Costco sells an ice rink bag. You fill it with water, let it freeze then cut the top off and voila. I'm not sure if it is strong enough to make ice on a slope. If it is it would be a very weird experiencing skating on a hill.
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Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
Ah, skating on a hill AKA Ice Surfing.
One winter many decades back when I was just as dumb but healed faster I went to Niagara Falls with a buddy. The steps at Table Rock House were an undulated ice formation. Being true Canadians, growing up taking a run at every ice patch on a sidewalk and seeing how far one could slide, we thought "Cool, go for it" and boogied down the steps.
After a couple of simple runs we started doing hip shifts at the bottom resulting in 180 or 360 spins. We started hearing oohs, aahs and clicks as the oriental tourists took in our silliness. Cameras went click back then.
Then some of the orientals started trying it but without the Canadian experience it turned into a disaster as they piled up at the bottom.
That has talent and skill. Most people building a backyard rink on a slope using a plastic bag probably have neither. As I kid, after a particularly bad ice storm, I did skate down the gravel road near my parents house. I did the little hill (~25' drop) but I am not a great skater so I didn't do the much bigger hill.
Ok. Finished breaking up the failed attempt last night. There was a big leak at the seam which I knew about and a few reasonably big leaks in the field (looked like a shotgun blast down through the snow). No visual issues with liner, just permeated the weave. New liner arrived this morning and is now filling. It is white poly very similar to super six but with no seams. Ordered at midnight sunday from Rinkmaster and arrived 10:00 on Tuesday (shipping included in price). Can't expect much better than that.
I lied. Checked out the neighbours rink this evening from our house. Pic came out garbage but it looks great and his sons are having a blast.It's a little bumpy because it hasn't been skated on yet but at least it is now a rink. Happy wife.
I’m building one next year in our yard. Even if my kids can’t skate yet I’m doing it for myself and the wife. I think I can get away with a 15x30-40ft.
One kid had skates on for over two hours today. Lots of skating by himself, then with mom, then with the neighbour (who is good). Doing well for his third time skating without us holding him up. Other kid had a nap. Wife will greenboni the rink tonight (green bin with a hole drilled in it and a shirt for a sweeper, it will get better with time but bulkhead fittings are a *&^*&^ to come up with during covid).
20x25 is fine for the small ones and kids that are good at hockey. It is marginally acceptable for mediocre adults. Bigger would be better but adding 15' to length would likely have more than doubled the required work and cost.
Nice. Our little guy hasn’t been on skates yet so next year will be his first time. Girl is still learning to run so she’s a bit further back but for him and us a 15x30 is better as our backyard is wider so we can’t have a square. But will measure it out.
I’ll be sure to ask for tips and reference this thread come fall when I’m buying material.
My only real tip is just buy a proper one piece rink liner. You could probably use the MM approach of soaking snow to make a base, but that takes a ton of water and leaves you with a dark base that melts faster. The white, non-leaking liner makes this magically easier.
I still am holding out hope that I can get two years out of the liner (although I may need to shrink the rink slightly as the edge will likely be shredded) but everyone else says that is not happening. Time will tell. It wasn't tragically expensive (~$120 for 25x28). Hopefully next year the community rinks will be open again and they can just go there. Ten times the skatable area, infinitely cheaper and less work.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
Hook up a hat water hose to your laundry sink, fill 5 gallon pails with 70f water and tip them over. If the water is too cold it will sheet (not stick to tother layers), it will also slush up befor it finds level making your rink bumpy
If you want to to the homeboni thing, you gan get one off amazon or make one for $10 worth of PCC pipe (use 2")..
I want to avoid dealing with a hose/silcock if at all possible. Draining it all is more trouble than it's worth. For now ~9 gallons of hot water in green bin is working. Can probably cut back as the surface improves.
Trying to get my hands on a woodcock 22 to make my life easier with hot and cold outside that can be left on all winter. Bardon sells them but I don't know for how much or if you need an account to get things from them. Otherwise, the evil overlord has them.
It looks good. The neighbours kid brought over a dozen pucks, a net and some sticks. If it gets a bit warmer my wife will build snow boards at the net end to stop sliding pucks. Right now anything that misses the net flies off. When they fly off the end, they bury themselves in the snow. We are down to four pucks now. We will find them all in the spring.
I’ll start grabbing material late this year so try to set up ours for the winter. Only problem is we have zero shade so any sunny day will just heat it up like a champ.
i wonder if I put a hole in the middle my sprinkler will pop up high enough to wet the hole rink....
i wonder if I put a hole in the middle my sprinkler will pop up high enough to wet the hole rink....
For the initial fill of ours I used a sprinkler. With the snow base levelling out the lawn I didn't want to dump all the water in one spot and melt a big dent and I didn't want to be out there for hours moving the hose around. The sprinkler also helped get the water temp down a bunch before it hit the liner as it was ~-15C. Once the entire liner was covered, I switched to a hose flowing onto a shovel to get the flowrate up and it worked ok.
For shade, I wonder about a tarp garage. Keeps it shady, and keeps a lot of the snow off it, gives an easy place to mount lights and the slab itself can hold the tarp garage down.
Genius! Are those any good for snow loads??
Quebec sets up thousands of them every winter. I think the intent is they are steep enough and slippery enough that they don't hold snow.
I’ve got a 2 car garage and no space for cars in it. Might need one of those for outside lol.
which reminds me, need to order material to build shelving in there for more vertical space.
New location of the rack will allow a car to go in and not stop it length or width wise.
Check bylaw if you are putting in in the driveway. Most municipalities do not allow them. Probably not allowed in your backyard either, but you have less busy bodies looking into your backyard.
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