Home-boni / Resurfacer...

[Roadrage]

First time rink builder, and the ice is currently freezing. Which means I probably need to get thinking about a resurfacer.

For those of you who have done this for a while.. what works best and what doesn't work. I'm happy to head up to Lowes / Home Depot and have my husband put something together.. but I'm curious as to what works best.

Something hooked up to the hose (we can access the hot water tank in the basement)
Something with a trashcan filled with hot water that we push around the rink?

Rink is 40x60 so a fairly decent size to have to refinish after skating. We want the process that will be quick & effective, and hopefully cheap to do.

Thanks!
Erin

[kevmac]

One of the simplest homeboni to put together is modeled after the Rink-Rake (http://www.rinkrake.com/). It is simply underground irrigation pipe like this:

The great thing about these pieces are they are already threaded so no glue is involved. If a piece breaks (which does happen once in awhile), you simply unscrew the broken piece and replace it.

I have one 3' piece that connects to a "T" with two (2) 2' pieces that are capped. The other end of the 3' piece has a hose connector attached to the other end so that it can, well, attach to the hose. On the top of the T, I have 3/8" (maybe) holes drilled every inch or so (in a straight line).

The only part that takes any time at all in the construction is drilling the holes in the 2' pieces. By day's end, you have a zamboni for about $20-25.

My rink is 32'x75' and it takes me about 10-15 minutes to finish one resurface after a good shovel. Each resurface after the initial only gets faster.

I'll see if I can post some pics later.

Kevin

[wilsondmw]

I am only in my 2nd year...but i have to say that I think if you have a hose, I am not sure there is a need to build a homeboni...I just used the hose and it worked great....nice smooth ice everytime...

be careful of that hot water! It does smooth out the ice, but it might leave you with nothing but a cold shower post skating!

[kevmac]

Erin,

Here are some pictures of my rink-rake:

1) The entire thing - I forgot to mention that I have it attached to a shovel handle with hockey tape. This is so much easier on the back. I run the hose through the handle so that it gives it some extra support (less likely to kink is the plan):


2) Here is the brass hose connector. Buy the same size as your pipe and it screws right on.


3) Bottom of the 3' piece connected to the "T" - you can see how it is pre-threaded (so easy!!)


4) Here is the end of a 2' piece showing the cap at the end (again it just screws on) as well as the screw holes:


No glue. No sealant. Little bit of elbow grease and a hand drill.

Cheers
Kevin

[kevmac]

I'm entering my 14th year and after using one of these, you would never use just a hose again. You get almost arena quality ice every time. It still amazes friends how great my ice is every year and they have been skating on it as long as I have. Every year I get the same comment: "I think this is your best ice yet." but it really isn't as it doesn't change from year to year.

Holy crap - I just read that again - 14 years!!

[Roadrage]

Kevin.. thanks for the pictures & reply.. this is great info! one more question.. i've seen a few "homeboni's" that have a towel attached to the bottom pipe to smooth things out. Do you do this? Pros/Cons? Also.. do you Push or Pull the Boni across the ice? I figure I'd ask before I do it wrong.. and does the hose make any "dents" into the ice. Warm water or cold water or does it matter?

[kevmac]

I have played with the towel a couple of times when I first started out and it does a decent job but I haven't used one in over a decade (ON THE RINK!) I found that once I got to "know" my rinkrake, I didn't need the towel. I always pull, that way you aren't tracking through your water and I find that I can see the previous path easier so that you can align your paths.

Your hose will only make a dent in your ice (warm or cold) if you leave in one place for too long. If you flood in a snake style (up -->, down <--, up --> etc), you will pull the hose behind you and it won't stay in the same place for too long. There is a temperature range when the water doesn't quite freeze fast enough and the hose will pull some slush with it but the next pass usually flattens this out (just keep an eye out for the slush piles).

Warm or cold - that's a discussion that has been ongoing for years. I have never used warm water so I don't know whether or not it makes a difference. I'm waiting on Joe to flood half his ice with cold and the other half with warm so see if he can tell me the benefits (not that my wife would ever approve of running hot water to flood my rink)

Hope this helps
Kevin

[JDW]

This is the set-up I have used on the pond the last 2 years. This will be my first year on the backyard rink. I went with the bucket and towel method since the pond was to far from the house. The towel seemed to help control the amount of water being layed out on the ice. Warm water worked best in my case since I was always fighting with rough ice on the pond mostly do to not keeping it cleaned off as much as possible. The idea is pretty much the same as the rest. It doesn't thread together and I didn't glue it together so it still comes apart.

[kevmac]

I guess you don't have to glue it since you are basically gravity-feeding the homeboni. Once you hook that up to a hose, I would think that the ends would fly off.

[JDW]

Glue for sure if hooked to a hose!!!