This morning the temperature was -4 deg F but the sky was clear. I did some work on the boat cabin module in the garage in the afternoon but did not consider doing anything to the boat which is outside under a polyethylene cover. The boat cover looks like a greenhouse and I wondered what would happen to the temperature under the cover on a cold sunny day.

The boat and the ambient temperature was -4 deg F at 8:00AM. By noon the ambient air was up to 24 and the boat was 40 degrees. At 3PM the ambient temperature was 29 deg F and the boat was 56 deg F!

What seems remarkable is that I could have done a small fiberglass job under the plastic cover on the boat at noon and the resin would have mostly set up by sundown!� The lesson is that I should not give up boat work, just because it is very cold. The solar heating is a distinct benefit on a day like this.