Ice Thickness Guidelines

Rough guideline for new, clear, solid ice only; many other factors can cause ice to be unsafe:

• 2" or less: stay off!
• 4" foot activities such as ice fishing
• 5" ATV or snowmobile
• 8"-12" car or small pickup
• 12"-15" medium truck

White ice, sometimes called "snow ice," is only about one-half as strong as new clear ice so the above thicknesses should be doubled.

Vehicles weighing about one ton such as cars, pickups or SUVs should be parked at least 50 feet apart and moved every two hours to prevent sinking. It’s not a bad idea to make a hole next to the car. If water starts to overflow the top of the hole, the ice is sinking and it’s time to move the vehicle!


Checking Ice Thickness
Whether you're fishing, snowmobiling, skating, or ice boating, it's a good idea to check ice conditions. Factors such as temperature, snow cover and currents affect ice safety. Ice is seldom the same thickness over a single body of water. It can be two feet thick in one place and one inch thick a few yards away due to currents, springs, rotting vegetation or school of rough fish. You need to check the ice at least every 150 feet, especially early in the season or any situation where the thickness varies widely.

Ice Chisel
An ice chisel, also known as a bud spur, is a great way to make a hole in the ice to check its thickness. Its a metal rod with a sharp flat blade that is stabbed into the ice. Depending on the sharpness of the blade, thickness of the ice, and strength of the user, it makes a hole fairly quick.


Ice Auger
There are several varieties of ice auger. Some people like the hand auger for its low cost, light weight and low noise factor. The disadvantage of a hand-powered auger is that after a few holes, operator exhaustion becomes an issue. Some folks like an electric auger, with its low noise level rivaling a hand auger, with the advantage of a lot less work for the user. An electric auger does, however, need an external 12-volt battery, which can be something of a nuisance to lug around. Gas augers boast the fastest speed in drilling through the ice, but are heavier, noisier.


Other Considerations:

• Many ice drownings involve children. When your child is near the ice, you should be near your child.
• Avoid alcoholic beverages when you’re on the ice. They can make you feel colder and slow down your reaction time in case of an ice emergency.
• Carry two large nails to use as ice picks to pull yourself out if you fall through thin ice.
• Never drive on the ice at night.
• Avoid pressure ridges, and areas with current if you do choose to drive on the ice.
• Drive with your windows down and doors partially open to avoid becoming trapped if your car breaks through.
  

Sharpening Your Ice Auger

Regular sharpening of the tip and blades and of your ice auger is a must!. A sharp blade will cut through ice quickly and effortlessly. It's simple with a few common tools and supplies.

• Polisher: you need a flannel polishing disk and rouge cutting grit to use with a bench top or hand held polisher. They can be purchased at a local automotive supply retailer
  
• Felt Tip Marker:  mark the area of the blade that needs sharpening. Polish an area only long enough to remove the marker ink from the blade. This helps prevent you from cutting too much from the blade and changing it's cutting angle.
  
• Rouge Cutting Grit: apply a liberal amount of the rouge cutting grit to the flannel.
  
• Lightly polish the beveled side of the auger blade, concentrating on the leading edge of the blade. Don't spend too much time on one area or you could remove too much material from the blade and change it's shape.

If you don't feel comfortable sharpening an ice auger blade, have it professionally sharpened. Do not knock the blades against anything, including the ice; doing so could damage the cutting edge. Choose a rouge that isn't too aggressive cutting or it could change the blade's angle and require professional regrinding.

Eskimo Mako 43cc 9 Inch Quantum

The Eskimo Mako power ice auger gives comfort and control to drilling ice fishing holes. The powerhead features foam grip handles to control vibration and prevents the handles from slipping while drilling.

 Foam Grip Handles Deliver Comfort and Control
Features

• High performance 43cc Viper engine
• Anti-vibration foam grip handles for added comfort and control
• Primer button for quick response starting
• Extra large recoil handle allows you to start engine with gloves or mittens
• See-through gas tank for easy gas level detection
• Muffler guard to protect you from hot areas
• Finger tip throttle trigger for precise power control
• Dual stainless steel blades and centering point for unmatched drilling speed
• Exclusive centering ring on Quantum augers prevents drilling angled holes
• Eskimo red powdercoat paint finish is proven to be the most durable in the industry
• Blade protector extends the life of blades (included)

Specifications

• Engine RPM: 8,000
• Horsepower: 1.8
• CC Rating: 43
• Gear Ratio: 30:1
• Auger Length: 42"
• Auger Diameter: 9"
• Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year limited 

Order Now!

Ben Janssen of Nexstep

Journal-Sentinel Article

Ben Janssen and his Appleton-based NexStep Inc. operate on a fairly simple premise.

"You don't have to remember who we are, you just have to remember what you want to buy," Janssen said. "That's our philosophy and it seems to be working out so far."

His company is built around product-specific websites and Internet addresses. "What we did was try to focus on generic, market-branded domain names," he said.

The business, which consists of six people and 25 websites, is growing and will be moving to larger quarters in Little Chute next month.

His storefront consists of websites. There is no brick and mortar and no geographic boundaries. That allows him to sell snow blowers to people in Russia and log splitters to people in Sweden. "Our customers are all over the place," Janssen said.

The company is one of many for whom the Internet has become the center of commerce, where barriers to entry are low, customer service is paramount and having the right combination of words in a Web page address drives customer traffic.

When torrential rains fell across parts of the Midwest and South this summer, NexStep's website waterremoval.com/">waterremoval.com saw business spike.

When tornadoes marched across parts of the South and Midwest this spring and summer - toppling trees like they were toothpicks - NexStep's logsplitter.com/">logsplitter.com saw traffic pick up.

And when heavy snowstorms shut down huge portions of the East Coast last winter, Janssen's snow-blower.com/">snow-blower.com sold out of its inventory.

"We're a distributor of a bunch of different lines of products and we have been for years," Janssen said.
His sites include chippershredders.com; gardentillers.com; hedgetrimmers.com; zeroturnmowers.com and lawntrimmers.com.

The brands he sells include Troy-Bilt, Earthquake and Mantis.

Doing business online

The company represents a continuing trend toward doing business online.

As sure as there was a dot-com bust a few years back, there are also business models that survived and are being embraced by consumers.

"There is much less reticence to purchase online," said Sandra Bradley, director of the University of Wisconsin E-Business Consortium's Web and multichannel marketing area. "As a matter of fact, there is the expectation of being able to purchase online."

Competition is everywhere. Then again, so are Janssen's websites.

"It's all competitive," he said. "The thing is, we don't have to be competitive in just one market. We don't have to rely on one geographic marketplace and we don't have to rely on one product line, per se.

"We're open for business to the entire world."

Convenience and customer service are crucial to a successful online business, Bradley said.

"Specialty or niche items are clearly a growing area for Internet sales in particular, driven by ease of being found," she said. "Consumers want convenience. They don't want to search hard. They want easy to use, easy to find."

Doing business on the Internet has become accepted practice, she said.

"We're the e-business consortium and we're in our 13th year. Every year we talk about dropping the 'e' because it really is just business. And it's not 'Web marketing.' It's just marketing."

Customer support

Janssen, 31, and a business partner started the company in 2003. He bought out the partner's share soon after that, he said.

"We were primarily into building websites for other people," Janssen said. Then, he said, he realized he could build his own websites and use domain names that he already owned as part of the business.
He currently owns about 680 domain names.

In building the company, he says he has learned a few things.

"The best thing to do is answer the phone," he said. "Customer support is the biggest thing in this industry.
"When they call, they want someone to answer the phone."

Day to day, "It's about getting the correct lines of products and working with the manufacturers and getting relationships going before you can actually launch a web site," he said. "That relationship between you and the manufacturer is really important, especially in this industry because it's so fast-paced.

"A customer orders, they want their product, they want shipping information right away and you get the order to them as soon as you can."

Business continues to evolve, he said.

"We're still growing. Every year we get a little bit bigger, " Janssen said.

"The real action, I think, is yet to be seen," he added.