of rock salt in the bilges; some in favor as preventing ice and rot, some aginst as being bad for the fasteners. What's the conventional wisdom here? And would a bit of ice hurt anyhow?Interesting. I used to keep a container of rock salt under the drain of an icebox, hoping that it would make the water draining into the bilge less prone to rot the spot where it dripped. It seemed to work. I hadn't considered the fastener question, though, hmmmmm....

[Dan McCosh]

It's going to act as if the boat is in salt water. Another option is a gallon of glycol antifreeze in the bilge.

[Dave Hadfield]

I give a little squirt of glycol into each bay between the frames every year at lay-up. It's gone in the spring, chasing the water in the wood.

Haven't noticed any bad effects.

[Frank E. Price]

I periodically scatter rock salt around in my open sharpie skiff with no problem, but your situation sounds different. The old timers filled salt boxes in the old fishing schooners. As I understand it they were in the frame bays just under the deckhead. I have also read that sometimes the salt stop was put in the frame bays near the waterline and each frame bay filled entirely from there up to the deckhead, or ceiling top. Those vessels used galvanized fastenings, I believe, where treenails weren't used. In such large vessels the fastenings would be large enough to rust slowly. Often, if not always, they filled the bilges with concrete at least partially. Some of the fishing schooners had enough concrete to form a flat bottom for the holds.

My skiff has exposed clenched ends of galvanized nails, which are not apparently affected by the salt. But in this neck of the woods in an open boat the salt gets dissolved, diluted and bailed out frequently.

Hopefully an authority will contribute to this thread. Or look in WB's cumulative index for related articles. Much of the above is what's left in my gray matter from back issues.

Frank