I'm Taking My Chances...

[Stoneman]

A couple of us are heading out on our lake today. Probably head out in a coupla hours and only be out for a couple more. A friend of mine drilled some holes yesterday and the thinnest he found was about 8", the thickest so far was 10". There was a fair amount of traffic out on it yesterday & last night. Our lake's small and relatively shallow and always freezes early. I wouldn't attempt the lake across the street at this time...

Gonna head out on the Rappy first. If'n it seems sturdy enough out there, I'll take the 'Cat down and start doing some plowing...

[ChR1s]

They say.... For ATVs, 5" should do.

Ice Thickness (inches) / Permissible Load (clear, blue, lake ice)

2" One person on foot
3" Group, in single file
5" Group (6-8 people) together
7½" Passenger car (2 ton gross)
8" Light truck (2½ ton gross)
10" Medium truck (3½ ton gross)
12" Heavy truck (7 to 8 ton gross)
15" 10 tons
20" 25 tons
25" 45 tons
30" 70 tons

[ssg]

No rating for 1" ice?

[OreoGaborio]

No rating for 1" ice?

ceiling cat

[mikeb]

so you fall in or what?

[Stoneman]

so you fall in or what?

Heh, heh...no. Ice was plenty thick enough, although a lot of shifting & cracking still going on. If you stand on our back deck, it sounds like someone playing drums in the distance with all that noise the ice is making...

Not great for non-studded tires just yet. The surface was pretty clear with only spotty areas with some overblown snow and some minor drifts. Pretty much takes the length of the lake to get up to top speed on the Rappy right now. I'm hoping by Sunday there's enough precip to give us some traction...

[mikeb]

you should see if you can't rig something up to drag behind your cat, like a landscape rake or something to groove the ice a little. i'm sure once the sleds with spiked tracks start running across it well ruff up some.

[UngaWunga]

Why would you want to rough it up? Wouldn't that make it harder for the screws to get down to solid ice?

[Stoneman]

Why would you want to rough it up? Wouldn't that make it harder for the screws to get down to solid ice?

I'm not running studs right now. When I do, I wanna run an extra set of tires at the very least. I'd prefer to have an extra set of wheels/tires for quick swaps but it's not in the budget yet...

BTW-consider this a reply to your PM...

[mikeb]

Why would you want to rough it up? Wouldn't that make it harder for the screws to get down to solid ice?

umm maybe? but he said he was riding w/o studs so... doesn't really matter as soon as everybody starts hitting it hard the ice will get torn up anyways.

[UngaWunga]

True! Went riding last weekend on the little TTR125. What a hoot. No power, low to the ground, and too much grip. I was going to try to get a knee down, but a faceplant had me rethinking that. The ice got chewed up pretty quickly, and without a plow, we spent a long time with snow shovels cleaning off the chaff.