New Pond

   / New Pond #1  

mrolson

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
101
Location
Will County,IL
Tractor
Kabota L3000DT, 1944 Farmall M, JD345
We have been considering a pond for a while/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Our neighbor just have one done last July. It is 160' by 70' (with nice curves) by 12'. His contractor used this 2200lb /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif JD crawler with a 2 yd bucket. Ours will be 200' by 80'... so ours is about the same size. We have lots of new projects besides the pond. I am trying to justify a tractor/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. Am I out of my mind thinking a JD 4600 FEL and BH will cut it ? Who else has done ponds and what size of tractor did ya use ?

<font color=green>Mark</font color=green>
 
   / New Pond #2  
I have dug a basement for my 20 x 20 x 9' deep addition with a 755 & loader teeth! I have finished dreasing up a pond for my dad inlaw ( contractor didn't finish his job) with a 855, loader and box blade. you can do it, but it will take some time, remember it's not a D-9. But on the other hand it will give you alot of practice!
 
   / New Pond #3  
We have also considered digging a pond with a JD510. I think it would work well but I have this recurring nightmare that I dig this big pond and it doesn't hold water. I once heard someone say they used large pieces of plastic overlapped to help hold the water. Does anybody have any past experience with this??
 
   / New Pond #4  
Web searches under "pond liners" and "aquaculture" will give you some leads.

I've got some pond projects in mind with a JD4700TLB. Doing it just takes time and caution... doing it "right" will take knowledge.

Old issues of Mother Earth News, "Pond Building" books in library, will add to the above search results.

HTH,

Larry
 
   / New Pond #5  
I would strongly consider a dozer to do the rough work,for you never know what you may run into..hard pan..good size rock..bad weather..time etc..
Your new tractor could do the finish grading etc,and you can get a jump on your other projects.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / New Pond
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Well I don't have any worries about holding water. I watched this guy next store roll the clay around to seal it. It works... that pond is about 3/4 full so far. I guess it depends on what type of soil you have.
But what make me nervous is that he hit water at 8'. We have a creek behind us. He got that crawler (by the way 22000lbs not 2200 /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif) stuck twice. Stuck is an understatement, it was buried. As soon as he got the ramp wet behind him...it was over. He hired the biggest tow truck I have ever seen (twice). I should have taped this... I don't think anyone was breathing ! Then he brought in a 44000lb excavator to finish the job.
Contractor had fixed quote of $3850. Don't think he made any $$$. Needless to say, he won't fix bid anymore.

Our property is higher, the pond will be much further from the creek..soo... I need to think on this one.

<font color=green>Mark</font color=green>
 
   / New Pond #7  
Just another opinion but I think you're way overreaching trying to dig a pond that size with a compact loader and hoe. I have a small pond now (maybe 35 feet round) that I'm digging out deeper and a little larger. I bought a full size backhoe with extendahoe so I can do all the excavating from dry ground. Your case is a classic example of using the right tool for the right job. Either a dozer with wide tracks, a BIG loader with bucket teeth, or a full size excavator. (If it fills as you dig you'll also want a pump to keep the water out while the work's being done. That's the nice thing about using an excavator with a long reach, he can sit in the center and put the spoils 30 feet away on each side. You could use your tractor to move and spread the spoils if you wanted to chip in). You also have to figure your time and wear and tear on the tractor. 160 x 80 x 12 is 5688 cubic yards of dirt!! Even with a 2 yd bucket that's 2844 trips. A compact probably has a 1/2 yard bucket at most so you're looking at over 10000 trips!! Yor're talking A LOT OF DIRT!!
 
   / New Pond
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Thanks Gerard ! Your calculations assume a square hole but maybe your right. And that's too much hardware for me /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif My wife would question me if I told her we were buying an "extendahoe" /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Guess I will get a few "quotes". I just hate having to pay for something I can do myself. And saving 5K would bring me closer to the tractor ! Plenty of other projects though.


<font color=green>Mark</font color=green>
 
   / New Pond #9  
Mark,

Like yourself, I love to do everyting myself. In this case I would have to agree with Gerard. You are looking at a lot of dirt. I don't know what you are planning to do with the dirt, but even if you are just building up the area around the pond, it is a lot of dirt. I think you will find that there will be plenty of tractor work getting things to final grade once its dug. Compact tractors just don't move large amounts of dirt very fast.

MarkV
 
   / New Pond #10  
When our pond was first created it was done with a 'dozer. Some of the spoils went towards building up the dam. Not sure about the rest (I wasn't around for the actual construction -- only saw pictures).

Some years later when the pond dried up due to drought, the 'dozer was called back to clean and deepen. Those spoils went into creating an island, which is now host to a sizeable willow tree.

Attached is the only picture I could find offhand that shows the island/willow. It was taken from the upstairs bedroom on a drizzly rainy day.

HarvSig.gif
 

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