A family a few doors down from me built a homemade skating surface in their backyard. The outside edges of the rink were built up using 2x4's and a large 20x40 sheet of plastic was used to hold the water. It took 6 trips to haul in enough water to fill the large skating surface. After that it took a deep freeze before the surface was ready to go. The kids seem to have a blast playing hockey and can be seen skating every night.
