5
Owner’s Manual
Redrilling of Holes in the Ice
Before explaining how to re-drill an old hole you must first understand how an
existing hole refreezes.
1) It will begin refreezing from the top and outside edges
2) As it continues to freeze, the ice will continue
thickening in from the sides with more ice at the
top of the hole than the bottom
3) Given enough time and the right freezing con-
ditions the hole would become a solid water
column and would appear as though a hole had nev-
er been in that location. However, if you come back
to this hole in a day or 2 it is possible to have a solid
layer of ice on the top 1-2 inches and then you will
experience the center core being of wa-
ter while the outside edges are being frozen. The further you drill down
through the existing hole you will notice less and less ice on the out-
side perimeter of the hole and more water in the center. This is where
reopening these holes may get a little tricky depending upon which blade
configuration and auger head you are using and how close the auger head and
cutting blades match in size. The more closely the cutting head comes to meet-
ing the blade size, the easier it will cut and the further you will get down the
existing hole.
4) Once the ice on the side of the hole is smaller than the cutting head diameter,
the blades will want to grab the side walls of the remaining ice and cork-screw
itself down through the rest of the ice in the hole.
5) It is extremely important to hold back on the auger at that time to prevent it
from doing this little cork-screw maneuver. By holding back on the auger and al-
lowing the blades to cut away on the thin layer of ice on the outside edge of the
hole you will cut out as much of this ice as possible ALL the way down to the
bottom of the hole giving you a clean hole much the same as your original hole.
