Protecting the liner from skates, pucks, shovels and so on has become a pretty important thing for me.  As I reuse my liner for at least a second season it is important to keep it hole free (well as much as I can anyway).

In looking around I came to the conclusion that there were a few options I could go with here.

1.      Purchase kickplates from an online reseller (like NiceRink)

2.      Make kickplates from luaun

3.      Make kickplates from plexiglass

4.      Use vinyl baseboard as a kickplate

·         Option 1 was vetoed by the finance committee as rink expenses were already over budget

·         Option 2 was thrown out due to there was nowhere to paint them in the house and painting in sub 60F is not recommended

·         Option 3 had too many questions for this season as I would need to do more research and really needed a solution right away

I went with Option 4.  I purchased white vinyl baseboard from Home Depot.  It was a 20 foot long roll of 4 inch high baseboard (self-sticking).  I unrolled it and stuck it on the end of the rink where the most “on and off” traffic occurs.

It looked great!  It went on easy!  What more can I ask for?

It does NOT take a direct hit from the puck in sub 21F weather.  It will crack under the pressure of standing up to that abuse.

One of the other members of the Yahoo Group is trying “Puck Board” from an online vendor.  It is 6 inches high and comes in rolls of 50 foot lengths.  If it works out for him I may consider this for next year.  That is if I don’t find the info on plexiglass or get the time/energy to make the kickplates from luaun.

Update October, 2008

I made some calls and found that Plexiglas will not handle the abuse of the cold and a hard hit puck.  It was recommended to try lexan as it was rated for the cold, but they weren’t sure if it would take a hit from a puck.  I got a “sample” piece and stuck it in the freezer for a few days.  I removed it from the freezer and promptly struck it with a mallet and it did not break.  I will get a 4’ x 8’ sheet of lexan and cut 4” x 8’ strips out of it.  I have 156 linear feet of boards on my rink and the one sheet will give me 96 feet, so this should be enough to run a good test.  If it holds up I’ll get a second sheet and finish the boards with a kickplate.  I plan on painting the back of the lexan yellow and perhaps scuff the face so it is not so shiny.  I’ll let you know how this project turns out.

More to come…