I have been in Alexandria for about a week. Today the ice is all the way across the Potomac. Yesterday the ice was in patches, but I saw one sail boat out in the stuff.

My question is: doesn't the ice scratch the hull or do other damage?

The is probably pretty thin but yes, it can damage the boat. Can even slice right through the side like a sheet of steel. But we rarely get a heavy freeze on the river here so he was probably ok, but like a paper cut it only takes the right angle and a sheet of ice can do some severe damage. Not worth the risk to me.

[QUOTE=myturn;2785580] I saw one sail boat out in the stuff.[QUOTE]


There's your sign

me and my buddies went out this weekend , were all a lil nuts
these are heavy cruiser boats , but we did 2 boats from Colonial Beach to Coles Point , about 20 miles , stayed the night and returned sunday , ice in both marina's , nothing in the river at all
did do damage to one boat , 36 foot trojan sport fisher , cut a trim ram line while backing into a slip , didnt bother him at all tho , he just figured he'd fix it in the spring when he short hauls and repaints the bottem anyway
all in all , freezing fun , just the ticket to help me deal with 3 more months of no boat myself.
unless theres a huge freeze over were gonna bring that same trojen up to Gilligans for the beach party next month

It's not the boats I worry about they are on land it's the docks, I have 2 pumps keeping the water moving to keep it from freezing but if you don't then the tide comes up high it will lift the dock out of the ground or if you live on the main river when it starts to melt the ice flows will just take the dock away like it wasnt there. My good buddy lived on the Potomac from 1980-1992 put in 10 dock's, good thing he is in the deck building biz. If you want a nice dock live on a creek or back in a cove where the water isnt moving fast.