What’s the heaviest rig you take on the ice?

[AltaBorn]

What’s the heaviest rig you take icefishing or drive on the ice and how many inches of ice do you want before you take it out?

[JohninAB]

Ford 3/4 ton supercab 4x4 gasser. I want ice at least 18” plus before I venture out on it with my truck. I err on the side of caution always.

[Talking moose]

Just my half ton. I’ve drove on 12” of good ice but I don’t like it. After 15” I can release the pucker and feel comfortable.

[Worm]

1 tonne diesel. Comes in around 3600kg so I won't go unless 18 inches min. Always nervous until 20 though.

There is a document about working on ice put out by the AB govt that if you dig enough has the formulas on ice strength. After reading that I realized most ice strength charts you can Google show maximum weight for moving loads and are at the high end of risk factor. Parked loads are different and take more ice if more than 2 hours. Now I just wait for it to thicken up.

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[KegRiver]

Heaviest rig I have driven on unfortified lake ice is a C65 10 ton water truck.

Minimum ice thickness for it was 24", company rule.

A couple of times I found the ice to be only 16" after I was out on the lake.
That's something I would not willingly do again. It was incredibly scary since water would gush out of the hole as soon as I drilled through into the water below.

But I never broke through in hundreds of occasions of driving that rig on ice.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Just my half ton. I’ve drove on 12” of good ice but I don’t like it. After 15” I can release the pucker and feel comfortable.

Yup.....exactly.

[Manning74]

Will be taking my welding rig on the ice this week to do some modifications on a windmill, truck weighs in at 12500 lbs , im told thers tons of ice lol , will check for myself first.

[Surfnturf]

I would never drive on ice. Period...and a tampon.

[AltaBorn]

Originally Posted by Manning74

Will be taking my welding rig on the ice this week to do some modifications on a windmill, truck weighs in at 12500 lbs , im told thers tons of ice lol , will check for myself first.

Do you have to venture out very far ? lol. Thought crossed my mind when I saw a couple 1 ton crew cab diesel's parked next to each other at pigeon and a third gasser pretty close as well. How much would that water truck have weighed keg? I'll have to check out some of those ice formulas..

[Talking moose]

Once you get up to 20” and beyond, it’s amazing the weights ice will support.

[Talking moose]

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[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by AltaBorn

Do you have to venture out very far ? lol. Thought crossed my mind when I saw a couple 1 ton crew cab diesel's parked next to each other at pigeon and a third gasser pretty close as well. How much would that water truck have weighed keg? I'll have to check out some of those ice formulas..

Empty, with no driver and full fuel tanks, 9,785 plus or minus a few.

With a full load of water 21,900 plus ice built up on the outside of the tank.

I normally did not fill the water tank if loading while on ice. I aimed for around 3/4 full or about 18,000 gross.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Manning74

Will be taking my welding rig on the ice this week to do some modifications on a windmill, truck weighs in at 12500 lbs , im told thers tons of ice lol , will check for myself first.

May I ask, do you live around Manning?

[WinFwt]

Dodge Ram 3/4 ton, crew cab, long box, gasser. minimum 18" prefer 20". Even then it's windows down and seatbelts off. Pretty much don't drive on till end of January.

[Manning74]

[QUOTE=KegRiver;4322516]May I ask, do you live around Manning?

Im in Highprairie so not to far .

[JohnB]

Skidoo tundra.

[AlbertanGP]

One extra trick driving on ice...slow down. This year I saw lots of pickups tearing across the ice back in December when it was only a foot thick. Driving on ice creates a pressure wave in front of your vehicle. That's usually the cracking you hear when a vehicle approaches you on the ice. The faster you go, the larger that pressure wave is. Alberta’s Workplace Health and Safety Guidelines advise keeping speed below thirty kilometers an hour on open ice with water depths of less than 15 meters, and fifteen kilometers and hour when approaching shore or travelling parallel and close to shore.

Many years ago back in the early 90's I watched a car tear across the middle of Lake Isle doing at least 80km/h. From close to a mile away, I could see the large pressure ridge ahead of the car. I've heard stories of cars literally driving right under that pressure ridge when it breaks in front of them. I don't doubt it after seeing that.

Finally, if you really want to learn about ice safety, don't Google minimum ice thickness. Instead Google ice bridge guidelines. That's where the really useful info is. For instance, Canada’s ice bridge guidelines say ice should be considered effectively half as thick if a vehicle is parked on it. Stop and let that sink in the next time you see a group out fishing and they all parked beside each other. You might want to give them a wide berth...

[RACKER]

Who else remembers when the original ice fishing contest was on years ago.Mameo had hundreds of vehicles parked together on the ice and They drove a semi and a trailer full of prizes out to the middle.Dont recall one person worrying about the ice back then.Yes it was second week of February but it still blows me away when i think of all the cars parked bumper to bumper and 4000 people lined up in a row.

[New2Elk]

The heaviest rig I’ve been involved with (but not personally driving) was a 35 man sleigh camp with 12 shacks and 2 large generators pulled by two D6 and a D8 Cat. Also had a couple of tracked drill rigs and various support tracked equipment. And it wasn’t for ice fishing but a project north of Inuvik. We did officially need 4’ of ice though for that with no localized spots below 3’. And I wanted to reiterate what has been said a few times before. That was for moving loads and we weren’t supposed to be stopping on the ice for any extended periods (camp was always established on land). We had a follow up crew the following year complete a stint where the camp was actually setup on the ice and there was much stricter ice requirements in place for that.

[krthegunslinger]

Had my 1977 diplomat on the lake this weekend 18” of ice. Tag says she weighs 10500. Made it out and back with no issues.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Empty, with no driver and full fuel tanks, 9,785 plus or minus a few.

With a full load of water 21,900 plus ice built up on the outside of the tank.

I normally did not fill the water tank if loading while on ice. I aimed for around 3/4 full or about 18,000 gross.

Hauling on the ice roads to the diamond mines. Regularly moved 70Ton GVW loads of concrete. Only ever worried about getting on and off the ice as that is where the ice is thinest and most likely to have a blow out. Entering and exiting the ice was usually less than 15 km/h, not an easy task, when most of the off ice grades were pretty steep. Dragging 60 ton up a 20 degree slope at 15k is tricky business.

BW

[KegRiver]

[QUOTE=Manning74;4322536]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

May I ask, do you live around Manning?

Im in Highprairie so not to far .

Right next door.

I wondered, it's not a name I see often.

I'm north of you a couple of hours.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

Hauling on the ice roads to the diamond mines. Regularly moved 70Ton GVW loads of concrete. Only ever worried about getting on and off the ice as that is where the ice is thinest and most likely to have a blow out. Entering and exiting the ice was usually less than 15 km/h, not an easy task, when most of the off ice grades were pretty steep. Dragging 60 ton up a 20 degree slope at 15k is tricky business.

BW

Ice crossings are a different matter.

I have hauled considerably more on them. Not sure what they weighed but I hauled a couple of Pine Point houses across ice bridges. three per trip to be exact.
One at Little Buffalo, one at Hay River and at Shaftbury south of Peace River.

I would guess the load was around 35 ton so about 90,000lb gross.
We had to use 16 wheel low boys to be legal on highway.

[fish99]

Originally Posted by RACKER

Who else remembers when the original ice fishing contest was on years ago.Mameo had hundreds of vehicles parked together on the ice and They drove a semi and a trailer full of prizes out to the middle.Dont recall one person worrying about the ice back then.Yes it was second week of February but it still blows me away when i think of all the cars parked bumper to bumper and 4000 people lined up in a row.

yes we fished it every year , wish it was still going we won a lot of prizes from . 2 quads , a 9.9 outboard, Lund boat 40 hp motor and trailer, washes, t shirts ,micro wave oven , fishing gear etc,
these items are getting and will need replacement bring the derby back . lol

[Mountain Guy]

Ice thickness guidelines are just that.....guidelines.
How do you gauge ice thickness on a lake? Lots of unknown variables that could affect ice thickness.
One lake I ice fish could hold a D8 cat at some spots and you'll fall thru walking in another part.
Good rule of thumb...... don't be the first to drive on...lol Joke

[EZM]

I have a 1.2 ton and won't be "the first" to go driving anywhere on the ice nor do I go out until there is 18" of clear ice which is twice as much as I need according to the "charts".

Not worth the risk IMO.

The other thing to consider is ice has buoyancy. I saw a video of a truck on the ice and some guys cut through 18" of ice around the truck all the way around about 10 feet away from the truck and she didn't even budge.

I am not sure how they got the truck off the ice, as I'd imagine they would have to let it re-freeze as the ice would tilt as you drove toward the edge to drive off the "floating block" but it does illustrate the strength and buoyancy of ice.

It was some Russian video and was pretty funny - It was one of those "look at these idiots" which turned out to be "omg I can't believe these clowns are still alive" …. lol

A true "hold my beer watch this" moment

I guess it also depends on the ice too.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by EZM

I have a 1.2 ton and won't be "the first" to go driving anywhere on the ice nor do I go out until there is 18" of clear ice which is twice as much as I need according to the "charts".

Not worth the risk IMO.

The other thing to consider is ice has buoyancy. I saw a video of a truck on the ice and some guys cut through 18" of ice around the truck all the way around about 10 feet away from the truck and she didn't even budge.

I am not sure how they got the truck off the ice, as I'd imagine they would have to let it re-freeze as the ice would tilt as you drove toward the edge to drive off the "floating block" but it does illustrate the strength and buoyancy of ice.

It was some Russian video and was pretty funny - It was one of those "look at these idiots" which turned out to be "omg I can't believe these clowns are still alive" …. lol

A true "hold my beer watch this" moment

I guess it also depends on the ice too.

And Russian is considered a world power! Those guys are just a bunch of crazy Canadians with a thicker accent.

BW

[cube]

Originally Posted by AltaBorn

What’s the heaviest rig you take icefishing or drive on the ice and how many inches of ice do you want before you take it out?

You might find this useful.

"BEST PRACTICE for Building and Working Safely on Ice Covers in Alberta"

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/6125...-pub-sh010.pdf

[SamSteele]

Had a near miss on the ice one time a number of years ago and haven’t driven a vehicle back out since. Sleds or ATVs only for me.

[AltaBorn]

Originally Posted by SamSteele

Had a near miss on the ice one time a number of years ago and haven’t driven a vehicle back out since. Sleds or ATVs only for me.

Nothing is for sure out there. Can’t leave us hanging like that though, what happened?