mucking my pond

[Xfaxman]

i figured it will cost north of 20k i cant afford it

Yep, they wanted $150 an hour for a tracked loader to do mine. I bought the V518 you see in my previous post for 26K, removed the silt and used it for many other things, then sold it a year later for 24K, and bought the V417 that I have now.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Would dynamite work ? LOL It would make for some great video.

Probably, but that's going to need about 20,000 pounds of it.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Call up an equipment rental yard and see how much for a large excavator. You could rent it by the week and dig down to hard ground and make an access road into the pond for a truck to haul material away. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time moving material multiple times. With the proper sized machine it won't take long to clean it out. Equipment rates are not as expensive as you may think.

 

[jinman]

Call up an equipment rental yard and see how much for a large excavator. You could rent it by the week and dig down to hard ground and make an access road into the pond for a truck to haul material away.

:thumbsup: Where many people get into trouble is they get too anxious to clean out muck and don't do the preparation. If you do as you said, the rest of the job goes quickly and without incident. You just have to have a plan that gives you firm/dry ground to work on and a good way to get spoils out. The time you spend in preparation will be quickly paid back as you move material. You and I are on the same page on this.

 

[svon89]

I remember a trick I saw one time. The excavator bucket had two chains in it. It was loose, and somehow broke the suction of the muck. Can't remember the details, but might point you in the right direction.

 

[radioman]

I remember a trick I saw one time. The excavator bucket had two chains in it. It was loose, and somehow broke the suction of the muck. Can't remember the details, but might point you in the right direction.

perhaps you are thinking of a log strapped via chains to the wheel as a stud biter to push down through the mud to harder ground .

 

[BobsMassey]

I'm right in the middle of that as well I feel for ya !!!!! I've been digging a ditch to drain this continuously but have been pumping it with a trash pump! It rained and this is the result !!! I feel I'm back to square 1 again !!!

 

[BobsMassey]

We bought the house and this area was all woods so we took down the brush, trees and other garbage vegetation, just trying to extend the lawn !! Already done about 200 ft by 75 back and still have to grade it better but at least I can now drive on it without sinking in 10 ft down !!! Now I have to get a drain going and hope it will dry enough b4 winter !!

 

[pjbci]

Case245, heres a thought. In my area good topsoil is hard to find and most ponds around here fill in with topsoil. So when i clean one out for a customer i always ask if they want me to pile it up so they can sell it. Most dont want to but some do. Im not sure about your part of the country but here topsoil in a pile is selling from $4-16 a yard. Check around with some contractors and see if that might be an option for you. You might even make money off of your cleanout. The math i did earlier in this thread comes out to about $34k @ $4 per yd. Hope you find a suitable solution.

 

[charlz]

Call up an equipment rental yard and see how much for a large excavator. You could rent it by the week and dig down to hard ground and make an access road into the pond for a truck to haul material away. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time moving material multiple times. With the proper sized machine it won't take long to clean it out. Equipment rates are not as expensive as you may think.

I picked up a rate sheet from an equipment place the other day and was surprised to see I could rent a 47,000lb excavator with a 42" bucket for $1600 a week. Fuel would probably run you another $1,000 plus whatever other charges there are (delivery, insurance etc).

Says it has 32 feet of reach. Given the dimensions of the pond you listed you could possibly do one pass down the middle moving dirt to each side as far as you can reach (lets say 40 foot or so swath since you have to pile) then a pass down each side moving the dirt up out of the pond. All assuming of course it is in a fairly open/flat area with no access issues and the dirt can be put to each side and dealt with later. Never having operated a big excavator maybe someone else can chime in on how realistic a plan that is. Biggest problem I see is the pass down the middle would probably be really mucky. Got trees you could use to make a mat as you go like they did in the TV show Swamp Loggers?