Digging a small pond with FEL?

[backyardman]

My second question! Can it be done? What do you guys think? Maybe with a tooth bar, and a lot of time? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[bdog]

How small is small? If you are talking something the size of a truck and not very deep go for it. If you are talking something bigger it would be possible but would take forever. Most people seriously underestimeate the amount of dirt that must be removed for a pond. For example to make a pond 50' by 50' that is 2' deep you would have to remove 185 cubic yards of dirt. I would guess your bucket is less than a half yard so you are looking at around 400 bucket fulls of dirt to be moved and this is just for 2' deep and 50' square.

 

[backyardman]

Wow bdog! I think you just talked me out of it!! Once you look at those numbers, and the pond being about 100' X 75' and about 7-10 ft. deep - FORGET IT! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[bdog]

Yep - That would take about 5600 buckets of dirt to make a hole that big. Say you moved a bucket every 2 minutes. That is 30 per hour. That would take you 187 hours or 23.5 8 hour days. You could do it, but it would take forever. Big digging jobs like that are much better left for large equipment. I have watched big dozers dig in ground storage tanks and it even takes them a while.

 

[bdog]

Also don't forget what are you going to do with the dirt? If you did dig it you would have huge pile of dirt.

 

[sweettractors]

There are ways to do it with that equipment. Find a valley or in your farm that has a good watershed. Move the dirt to the lower end and make a dam--This will reduce your time by 2/3 or more.--Ken Sweet

 

[KenVT]

Hire a bulldozer, the pond on our property is around 80x80, The Dozer just shoved everything to the edge and made his own banks, and this guy was good, he 'eyeballed' the whole thing.(Banks were all level)...No transit, and it was <8hrs.


Ken

 

[sweettractors]

I have Cat D3B dozer that gets $75 per hr and 8 hrs would only be $600 for the pond. However, That takes all the fun out of doing it with the Tractor and FEL and making sure "Mama" knows that the Toys...er... Tractors, are paying for thier keep--Ken Sweet

 

[backyardman]

All good advice guys. As far as the dirt, I am able to grade that out to other "lower" parts of the yard, but I'm not in a situation to build a dam - wish I could. Anyone know a reasonable dozer opertor in Chesapeake, VA? I'll use the JD to move the excavated dirt and still have fun /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif!

 

[bdog]

I would hire a big dozer. At work I subcontract out over 1000 hours of dozer time a year. We can get big Cat D8's for $85/hr or D6's for $75 hr. Get a big dozer and they can do it in about 1/3 of the time of a small dozer and the hourly rate is not that much different. You have your tractor to do the small finish work. I am not really sure how exactly the numbers work on the dozers but the bigger the number the bigger the dozer. A D3 is about the size of a pickup or slightly smaller. A D8 is a monster and needs an oversize permit to be hauled on a 18 wheeler. For what we use them for anything less than a D5 is too small for the job. I would recommend at least a D5.