LINER LINQUISTICS PART TWO  

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About lines and face off circles………
a common question is do our liners have lines? The answer is 'no' but you may be able to purchase a line alternative seperately and we will get to that later. In the meantime, if your rink is in a full sun area , read on. 1.) If you have any experience with building rinks you know what happens when a leaf or other dark object freezes in the top of your ice. The sun is attracted to the dark object and heat is generated and a hole is melted and sometimes as deep as 3 inches in a day. Imagine your rink now with blue and red lines or face off dots. In a perfect rink world, the sun would not come out and melt those areas but we love the sun and the sun loves to shine and not being able to use your rink on sunny days would be a disappointment. In short the slushy areas would be many and your skating surface would be ruined. 2.) In our area, almost without fail, while the water is freezing there is some snow falling. This snow, then is absorbed into the rink water and surface area, turning it white. If your white liners had lines or dots then chances are you would not see them as they would be obscured from view.

So now the only real opportunity to add lines, is only if your ice surface is shrouded in cloud or in a treed area with minimal exposure to the sun. Of course you can always add them after your rink is frozen. There are very few people that can add lines because only a few rink builders have shaded areas.

We have now introduced "lines without lines" and they are currently on our order page. They are built into your boards.                                                                                                

About limbs………
We have touched on leaves and how a leaf in the ice surface will “burn” a hole and the same applies to bark or pine needles or any dark object. Always best to wait for awhile till all your surrounding trees have shed, or set your rink up early as we do, so all, that does fall, becomes waterlogged and sinks to the bottom. Remember every yard and rink site is different. You will learn what is best for you!

Back to liners or replacement liners for a moment…………
Our white ice rink liners are strong and the 6 mil could be used for 3 years or more if you are using the Liner Protection System. Remember that you will be positioning this white ice rink liner next to or within fractions of inches to skates and pucks and shovels and snow blowers. If you wish to save your white tarp liner then you need to protect it with a dasher board or frame guard.  It is located in a very busy, high traffic and dangerous area. Look for the section (with picture) called "liner protection system"  from cuts and nicks, shovels and snowblowers etc.  If you want nitty gritty details on assembly and how to do it all, we have a comprehensive new section in our amazing e book called you guessed it.............Liner Protection System

We have saved our white liners in the past but remember these following points to ponder. White ice rink liners and replacement liner tarps come in rolls or folded neatly. When you are done with them for the season they are hard to fold up small and store as they were when you received them. While in storage they are susceptible to other forms of damage like mice eating holes or cats/dogs or children playing near them. Make sure they are stored properly and many years are probable when using the L.P.S.  We have had a mouse chew a hole through our liner while stored improperly and have had many a story relayed to us the same. Here is the scenario if you have an unsuspecting puncture or tear. 1) Set up frame. 2) Lay your rink liner or replacement white ice rink tarp . 3) Fasten all your dasher boards or frame guards. 4) Turn on hose and fill. 5) 15 hours later wonder why rink is not filling. 6) Wade through water with shoes off (very cold) to locate hole. After finding or not finding hole(s) decide to replace. Repeat steps 1 thru 4 again. You decide what works best for you!

In conclusion…………. Here are the positive points to using a 6 mil white tarp/liner.
1)they are reasonably priced. 2) they are less expensive to replace 3) they are less expensive to ship because they are lighter. 4) they are lighter to move around and or fold up and store. 5) they work, as is proven by the number of repeat customers we have yearly. Neighbors ordering for neighbors and many of our rinks can be found on the same streets in towns and cities just like yours. We have used a 6 mil white tarp / liner for 15 years and enjoy the ease of use and workability 6) they are guaranteed against cold cracking 7) they are U.V. protected . 8) they have a stretch factor built in for covering lumps or bumps in your yard surface. We do recommend running your water and allowing the liner to settle before fastening to your frame.We also stock and highly recommend our liner clips as they hold your liner in place while it is settling. Remember the heavier it is the harder it is to work with and when and if you drop it or drag it  the greater possibility of damage. These liners are very worthwhile when trying to save and re use for following years with the L.P.S. (liner protection system)

SUMMARY:  It doesn't matter how thick your white rink liner is if you don't have a way to protect it from skates, pucks, snowblowers, Zambonis, figure skate pics, shovels etc etc etc. The Liner Protection System is the answer.

23

Patching and fixing…….
Every one of our white tarps / liners comes with a patch kit which is a dry type of tar in sheet form that when heated grabs on to the white tarps / liner and forms a very secure bond. There are other ways of repairing and fixing rink liners too! There is a very aggressive tape that works for small patch jobs but seaming long seams is not the best as the wind plays a roll in the success as does the straight of your tape. If your tape is not perfectly straight down the entire seam then you end up with creases in your tape and the potentiality of leakage is very probable. There is caulking and a plastic patch or wet/dry tar roof patch which is also a remedy for repair and maintaining your water level. Finally one of the most ingenious methods is as follows. This method is …..take two pieces of wood and place on opposite sides of your area that needs to be patched. In between the liner with the puncture or tear or rip, sandwich a wet cloth between the wood pieces and screw together in several places. You now have in order, wood plate, wet cloth, liner and another wood plate all screwed tightly together. Screws should be at least 2 " from the edges of the wood and more to the inner section of the hole or tear. Allow to freeze. The wood sandwich protects the frozen cloth from thawing and acts as your patch. Then fill your rink liner up and allow to freeze as per. You decide what works best for your particular scenario.

We are very proud of the information compiled on our site after 18 years and believe it to be unparalleled in the industry. Hope you like it and happy rink building.

4and5
    

                                                                                         This rink is incomplete and ineffective due to the gap

                                                                                                    between the boards(do not build your rink this way)

                                6       

As you have noticed there are several styles of rinks on this page. The esthetic number 1 ($30,000 - $50.000 with built in cooling system) and #2 our rink 10 years ago   #3  rink with lines and no boards, and the #'s 4 and 5 just above, #6 our rink now with several different looks to show what you can do with yours. Our rink includes different colors of Corner Caps and T.E.P. as well as lines for rink builders who want lines without having lines.They all use 6 mil poly white tarps / liners and have great success. Some white liners are placed outside the frame and some ice rink liners inside the frame and some randomly over the top. But when it finally freezes we all skate, play hockey and tag, frolic in the snow banks, use our saucers and magic carpets and just have fun. That's the way to enjoy what winter has for us all !  Cheers!

Customer Quotes: 

I MADE A BIG MISTAKE  this year. I had a gift certificate from one of the big box stores. I went and bought a liner and installed it. After running my water for 14 hours and seeing no change in the water level I realized it was full of holes. I called you guys because I know your liners are quality and they work and your service is amazing...........  Ryan Nobes,  Collingwood On.

YOU GUYS ROCK....Once I get the liner I 'll tell everyone about you guys. I've got about 15 friends that build rinks down here and its not easy.  Thanks for the great service. 

                                                  Dennis Golden   Mass.

AMAZING SERVICE and great products. I used your Ultimate Flooder last year and I was done in 5 minutes with a surface that was as good as you get for an outdoor rink.           Gord   Waterloo On.

AWESOME PRODUCTS........I am so glad I did it. Thanks for the advice and the awesome products and fast shipping. Love the flooder and the puckboard corners too!                                 

                                                              Jim         Lethbridge  AB.

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LOVE THOSE J-Braces........... you guys are quick!!! we just received our J-Braces.       Rob and Hallie

THANKS for the quick turnaround every year. Nice to see you have 6 mil white. 

                                           Paul,         Burlington

I JUST WANTED you to know how impressed I am with the timeliness of my shipping year after year. The liner clips are a great idea being as my rink is in a wide open space. They save me time, staple holes and worry from the wind .                  Geoff.      Durham. On.

I MUST SAY this is an impressive looking kit. I ordered the extras like the L.P.S, the nets and the flooder and I am glad I did.  I absolutely love the video. After seeing you guys build a rink it all makes sense now. Very helpful!! ...and the ice maintenance section is a huge bonus.

                                                               Jeff.                Red Deer  AB.

YOU GUYS come highly recommended!!!        Patrick.      Williamsville  N.Y.

It was sooooooo nice to see an awesome website and product from Canada!! 

                                                   Alicia Martens

It was a pleasure dealing with you guys. Thank You.   Tom Watson.

YUU HAVE RESTORED MY FAITH in customer service.  Awesome.   Cheryl Bulmer

JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW that your rink was used 24/7.  It became the place to be. 

Barbara Harding    Maine

GREAT PRODUCT....   We ordered from you last year and we recommend it to all our friends. Here is our order for this year.        Linda Donaghy  Ajax

We LOVED our rink last year. Great choice of sizes! we have 7 children and tons of room to skate. Great service too!

Walter and Linda Weycamp     Oakville

GOOD QUALITY, great delivery and product.   Dave Harris     Milton

I HAVE A RINK EXPERIENCED FRIEND and he says your liner was comparable to ones he has seen at twice the cost.              Keith Jameson Mi.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN Your liner saved the day. My dog jumped off the porch and it held. No Punctures.

GREAT TIPS ON YOUR SITE. It really made it work. The monofilament catch mesh is awesome. Thanks for Growhoski Arena            James Grohowski   Ma.

YOUR PRODUCTS ARE well thought out, functional and reasonably priced. Thanks for making it all happen for us!

I have done a ton of homework, I am an engineer, and your system just seems to make sense. And yes you can quote me.   Stephen Redick    Toronto On.

Here I was having a coffee and surfing the net........ I discovered your site and I knew I had

arrived. You have thought of everything. Awesome.

I was very pleased to see my rink kit arrive Friday.  This allowed us to do most of the rink building Saturday and we should finish Sunday.  It really is a great system that you have and was pretty straight forward to assemble, despite a non-level site. Thanks for everything.   Dr. Dan Fletcher

I bought j braces and 50' of puck board for rounded corners a few weeks ago.  I thought would send you a shot of our first skate, December 7th!  Let me know if you hear of any rinks south of us in Columbus OH.  First time with our liner outside the boards, we love it!  It's our best rink ever!  thanks for all the tools
            Ed Kunzelman

Just a note to say thank you..the boys were on our rink yesterday...the ice is fantastic!.  You were very helpful and all of my orders were processed quickly.  Your customer service is really appreciated.  I'll be ordering again next year!            Dave.

People that do their homework will pick The Ultimate Rink  for their rink building needs.

Wendy  Toronto   On.

I switched to your products because it represents better value

Bill  Chicago Il.

You want rink bling? The Ultimate Rink is the place....wow!  is all I can say.

Eden  Stratford Ontario

Truly outstanding service - thank you very much for all of your time and help.  We look forward to ordering lots of things to go with the rink.

Dave Kelly Toronto.

What you do is more then memorable.....Love it. The memories of building, maintaining and the level of excitement around our house with a rink is what we live for. You guys do a great job!!!! 

Steve S.   Kitchener On.

I have spend 3 weeks surfing the net and you guys keep coming up as having your act together.

Kyle      QC.

Thankfully I installed your amazing your product.

Fab service and great to talk to you on the phone.

Steven     Toronto

First year with a liner, did it the old fashioned way the last few years. Great pricing and good service.

Thanks,
Rich Miziolek

Wow what awesome service!  Ordered on Friday and in my garage on Monday.
Drew  Hillsburgh On.