3R Home and Barn Project

[EddieWalker]

Rob you should also check out Pond Boss Magazine and spend some reading time on their forum.

MarkV

I got a few ideas from them when building Lake Marabou, but not too much in the actuall construction of the dam. Things like structure for the fish and what to put in there are what they are good at. For actual dirt work, TBN is allot better source of information. There is only a very small core group of guys over there and they spend allot of time joking with each other. New people come all the time to ask a question that may or may not get answered. If you weed through all the bad humor, you might find what you are looking for, but I've also asked questions and never gotten a real answer.

Now I just check on them from time to time to see what somebody might be building on their land. Unlike TBN, they post after it's built and you see the end results. Some of the buildings that I've seen over thare are really cool, but poorly built.

The probem with a pond web site is there is only so much that you can say or talk about. Then it's just BSing with one another and waiting for your fish to grow big enough to be interesting.

Eddie

 

[tommu56]

Rob
A sew suggestions
If you put in a dry hydrant make sure the the threads are compatible with the local FD threads (ask them for an old hard sleeve male coupling and you could machine it to fit pipe)

There might be tax credits some states have them.

Try and use 45 degree fittings if possible.

The local FD might even help with the design and install or have one you can copy.

If they are use to drafting (like my department) a good solid surface (pumper can be in the neighborhood of 50,000 lbs)can be used along and their hard sleeves and strainer.


tom

 

[bindian]

I got a few ideas from them when building Lake Marabou, but not too much in the actuall construction of the dam. Things like structure for the fish and what to put in there are what they are good at. For actual dirt work, TBN is allot better source of information. There is only a very small core group of guys over there and they spend allot of time joking with each other. New people come all the time to ask a question that may or may not get answered. If you weed through all the bad humor, you might find what you are looking for, but I've also asked questions and never gotten a real answer.

Now I just check on them from time to time to see what somebody might be building on their land. Unlike TBN, they post after it's built and you see the end results. Some of the buildings that I've seen over thare are really cool, but poorly built.

The probem with a pond web site is there is only so much that you can say or talk about. Then it's just BSing with one another and waiting for your fish to grow big enough to be interesting.

Eddie

I agree with Eddie here. I tried to find the real good information on Pond Boss and went through a ton of joking. I used the link Eddie supplied and old papers, from Texas A&M on Aquaculture and Pond building, I have had for years.
hugs, Brandi

 

[3RRL]

OK Mark, I'll do that.
I figure the more information I get the better of I'll be.
Thanks

 

[PAGUY]

Page 5 - That won't do for this great thread.

Rob or Loretta - Time for an update.

 

[3RRL]

Well, I guess you're right about an update...
We've only done a little more clearing where the pond is. Last week I cut down about 6 Oaks which would be underwater or smack in the middle of the dam. After reading that pond manual Eddie posted, it suggested to cut them off at ground level instead of uprooting them. So that's what I did. Then moved all the trunks up out of the way where I can buck the trees for firewood and such at a later date.

In the mean time, I told you we were going to put our lawn sprinkler system in ... finally get rid of all those hoses and poly pipe. Well, instead of digging the trenches with my backhoe, I decided to rip trenches about 12" deep so as to have as little damage to our precious little grass lawn. Of course that meant I had to make a sub-soiler first.

My plan was to use two of the spare box blade rippers.
One for a sub-soiler (sort of) and one for a furrower to clean out the ditch. I had to make the shanks a little longer so I cut them and welded on an extra 6". I made the cuts in a "L' shape so there would be more material to weld together hopefully making the weld joint stronger.

 

[3RRL]

Here's what they came out like.
They are a little longer than a stock scarifier (see comparison). I added some mold boards to the furrower hoping it would scoop out the ditch clean.



Then I put them into Loretta's boxblade and tried them out.
LOL ... after a few successful passes, I immediately busted the subsoiler off. So back to the barnd to weld it back up again. Surprisingly, the furrower never broke off?

 

[3RRL]

I did manage to get a bit of trench in though.
I tried both the sub soiler and the furrower and the furrower did a pretty good job. I still had to shovel out some of the clods though.



Well you guessed it, the sub soiler broke again.
After the second time welding and second time breaking it off AGAIN, I decided to add a brace.I figured out where the weak spot on that skinny shank was. So I added this tail piece that jams into the blade of the boxblade when it's being pushed backwards. All this stuff is made from the remnants of the scarifiers. This little feature worked great, so I did it to both sub soiler and furrower. You can see a little play before the stop hits the boxblade. That's so I can install the shanks into the box blade, but it moves backwards and hits against the inside lip of the blade and holds it there.

 

[3RRL]

Once I got all that going and working, I soon had the PVC in the ground.
You know those valves I installed all around the deck of the house? I added a new set to control this lawn and flower bed area.





I will have to tell you that after finishing all the PVC, the dang 1/2" feeder lines were too small and I had to tear it all up. This was a little frustrating to me since I had calculated out what each sprinkler (theoretically) should take to work. In fact, I changed the 1/2" out to 3/4" and it still didn't work adequately ... double dang!!!
So I tore it ALL out and put in 1" PVC and that was the ticket.

Yeah, I know I'm a hard learner...
I'm sure you're enjoying it even more than I did. But finally, here are some photos of the sprinkler system working. I can run all lawns and flower beds at the same time now. That really saves on energy that the pumps consume. Now we can lay down some serious water in a very short time. The south lawn and those flower beds are next for the irrigation, but I'm taking a break for a little bit before starting that one. Our goal is to be able to actually grow at least some grass and few flowers around here.
Rob-

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hey Rob, hard at work I see. I made that same mistake with the PVC also. How about some pics of where you cut down those oaks. You know that you should be advertising those trees for sale. Biiiig money for you if you happen to find someone that wants them.