AKRISONER Posted December 20, 2019 Report Posted December 20, 2019 Absolutely, survival suit plus life jacket plus spud and picks...please note that whatever I am measuring is a spot that is known for generally always having safe ice. I won’t be venturing anywhere that I typically go later in the season. I’ll be staying close to home.
AKRISONER Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 4-4.5 inches of solid black ice. Not too much snow. You should be good to go walking. Supposed to be a bit warm for a couple of days here so be careful in areas with potential inflow from melt off
Locnar Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 Any idea if any of the smaller lakes in the minden/haliburton area are gettin' into safe ice conditions? I've heard reports of some people going out on a couple of them.
porkpie Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 I was out on what Is in my opinion “safe ice” last Monday on a southern Ontario lake. There will be some safe ice in many areas of many lakes all across Ontario now. But not all areas of all lakes. The trick is that you or someone you have faith in needs to know what’s up. That’s experience gained only by getting out there and doing it. No one can tell you that Ice is absolutely safe, especially as a lot of larger waterbodies just started freeze up in the last week.
Jds63 Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 just flooded our ice rink on the lake up in Haliburton for the third time this week , 5 inches so far
Eserf Posted December 21, 2019 Author Report Posted December 21, 2019 55 minutes ago, Jds63 said: just flooded our ice rink on the lake up in Haliburton for the third time this week , 5 inches so far What methods do you use to flood? Just spray water or do you have a makeshift zamboni system?
Jds63 Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 1 hour ago, Eserf said: What methods do you use to flood? Just spray water or do you have a makeshift zamboni system? i drill a hole with an auger and drop down a sump pump, attach to a small length of hose , and fill a big clam sled full of water , drag it across and dump it ,.. it’s a lot of work .. my pump is not strong enough to hook a long hose and spray ... my friend picked up a gas powered pump and fire hose ... that is the way to go .. done in 2 minutes .. always do in the evening so night temps really set up the ice ... it’s still a learning process , i hope to have a better method next winter .. are you also doing a rink ?
Eserf Posted December 21, 2019 Author Report Posted December 21, 2019 1 hour ago, Jds63 said: i drill a hole with an auger and drop down a sump pump, attach to a small length of hose , and fill a big clam sled full of water , drag it across and dump it ,.. it’s a lot of work .. my pump is not strong enough to hook a long hose and spray ... my friend picked up a gas powered pump and fire hose ... that is the way to go .. done in 2 minutes .. always do in the evening so night temps really set up the ice ... it’s still a learning process , i hope to have a better method next winter .. are you also doing a rink ? We make a rink every year for the last three years. We rent as a group once per winter for four days. We have a big group of guys so we make quick work of clearing the snow. Then we start a flood by using the auger to draw up water from the whole. This year i have a pump that uses the power from the drill to spin the turbine. Hope that doesnt freeze up but worth a shot.
AKRISONER Posted December 21, 2019 Report Posted December 21, 2019 Every time I’ve used a sump pump I end up getting shale ice...any ideas? Maybe it’s just too cold when I’ve tried it causing the ice to not freeze nicely? My solution has been the extremely labour intense process of hauling buckets of hot water down to the lake and pre filling in the cracks that form with snow. Then running around with a puck and packing slush into the ruts. It at least patched up the bad areas and cracks but I’ve never had luck straight up flooding the ice? Maybe I need more/less water? any ideal temperature? Tips? I plan on making a rink on Thursday
Eserf Posted December 27, 2019 Author Report Posted December 27, 2019 Ice was great over Christmas even saw a couple snowmobiles out. Did catch anything but still tried. We also made a really nice rink. I got up to 8" in some spots. It got warm Over the last two days with some rain so a decent amount of melt but before that was nice
Eserf Posted December 27, 2019 Author Report Posted December 27, 2019 Used a drill pump. Worked pretty decent i must say. I have a bunch of batteries so wasn't a problem. Just wish i zip tied the trigger to give my finger a break IMG_4362.MP4
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