Backyard ice rink tips

Our backyard is too small, but our neighbors have been talking about setting up a backyard rink for several winters. We'll see if the project gets off the ground this year; in any event, I just ran across this site which offers detailed and practical instructions and advice -- including on maintenance of the surface with a homebuilt Rink Rake.

What I still haven't found is a link to a homebuilt Zamboni for use on larger surfaces, like a pond. I'm sure some inventive soul has adapted a lawn tractor or mower at some point. If anyone can provide a link, please do so!

In the interim, the official Zamboni company history can be found here; our local newspaper ran a Zamboni article today, as well, noting that Providence got one of the very first batch of production machines:

After building about 15 experimental machines, Zamboni was issued a patent in 1953 and built 10 standardized machines in 1954, with the Rhode Island Auditorium being one of the first customers along with the Boston Garden, Boston Arena and Worcester Arena.

Posted by David on December 18, 2007 5:27 PM