never thick enough for this chubby ole Cajun but I saw a deckhand walk on 3 inches of ice. He was a slim guy he walked out from the tug and chipped a piece out with an ice pic and brought it back it was 3 inches thick. That was the only time I ever saw some one walk on ice in my life so I dont know if it was minimum
So, Jason, next time we have two inches of ice on the lake, you want to come up and do some ice fishing?
Every fall, they pull one or two eager fishermen out of the reservoirs around here and there is more than one snow machine down deep. However, most of the time they get the people out alive. MOST OF THE TIME. I always wait until I see some fat guys out there.
I will follow Grandpa's lead and wait until someone larger then me is on the ice. But it depends on who you talk to I guess. This place says 1 3/4 is the minimum. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ice-thickness-safe-loads-d_1566.html This one says 3 inches. http://www.almanac.com/content/ice-thickness-safety-chart This one says 4 inches. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/ice/thickness.html
Hi...!! I don't think that there is any 'minimum' ice thickness to hold one's weight...!! Ice four inches thick (for example) might easily hold the weight of an 'average' person...!! However, that same ice could be 'rotten', have a spring coming up underneath it, etc...!! I've skated on ice only an inch and a half thick with no problem...but that might have been just dumb luck...!! Best have somebody twice your weight check out the ice first...!!
