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First Annual Bonspiel

dinorocks

By dinorocks,
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dinorocks

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As a follow up to my earlier post on making curling stones, yesterday we held our First Annual Bonspiel!  There were 10 teams that entered and we played double-elimination bracket style.  Curling started at 12:30PM and continued into the wee hours of the night! We had a fire going, kept well hydrated, and I grilled up an assortment of venison sausages from Costanzas along with some elk chili I made.  One of my neighbors who played with us owns a brewery and we enjoyed several growlers.   Another person brought a guitar but it was a bit too chilly to pick some strings. Being outside, we could practice proper social distancing.   Great times had by all and planning another Bonspiel next weekend if the weather cooperates!

Below are a few picts of us setting up the house (rings), prepping the ice and sliding some stones.

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dinorocks Community Regular

dinorocks

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1 hour ago, crappyice said:

Did you say you have lights out there? I just plugged “The Yelling Goat” into waze...I’ll be there by 9:00 or so. If you could and up a smoke signal around then I’ll find you!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, a very bright light!  I’ll be here all evening...send me a PM if you are in the area.

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dinorocks Community Regular

dinorocks

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@mlammerhirt

#mlammerhirt

(not sure if I should use "#" or "@")

Our first Zamboni was made for a pond by our house....we insulated a 65 gallon tank and filled with hot water.  The tank was on a trailer towed by an ATV...the tank gravity-fed the water down a short vertical piece of PVC to a 6-foot horizontal  1 1/2" PVC pipe with holes that were small diameter near the effluent end of the vertical PVC and increased in diameter (to control even water distribution).  The ends were capped and we connected dense carpeting behind the horizontal pipe...this helped to spread the water and knock down any high spots (frozen slush) on the ice.  Between passes (as needed) or before applying water, we fitted a 6-ft long 6x6" timber with a metal plow blade that was dragged behind the ATV...the blade helped smooth the ice (cut down high spots).  We also cut a hole in the ice and installed a pump that we used to fill our tank (battery operated).  Hot water helped "heal" the ice when it was in rough shape and the cold water was used for routine maintenance.  Now with our rink behind our house, we can micro manage the ice and seldom need to use the steel blade.  And with hot/cold water only a couple hundred feet away, we have large lengths of hose that we use instead of the tank.  The application is similar except we hand pull the PVC...we have a towel on the back end instead of carpet because the ice is generally very smooth.  It is very helpful to have a second person manning the hose so it doesn't drag across areas recently wetted/freezing.  We also only use a thin layer of water and repeat as necessary.  Lastly, drain the hose when finished and store horizontal...if the hose is coiled and hanging vertically (even when "empty), residual water will drain to the low section, freeze, and block the hose.

 

Hope the above helps!

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dinorocks

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Lots of hockey!  Two metal nets and reinforced thick PT plywood boards for quick-rebound puck passes...the boards are taller on the ends to keep puck in play longer.  I think I mentioned earlier, we typically put LED lights under the ice for the lines (not this year though)...we plan to continue to use the router/colored crepe paper for the rest of the season.  The only bad part of the crepe paper is the darker colored areas of the ice melt quicker when the sun is out.

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6 minutes ago, dinorocks said:

Lots of hockey!  Two metal nets and reinforced thick PT plywood boards for quick-rebound puck passes...the boards are taller on the ends to keep puck in play longer.  I think I mentioned earlier, we typically put LED lights under the ice for the lines (not this year though)...we plan to continue to use the router/colored crepe paper for the rest of the season.  The only bad part of the crepe paper is the darker colored areas of the ice melt quicker when the sun is out.

I should have known you would build it right! It brings back memories of years ago playing hockey on a pond with a few cans of beer stuck in the snow banks! Cold beers work good to ice down the bruises on the shins from errant sticks!

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dinorocks

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Left Field you are correct....our ice is not pebbled although for fun, we will try (bought several gallons of deionized water for our sprayer).  For official tournament ice, the rounded tops of the pebbling would need to be shaved off...our “zamboni” is not that precise.  We watched a video (how-to prepare ice for competition) and that, unfortunately is way over our pay grade!  For example, after pebbling (with a known amount of DI water) they would shave the tops of the pebbles, collect the ice shavings , melt in a microwave and weigh to determine if they need to cut pebbles down or re-apply...

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=50cSDUIDMuM

 

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