Hatred? Not at all, but this FF person seems to be offering advise, while talking without really knowing much, the way I see it.
I have lived and cruised aboard for 30 years (on the same boat), 10 of those on the Great Lakes full time, in winters too.
So, I think I speak from a little more hands-on experience when I tell you FF is not really doing anyone any favors with his inputs.
I.E.:
"Before freezing in , if you can level the boat P&S , it will make drains work as designed."
- Wrong! If the boat freezes in, the ice will squeeze it upward so that it rises from the ice and never on an even keel, so you can forget "level the boat", LOL.
If it is a flat bottom hull, it will be crushed instead of squeezed out!
He is right about the noise and damage to boot stripe, probably why all of us living aboard in winter use some form of deicing; agitators or air.
"That's the time (the ice will be thinned) to use a 2x4 to knock the hole large enough so the dock lines keep the boat from grinding on the ice."
- Wrong! If you let your boat freeze in it will look after itself better than you messing with it. As a marine surveyor with 45 years of experience, I can tell you first hand that liveaboard boaters around Toronto and Port Credit do more damage to their gelcoat chopping ice around the boat than if they leave things alone.
And, if FF is going to dish out advise, then he forgot the most important:
You can never, ever let your boat freeze in WITHOUT SECURING ALL SEACONNECTIONS! That means all of your below waterline drains and seawater intakes must be freed from ice building inside the fittings!
This is done by devising some way of displacing the seawater / lake water from the throughhull fittings below the seacocks. The commercial guys do it by injecting some lighter-than-water liquids such as vegetable oil or lard.
Some take the hose off the seacock, slide a round piece of styrofoam down into the throughhull fitting and then close the seacock. The seacock will cut the styrofoam but the part that remains below the valve assembly will displace the water (so that when water expands during the freezing process, it has wiggle room, instead of cracking the throughhull / seacock). In the spring they shove a dowel through to push the styrofoam down, out of the seacock and then it pops up beside the boat.....
So please don't think I am hateful! - "hate" is used in many dumb ways these PC times.
I just have no patience for people who like to type on these boards as if they were some authority on a subject, but actually are misleading the readers!