Need some help!!!!

[Steve]

Need some help
I am making a 50x100 rink in my back with a one piece tarp. The grounds not perfectly flat but pretty good made a bit of a mistake leveling the one corner is still too low and 1/4 of the rink is full or water and almost frozen, collected from rain. Do I need to take my rink apart and get a perfect level or can I wait till the corner is frozen and then continue filling a little at a time? Will the water still go to that corner and over the top? Or once it is full and frozen will it is continue to freeze back??

[Joe]

[kevmac]

Going to jump in here for my first post... Steve, I guess it all depends on how high you have your boards and your tarp. What is the height of your rink and how high is the water currently?

I've been building a backyard rink on my lot for 10+ years and I have a severe gradient. Currently I have about 6-8 inches of ice in one corner and tarp showing in the far opposite corner... we've tried lowering the top part (I even had a Kubota at my disposal for a whole weekend) but it's a battle every year (a battle I win). The wondrous thing about water is that it is self-leveling so as long as your boards and tarp are high enough, you can keep on filling with no worries.

However, if your boards/tarp aren't high enough, I guess you have a couple of options...

1) Build the boards higher in the offending corner. Patch your existing tarp with more tarp and good tape (like Tuck Tape) in order to make it higher.
2) Tear down & relevel. Awful late in the game to be undertaking this work.
3) You can also build up your ice in the low areas by applying a thin coat of water, letting it freeze and apply again... but only in that corner. The only problem with this method is your ice will be uneven.
4) As Joe suggested, fill to the height that your rink will allow and rope off the rest. Maybe you can build it up higher during the impending cold snaps (as in Option 3)

Finally, good luck!
Kevin