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I know I have seen a thing you put under your weather cove that lifts it up so that rain water doesn't pool in the middle of your pit. Anyone know who sells this and anyone have any experience using one? Thanks for your help.

An old hurdle works well. Don't use a good one, the heat will warp the cross board.

Beach balls work

To solve this problem?



This is what I showed up to for practice tomorrow after we had a ton of rain over the last week.

we use a big rubber bucket called a "muck bucket" - available at a local farm store - turned upside down between our top mat and the all weather cover. We try to place this bucket approx. centered in our mats. We had a problem just like yours and this corrected this problem - we have used it on 3 different sets of mats and have had NO problems at all. Just be shure to get a rubber bucket i if you get a plastic one you will have to change it about every 2 to 3 years as the heat and sun will work on the plastic making it brittle. Hope this helps

Ouch! Does the sinkhole remain after the draining? Otherwise it's a moot point since an athlete would likely bottom out and get hurt.

Flip the buns over and let them drain. If they have connectors where you can rotate the buns when you put it back together, then move the really sunk-in one out of the center.

You can use a inner tube designed for skiing as a giant doughnut to put in the center ( maybe two ) because they are about 12-15" high and you also have a nice fabric covered seat near the pit.

Hurdles do work, but you'll ruin the hurdle, and probably ruin the top pad and weather cover if it's as old as it looks.

But make sure the center comes back up because foam that is compressed like that never fully re-inflates. You might be able to just flip the center bun over and see how solid it is as a test.

1yeldud1 wrote:we use a big rubber bucket called a "muck bucket" - available at a local farm store - turned upside down between our top mat and the all weather cover. We try to place this bucket approx. centered in our mats. We had a problem just like yours and this corrected this problem - we have used it on 3 different sets of mats and have had NO problems at all. Just be shure to get a rubber bucket i if you get a plastic one you will have to change it about every 2 to 3 years as the heat and sun will work on the plastic making it brittle. Hope this helps

Gee, you city folks have all the latest gadgets. All we have is a wheelbarrow . . .

vaultdad wrote:Ouch! Does the sinkhole remain after the draining? Otherwise it's a moot point since an athlete would likely bottom out and get hurt.

Flip the buns over and let them drain. If they have connectors where you can rotate the buns when you put it back together, then move the really sunk-in one out of the center.

You can use a inner tube designed for skiing as a giant doughnut to put in the center ( maybe two ) because they are about 12-15" high and you also have a nice fabric covered seat near the pit.

Hurdles do work, but you'll ruin the hurdle, and probably ruin the top pad and weather cover if it's as old as it looks.

But make sure the center comes back up because foam that is compressed like that never fully re-inflates. You might be able to just flip the center bun over and see how solid it is as a test.

It came back fine in 24h of draining. It's still damp but it's supposed to rain again so I can't really let it sit out again. Ideally I would unzip the cover and let it air dry from the top as well.

Sometimes putting your leaf blower or shop-vac on "blow" instead of vacuum helps by pushing air into the bun via the zipper opening and sealing it with duct tape. . .

It can boost the water flow out of the bun if it's upside down. I'd put it on some plastic pallets first to leave a gap for the water to run out.

Here is an easy solution. We are going to build aluminum versions of these if anyone is interested. ( fancy version )

But this works well too .

Use 6 - 12' 2inch PVC Pipes
Use 6 -12' 2x4
use 2 - 8' 2x6

Use 3 12'2x4 and 1 8ft 2x6 and 3 12ft pvc pipes per arch. make it 8ft wide . QTY 2.

Build these trusses and slide them under the cover and your rain issues are history

I built a "light weight" pyramid out of wood that I use on my old UCS pit and it's worked perfectly. One person can move it. The key is "light weight" so you aren't making the foam compression/degradation worse. Hurdles are way too heavy. I've seen it. The truss system looks awesome, but obviously not easy to move and seems way too heavy, at least for an old pit.

Here's a picture of mine in use:

https://www.facebook.com/116308965099155/photos/a.408954872501228.93815.116308965099155/465312430198805/?type=3&theater

My dad throws some old sofa cushions in the middle of his pit before we pull the cover over it.
You don't really need much elevation. We lay them in a line so they form a small ridge. As long as it is even a little higher in the middle the water runs to the side and doesn't pool.
The nice thing about the cushions is that when you pull the cover back you, one kid can just toss the cushions toward the back of the pit. Unlike solutions that involve wood or hard objects ... their is no worry about moving the sofa cushions "a safe distance" away from the pit before jumping