Backyard Rink

Well the lights are awesome, pretty impressed.

Attachments:

1. 

   02226E6D-7900-42FF-B8B5-9B0EEE7EC505-scaled.jpeg
   

Looks great! It’s looking like the cold weather won’t hit now until about next Sunday. Hopefully it sets a trend of cooler weather.

It’s looking like next weekend is a solid bet for good ice. Probably some skating by next Wednesday or Thursday. If you are wondering when to flood I’d do it on Sunday.

My neighbor has a zambonie parked in his yard that has never moved, I need to ask him if I can get it going and use it.

That’s a pretty sweet yard ornament.

I would add some bracing along your deep end, once that freezes all the way down, there will be some serious pressure pushing outwards.

walleyevision wrote:

I would add some bracing along your deep end, once that freezes all the way down, there will be some serious pressure pushing outwards.

It’s a good thought and I was concerned about it last year. I had a good 8-10” in the same spot last year. What actually happens though is the dark boards generate enough heat from the sun to melt the ice up against it and it creates a little gap (maybe 1/8-14”) all the way down to the grass. The bracing is designed to hold up to 18” all the way around.

Well I started flooding tonight, I figured I’d get a jump start before Sunday’s cold temps.

Attachments:

1. 

   DC3B987F-BF5C-4B31-8E97-AB8BD613662B-scaled.jpeg
   

Sweet! Let’s really hope this snow goes north. I don’t want a blanket on top right before it gets cold.

Still got a solid 1.5” on mine. Just need 1-2 nights of single digits.

Completely agree.
Mines locked up……
But it’s minimal ice.

We are supposed to get 4” here in central mn.

Still waiting here in the south end of the state. Was going to flood tomr afternoon, but they are saying 20-35mph with gusts over 40 for the next two days. I dont want to have a bunch of tree branches fall into my rink befor it freezes so will have to wait till Wednesday. Plus ground dont have any frost going yet and I like to have the ground froze befor I set the trap down and it holds some of the ground temp underneath it, thus slowing down the freeze.
Wallster ><((((>

Only got about an inch of snow. The SE wind blew all the snow off the north end of the rink now I’m hoping the NW wind blows the snow off the south end tonight. Should get some good ice overnight tonight and tomorrow. Might attempt resurfacing tomorrow night.

Well we got approximately 4” of snow, the 4” of snow turned into slush on the top layer of rink.
Is the solution letting this sit for the next 4-5 days & resurface with hot water ?

I made the mistake of trying to clear the snow off my rink last year right after a blizzard. I had slush under the deepest snow that created mounds and bumps that took weeks to resolve.

I’d definitely let it sit until it’s solid. Hopefully the wind blows most of the insulating blanket off so it can freeze.

Once it’s solid you can see what you have. I’d imagine if it’s real bad you could always add an inch or so of water to the top and let it freeze.

Yeah, it doesn’t look terrible.
I’m gonna let it sit & probably add an inch of water tomorrow evening.

Found about 3” this afternoon when I got home from work. Took the shovel and removed as much ice chunks as I could. Laid down a heavy layer with the resurfacer. Still really bumpy but it should be pretty decent after about two more layers. Hopefully we make another inch or two tonight. We should be set to be skating by midweek or by the weekend. Unfortunately it looks like a possible snowstorm coming Friday night. Hopefully it’s all just fluffy snow. I wanna get these bumps ironed out so I don’t get castrated shoveling that snow.

Attachments:

1. 

   7936B2E1-55DE-408F-B5CB-B451FC305A44-scaled.jpeg
   

2. 

   7E7FE287-7C57-4350-96D9-4774624C3335-scaled.jpeg
   

I have seen guys take a big torch and melt the bumps down some.
Why not just add a half inch of water tonight I would think it would freeze good tonight and tomorrow.

I’d rather not add a lot of heat to it tonight so it builds as much thickness as possible. I also don’t like adding a lot of water to the surface. It always ends up with bubbles and cavities leaving you with big sheet/chunks of ice that are oddly satisfying to walk and skate on, but suck to play hockey on.

Do you think it would have been smoother had you filled with much smaller amounts of water allowing it to completely freeze each night? That’s generally how I saw the city employees flood the rink near my house growing up.

It was perfectly smooth before the warm weather. Then came the snow and wind. The bumps are just areas where the snow froze to the ice. Without the snow it would’ve been nearly perfect. Same thing happened last year after the December blizzard that started out as rain. Had a 3” high mound of frozen slush on one end that took weeks to resolve.

The city doesn’t use a liner so they need to build layers in order to get a thick enough sheet. The beauty of the liner is that you can fill it up and let it freeze like a pond. Less work building up layers but might be susceptible to crappy weather until there’s enough ice to walk on.

biggill wrote:

The city doesn’t use a liner so they need to build layers in order to get a thick enough sheet. The beauty of the liner is that you can fill it up and let it freeze like a pond. Less work building up layers but might be susceptible to crappy weather until there’s enough ice to walk on.

Anyone here do a backyard rink with no liner or boards? I just started a small one last night, roughly 25′ x 25′ – got the snow compacted and 3 thin layers of ice down. I don’t need a huge area since my kids are all just learning to skate, so hoping I can make something cheap and easy that’s decent enough to get a few skates on. ODR doesn’t open until after Christmas and the lakes are covered in snow now

Start working on the PP tswoboda!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Start working on the PP tswoboda!

HA well we do have enough for a forward line and they’ll be in the same age group so it may just happen!!

Attachments:

1. 

   Screenshot_20211207-111106_Instagram.jpg
   

biggill wrote:

It was perfectly smooth before the warm weather. Then came the snow and wind. The bumps are just areas where the snow froze to the ice. Without the snow it would’ve been nearly perfect. Same thing happened last year after the December blizzard that started out as rain. Had a 3” high mound of frozen slush on one end that took weeks to resolve.

Ah that makes sense. Frustrating for you, but not a lot you can do about mother nature I guess.

tswoboda wrote:

HA well we do have enough for a forward line and they’ll be in the same age group so it may just happen!!

Great looking crew!

CaptainMusky wrote:

Start working on the PP tswoboda!

Yeah don’t want your kids to be known as stone hands.

Filled here in the south tonight, now hopefully it stay cold.
Wallster ><((((>

Attachments:

1. 

   20211207_180008-scaled.jpg
   

Those lights are cool…

Sweet lights. Did you put them over or under the liner? I thought about doing that too.

They are under the liner.
Wallster ><((((>