Our rink is 115' x 65',
full sized regulation boards 3/4" Treated plywood with 1/2" plexy as the
facing. The boards are 4" off the dirt and the kick plate is 1/4"
plexy, this sits on the dirt and retains the water. The Ice is formed
with a snow base (no liner) and gradually built up (about 20 floodings)
with thin layers of water. We have achieved a glass like finish with
a total of just over 2" of ice.
I built a home made ice-resurfacer
to help with the flooding. Because of the rinks size it takes
a long time to shovel, so I use my four wheeler to get most of the snow
off and then hand scrape the rest with a shovel.
For night skating we have
3-35 foot poles equipped with 1000 watt metal halide fixtures. These do
a real nice job of lighting the area. The rink also has regulation sized
goals and a 8' x 8' warming house .
Here is a construction timeline:
We cleared the trees in May
2001. 250 Norway pine trees were taken out. Leveled the area in Aug. with
my 1944 Farm All Tractor. Erected the boards in September and finished
just before snow in October.
We started flooding in late
November, 2 or 3 times a night. Temps ranged from 15 f to 20
f This seemed to be the best flooding temps, any colder and the water
would freeze too fast. We were skating after the 12th flood.
The quality got better and better after each flood.
Most initial fooding was
done with my ice-resurfacer machine (with 2" plumbing) and then we switched to
a garden hose for thicker layers, then went back to the ice-resurfacer with 1"
plumbing (slower water trickle) and clothe drag to get a smooth finish.
We have been skating, hockey
games and enjoying the rink every night since then. My wife and I have
a 2&1/2 year old boy (Tanner) who has not missed a night and is starting
to skate with out his chair.
Thanks for the pics Brian. |