So as I've posted before, I've got leaks in my liner. I found and patched a few but apparently it's enough that I've lost a significant quantity of water.

While I filled up to within 1" of my fill line, I'm now down almost 5" :(

My strategies are as follows. I would appreciate people's thoughts as to the best way to proceed. As a side note, we are getting -13c tonight and it won't be going up over -7c for the next few days so it's a great cold snap for freezing.

Option 1: Fill it again and see if I can out-freeze the leaks. Repeat as often as necessary.

Option 2: Fill it slowly over the course of the week hoping to minimize the amount that leaks. Whenever the liquid is frozen, add more.

Option 3: I obtained a new tarp from Kevmac from this forum (thanks) that is a 1-piece deal. I could throw that tarp over what I currently have. The danger of doing so is that the current ice could puncture from below?? Also, the new tarp may form a vapour-barrier between the current ice and the new layer.

Option 4: Start fresh with the new tarp. I really don't want to do this as I've put a lot of water into it that is now ice.

What's my best option or is there something else I haven't considered?

i would assume that starting over with a new tarp would be the best permanent fix for this season, but one that will also cause alot of work getting rid of your current ice and water. that or get a bunch of leak tape and re-tape all of your seams. all of your options don't sound like much fun.....

I agree that starting over is the "best" option but it's not really one that I want to entertain.

What are the thoughts about covering what I already have (which is now nearly frozen solid) with a new tarp and carrying on?

What about filling in increments and build up in layers?

So I'm going with Option 2. Since it's going to be crazy cold tomorrow, I'm doing a good flooding (but not full flooding). I'm going to play the "I hope the ice freezes faster than the leak" game.

Here's something I'm thinking of doing. Am I crazy for considering this:

Since I have some ice, I was thinking of using that as a base, then covering the whole surface with plywood, placing the new (non-leaking) tarp over the plywood and then filling from there. Optionally, I can also punch through the ice and lay down some bricks to support the plywood so that the plywood wouldn't be bearing directly on the ice.

Is this a foolish strategy?

Fellow rookie here, so take this with a grain of salt (or two).

I think you could run into some problems if the ice/water under your plywood layer were to melt or leak out down the line...then all of a sudden you're skating on ice on top of plywood on top of (potentially) nothing. Maybe you're fine if it all drops down uniformly, but we all know things like that never pan out so perfectly.

Could you break it up around the corners and get a pump under the ice and slowly put the water from underneath back on top as the slab sinks down to the ground. All of this sounds like its a path littered with booby-traps and unintended consequences.

Maybe you are best off to just start anew its only mid-december, right?!?

With the upcoming forecast for Ottawa and the crap that is falling from the sky, I would again suggest that you might be better off starting over. I know that it sucks but if you can get rid of the ice you have now, lay the tarp and have it filled by Saturday morning, you might just be skating on Christmas Day.

I have a good deal of ice in there already. I know your logic but I hate dumping it. I'm going to wait til Saturday and try going at it bit by bit. I may not get it running by boxing day (my original goal) but it should get there eventually...

Slow and steady can win the race for sure. Good luck and keep us posted!

By way of an update, slow and steady did win the race.

Shortly before Christmas, we got a crazy dump of snow. Instead of clearing it, I used it to my advantage to help retain water and I packed it all down (took an afternoon of back-breaking leg-aching work).

I then got the snow water-logged and let it freeze. Result = extremely bumpy ice. I then worked like mad at it with hot water every 6 hours over a really cold ice snap and we did in fact skate on it on Boxing Day (my target date) albeit it was rough in a few patches with one nice smooth patch.

Since then, the hot water has smoothed things out and I now have a beautiful flat sheet of ice!

So thanks to everyone that helped with pointers (and especially to Kevmac who sold me a tarp for next season and who came out to see my rink and offer me some pointers).

My son and niece are both skating for the first time this season on my rink which in itself is payment enough for all that time and water.

I'm heading out for a skate.