Winter - 'Lager' 2008/2009
At my berth in the South Harbour of Berlin Spandau, I was told that the water here would hardly ever freeze over, as there was a slight current. So I should stay here in the water over winter. I was happy to believe that, because on the one hand I would save the crane and storage in a hall and on the other hand I could make wonderful winter trips - which I really enjoyed.
The first snow fell on 23.11.2008. In wonderful sunny weather, the boiler was quickly filled up for a small steam tour.
In the foreship at the boiler or near the engine it was still quite pleasant - if you sailed "open", it was also possible with a hat and scarf. But it was always very cold in the cabin, which is why I wanted to install a steam heater.
Unfortunately, I didn't find a suitable radiator, so I made a makeshift out of a few meters of copper pipe. It also serves as a shelf under the seat. However, the small surface area is only enough to heat two people directly nearby - but still. The heating system is supplied with live steam. The condensate goes back into the cistern.
Equipped in this way, there was to be a New Year's trip with Werner and ladies in 2009. But: Just in time for the turn of the year, a severe cold set in. Emma was ice-free as promised, but the rest of the harbor was frozen...
The barely perceptible current in the not very wide harbor arm had to pass the 8 m long Emma. Since there was only about 10 - 20 cm of water under the keel, there was always a slight turbulence in the surface water, so that Emma did not freeze solid.
Here is a view towards the Spree on January 1st, 2009. An ice field about 400 m long and about 5 cm thick separated Emma from the open water.
After two weeks of extreme cold, this was no longer enough and the water edge around Emma, which can still be seen here, closed. Nevertheless, the current brought enough warmth to prevent water in the bilge from freezing, for example. As I was living in Leipzig, about 190 km away, at that time of the week, I was very grateful that the fireman Michael checked on Emma from time to time...
