Your Preferred Ice Breaking Method

Ben Gallop

Member
It's not often that we here in NC have to break any serious ice, and I am suspecting that this cold event won't be much different since we aren't getting any snow. In any event, I need to prepare for the slim potential that I will have to bust ice at a boat ramp and maybe for a short distance down a canal in a fiberglass boat. I'm not so concerned about the boat as it is a big boat by most duck boat standards with a true deep V and a lot of glass on the keel. My main concern is the ramp. What do YOU use and how do YOU break ice at a ramp prior to backing YOUR trailer in? What tools do YOU carry with you to break ice? Thanks in advance.
 
I have an old heavy cast cutter mattock and a long handle flat metal shovel in the car as well as a bucket of sand. With the flat striking surfaces of the mattock I can cut squares of ice and slid them under the ice to the side or send them floating off down river. A hammer smashes the ice inefficiently, an ice spud is tiring unless your standing on the ice letting gravity do the work. The long handle flat metal shovel is tougher than snow shovels and gets under the ice sheets nicely.

The sand is for tire traction coming back up the ramp. On real icy ramps it's often better to back a little further down into the water before heading back up the ramp. This lets your rear tires get to bite no ice (underwater) for the first few feet allowing you to get some momentum before hitting the icy section above the water.

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Enjoy!
Scott

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Ben,

I carry an ice spud because I already had one. I do think Scott has made good choices in the tools he uses. Sand is a must if you are dealing with much ice at all on the upper portions of the ramp. I've launched from a dry ramp, only to come back later to find it completely iced over above the waterline from trailers dripping water as guys pull them out.
 
All I'll add to the above is th need to be carful with your trailer lights. Unless you do a good job of getting the ice out of the way, or your lights are on poles above the water line, or you don't go far enough back for the lights to go in the water, you will break them. I can't tell you how many lights I have broken when ice has hit the very cold plastic and cracked it.

Also, with your motor, you have to decide if you want it up or down when backing down the ramp. I prefer the motor being up in the off chance that I might miss some ice and then the motor catches it and tries to tuck under the boat.

Finally, you need to remember that you will actuall need to have twice the length of the boat oc relatively clear water to launch a boat unless you have a helper. Either the helper holds the boat as you drive back up the ramp, or you need room to get the boat off the trailer while it is in the water.

Good luck to you. I'm guesing that unless it has been below zero for many days you won't be getting much ice. Water is a big heat sink and it takes awhile for the ice to start to form.

Mark W
 
Hi Ben,

I've used a sledge hammer at the ramp so that I won't bust the trailer lights etc. on the ramp. If you are going to hunt Boat Bay Lake you may have a lot of busting to do. Just take it real slow wherever you go and remember the fresher the water the harder it will freeze.

Folks don't believe we get ice in NC but ice runners on Jon boats are a real plus.

Stay warm and don't fall overboard,

Harry
 
Is people who just drive up the ramp without draining their trailers at the water's edge when it's cold enough to make ice.
 
I remember many times using my tow strap attaching John Bourbon's truck to mine to pull the boat out of the Lamoille River launch in Colchester, VT. Nice concrete ramp, but rather steep and always iced up. We would keep one truck up on the flat and back them together to be sure the tow truck did not slip into the drink! I sed to buy bio-degradable RV antifreeze by the case too. I have set of motor muffs attached to a large funnel. After we pulled the boat, and blew out the motor, we would pour the antifreeze through the motor until orange came out the piss hole. Never had a motor freeze up during hunting season that way.

Kind of miss that cold weather hunting, but don't miss the long cold Winter that always followed the end of the season!

Dave
 
On one hunt last season, there was about 2" of ice at the ramp in a marsh area that I was going to hunt. I was hoofing it in, and in no real hurry to get out at first light, so I sat and observed a group of 3 guys with a large Jon boat doing the following. It seemed rather ingenious to me. One guy was in the boat, a second was in waders and the third was in the truck.

step one: Wader guy clears out a hole in the ice large enough to back down and get the motor into the water while tilted partially up.

step two: Boat guy starts said motor and put it in gear, which threw water up onto the ice directly behind the boat. This weakened the ice, which allowed them to break it much more easily.

Step three: As ice was loosened and pushed away, truck guy backs further down the ramp, tilting the motor to continue throwing water up onto the still solid ice behind the boat.

Repeat steps 1-3 until the boat floats off the trailer.
 
step two: Boat guy starts said motor and put it in gear, which threw water up onto the ice directly behind the boat. This weakened the ice, which allowed them to break it much more easily.


Scott,

I imagine the water on top of the ice actually had very little effect. The wake of the prop thrust under the ice would cause the ice shelf to flex. This flexing action would be the most helpful in breaking up the ice.
 
Mostly we use the boat, with some help and some specialized tools and techniques...

My very favorite thing in the whole world is a 13 lb. post maul. Followed in order by very sturdy Yamaha outboard lower units, hydraulic jack plates, and stainless steel props. And I grind down my zinc anodes/trim fins so I don't trap ice between prop and cav. plate. And I like really good bfg tires so I can pull the whole mess back up the ramp (or in some cases, not a ramp) when I'm done.

Procedure goes something like this:

Back trailer down ramp 'til skeg is almost touching ice...

Use maul and spud to make a hole big enough to lower the prop into. Just a couple feet across will do as long as there's a little water underneath. Jack the prop down into the water.

Fire motor and "wash" the ice -- this may buckle the ice near the hole, or might just spill a couple hundred gallons of water out on top of the ice... but either way it's a good thing. You'll hear all kinds of angry noises as the prop chews on the ice.

Once the hole gets bigger and the ice starts to get some water weight on top of it... Get to work with the maul 'til you have a hole big enough to drop the boat in. For us this usually means about 20' across.

Drop the boat off the trailer, manhandle it so the bow's pointing out, and get to work driving up on the ice, breaking a little, repeat. I use the weight of the boat as my first option, getting out and pounding with the maul as needed.

In these pics we had broken about 6" of ice to get the boat in. The two-mile ride out to the spot had 2" ice most of the way out... our path re-froze and had 3" ice on the way back! (I wouldn't usually be so bold but we had an "out" to get us to another ramp if our plan A didn't work... and there were a lot of ducks!).

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Later this season in another spot we used the same boat to open up a ramp that had as much as 14" of ice on and in front of it. We only had about 150 yds. to go but it wound up being about a 6-hour job. It was also worth it... but too damn much work to take pictures.

p.s. all this nonsense is how my boat got its name... this is what my wife painted on it for me this year:

chipaway.jpg

 
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Thanks for the tips guys! I think there will be ice at the ramp I'll be using, but I expect it will only be 50ft to open water. Gonna get their early and bring something big and heavy to bang with. Thanks again.
 
How i deal with it: Living and hunting in California. Lots of "awe" for the effort you cold weather guys have to go through just to get a boat in the water.
 
My preferred method these days is to sleep in and wait for a couple other groups to break the ice out.

Mallards returning from the fields around 9:00 really dont care if I have only been set-up for a half hour.

I've broke, destroyed, and bent enough stuff to last a couple lifetimes.

Sledge-hammer and an ice spud were the tools of the trade, along with the name and phone number of a good welder.

-2 here now, glad the duck season is closed.
 
Here in central CA, most ice breaking is done with a small hand held ice pick. You know the kind that looks like a screwdriver and is used to break up ice into small enough pieces that it will fit into your cocktail glass. Those picture are pretty amazing of how much work is to duck hunt back there. Thanks for sharing.
 
Kevin:

If I can't get the ice to break into small enough pieces with your method, I pour a splash of bitters, a slightly larger splash of sweet vermouth, and a glassful of whiskey over it.

If that doesn't work I will sometimes hit it with a Maraschino hammer.
 
Sometimes I just pick up the whole bag, and drop it on something hard a couple times.
Sorry.
In our little duck spot we generally use a boat only for LONG retrieves,and setting long lines. There are a couple times a year when we can use it to break a skim of maybe an inch , or so , but if we leave it skimmed for 2 or 3 nights , its time to get out the ice saw. A wonderful invention that you can buy in a few choice bait shops around here. They are supposed to be used for opening a "spear hole" so that you can put your "dark house" over it , and sit all day trying to attract northern pike with a live sucker minnow, or a carved decoy. Then stab him like an olive in the bottom of a martini.
It works pretty well because you can cut ,and break big chunks that you can then shove under the ice ,and repeat until you got a spot for about a dozen decoys.
Some times you feel pretty silly sitting there with a six mile long lake almost locked up with ice, and your little puddle with decoys. However when it works, it can be VERY fun.

Kip
 
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