Looking to get a rink going. Is it to late to get the Nice Rink brackets in the ground?

Not sure about NJ...but definitely here in NH. Unless you want to shave the spikes and use rebar. I'd give it a shot and see, though. All it would take is one warm/rainy day. We put one in last Monday...a 40-degree day after 2-3 weeks of freezing temps.

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Yeah we are thawing out the next week or so. That was my hopes to slap it together.

I was thinking about using the brackets with wood boards to keep cost down. What do you use 2x10 minimum?

Nicerink brackets? Those only work with plywood (either 3/4" or 23/32") or Nicerink boards.

Do you know your slope? That's the most important step. If you're starting from scratch and just want to use stuff from your local hardware store, this time of year you'd be good to use 2x12s and rebar. But all depends on the slope numbers.

I'm not sure what the nicerink brackets look like, but I drove some wooden stakes down into some very frozen ground a few weeks ago. Just get a piece of rebar and drive a pilot hole for each one.

NR brackets will not go into frozen ground. I tried (several times) this year when it got cold in November. Threw our install schedule back a day or two.

But good call on the pilot holes.

It worked well with the stakes... I bout gave up, but a buddy of mine who works construction gave me the pilot hole tip.

I am going to be doing slope measurements in the next couple days. I just got the supplies needed to do so. I believe we will be having a little warm up so I am hoping to get this going.

Ok slopes are down. Deepest corner appears to be 9.5". I am a little torn do for board sizes (12, 14, 16, 18). I am going plywood.

Other thing I am trying to work out is bracing. Do I go Nice RInk, Iron Sleek, something else? I like Iron Sleek for the price point. Any other ideas?

I am going to be shooting for a 30x60 this year.

Iron Sleek is good stuff and will work better in hard ground now that it's January. I like them as a company too, they're good people.

I'd probably go 16" ply, as you can rip three boards out of a piece of plywood but still get enough height for your water and puck retention. 12" might not be tall enough and doesn't give you much wiggle room.