That's common up here in the great white north where yesterday the
temps went from +9 to -14 C in a few hours. This was accompanied by
winds up to 117 kph, lightning, hail, and by this morning 4 inches of
snow. Too much fun!!

  We use lock deicer which is just methyl alcohol in a handy squirt
bottle to squirt it into the keyways. The alcohol absorbs water and
breaks down ice. You can put it on your latches as well though it will
probably remove some of the grease etc as well.
  As for Rachel's suggestion of windscreen washer, it is primarily water
with a bit of detergent and some alcohol to inhibit freezing. It may
give temporary relief but once the alcohol evaporates you are left with
the water in your locks again.  Depends where you live and how cold it
gets. YMMV
Cheers

On Monday, December 20, 2004, at 06:57  PM, Automatic digest processor
wrote:

> Date:    Mon, 20 Dec 2004 17:56:00 -0700
> From:    Gnarlodious <gnarlodious@EARTHLINK.NET>
> Subject: Re: Frozen Locks! after rain
>
> Entity Carl Hansen spoke thus:
>
>> Heat loosens the mechanism temporarily, but it takes sittin in the
>> sun for
>> hours to make the phenomenon truly go away!
> Best thing for that is some windshield washer fluid, it's antifreezing
> and
> will displace the water. Squirt some in there while it's in a liquid
> state.
>
> As for the rubber gaskets, I dunno. Maybe dribble some of the green
> stuff
> there too. I don't think it's harmful to rubber foam.
>
> -- Gnarlie