Procedures for End-of-Season Ice Removal
The following procedures will help prepare the club for the end of their season, including ice removal, storage of curling stones, ice ads, demarcations, house templates and ice maintenance equipment.
Co-ordinate with the Baysville Community Centre manager (presently Scott MacKinnon) the final day of cold brine/compressor operation for the curling club. This starts the melting procedure.
Since there is approximately 1.5 to 2 inches of ice over the sand this is a relatively slow process. This allows time to perform other duties. Monitor the melting process with at least weekly visits to the club for the first 2-3 weeks after the cold brine is stopped. The speed of the melting process is dependent on ambient temperatures over the ice surface.
Turn off the dehumidifier at the breaker switch in the old mechanical room, once the melting process starts.
While the ice is melting, move the benches, chairs, brooms, delivery sticks and other sundries to the lounge end of the sheets. Empty waste pails, remove Kleenex box’s, and generally tidy and organize the ends of the sheets. Place the stones on the carpet covered benches at the lounge end of the sheets.
This is a good time to assess the nipper and ice shaving equipment. Check for sharpness and rust on equipment surfaces and plan on either having them sharpened by Canada Curling Stone later in the summer and at the least wipe surfaces with a lightly oiled cloth to protect against further rusting.
Ice melting inspections should be increased to 2 or 3 times a week after the third week into melting. The house templates and ice ads are all frozen into the ice at the same level and should be removed within a day or two once free from the ice but are still above the frozen white paint. This is important. You are trying to prevent the signage and house templates from melting into the paint so that they can be removed without paint contaminating them. The ice closest to the lounge windows will thaw quicker than the far house templates. Therefore, remove the 2 house templates closest to the windows first. It will be at least another 2 or 3 days before the far houses are free from the ice but monitor this daily.
Carefully place ice-ads downstairs on a tarp to dry flat. Temporarily hang house templates over cardboard tubes hung between end supports found downstairs. Place a tarp under them to catch drips as they dry. This is a temporary drying step only. The houses can be kept over their respective hangers or alternatively rolled up when dry and placed back in their delivery/storage tubes for the off season. Jet-ice has directions for this procedure and a copy is available on the bulletin board in the lounge. Ice ads should be stored flat. The club is assessing these storage methods currently.
Once free, all ice demarcations can be removed. Strings and tapes can be thrown out when free from the ice. Remove them while you can still walk on ice above the sand.
When the ice is nearly gone to help reduce humidity turn on the end gable fan (switch beside ice lights in lounge). Leave ceiling fans on to keep air moving above wet sand. When weather warms, open all inside doors that access the ice (lounge, basement entrance doors). This will help pull air from the lounge and basement out over the wet sand to help remove humidity. Once the sand dries the gable fan and inside doors can be closed. You will know it’s dry when the ants start building their nests in the sand. This usually is about late July and August.
Arrange with Canada Curling Stone for ice scraping blade, nipper blades and ice tools to be picked up for sharpening. Currently these are dropped off at the Port Carling Curling Club in July. The scraping blade has a wooden transportation sheath which is downstairs in the pebble room.