He has six inches of ice now. If he only melts half of it with salt, he'll have three inches of ice with three inches of salt water on top of it.
We just had a half inch of ice here in CT. A little rock salt and some sunshine and it was gone in a matter of hours. I think that if Rodd waits for the temps to get up into the 30s, five or ten pounds of salt will melt it in no time. And then he should cover the cockpit.