the subject came up a time or 2 in the past and I found a great chart to guide one on what a safe ice thickness is. http://www.bigice.ca/ice_chart.php
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snow cat's and ice
- Thread starter Snowtrac Nome
- Start date
Knocker of rocks
Member
That chart isn't very good. It gives a capacity, but no area for that capacity. One inch ice is good for 100#s. 100 pounds per acre? square foot? square centimeter?
at the bottom it gives a picture of the type of vehicle and weight that can cross a prescribed thickness. I realize with wide foot prints you can fudge the thickness as I had 4.5 inches of clear ice support a 6500 pound pick up with wide tires looking in the chart that isn't enough ice to support it. in my opinion you must have a fudge factor ice doesn't freeze evenly and when o got to the center of the river crossing I found 4 inches would not support my truck. I feel its a good safe guideline to follow assuming you are looking at the weight of the vehicle only and not reading into it.
that's good guidance too with a little more fudge factor built in to it. both will give you good safe guidance as I have exceeded those weight limits for 4 to 6 inches of ice in the past.
akmountaineer
New member
In reality, most cats can probably travel over ice that's significantly thinner than these charts. These recommendations appear to be for people on foot and wheeled vehicles, and thus would be very conservative. An average person on foot exerts about 2 psi, while an average cat would be +- 1 psi depending on load and model. Therefore, you could theoretically travel over ice half as thick as recommended. Personally, I'd stick close to the chart for safety buffer to avoid a cold bath. Thanks for posting.
absolutely and well said I know if I wanted to I could fudge it, if I wanted to and have done so in the past. it doesn't take too many cold baths for one to be concretive about crossing ice even, if the cat can cross, one doesn't want the load behind him to fall through.
Personally I would not take a cat over ice without a escape hatch on the roof
As far as 1 psi there are many variables in ice and without testing thickness never assume one spot is good and two away it can be inches only
The average person say two hundred pounds with gear and boots with a boot size 3 inch average width and 12" average length say 36 square inches you only
Count one boot because when you lift your foot to walk all your weight is on one
So that makes it in this example 5.5 pounds
My point is treat ice with respect! It gives little notice most times, been there
yes Brad you are right, it doesn't matter depth, that water is cold under the ice. last time I fell in I went through a temporary sex change. Mr Happy disappeared and my voice went up a few octave's. never mind I was struggling to breathe for a little bit , and I was only in up to my waist.
