Pics of finished pond..

Chuck K. · Sep 27, 2007

The trackhoe was very easy to run except the levers was almost backwards from my backhoe. Right lever push/pull moved boom up and down instead of the dipperstick out/in once I got that down things went pretty good although the stereo and A/C could spoil a fellow...

Thought we had too much dirt on our hands wound up giving 12 truck loads away.. May have been a mistake the hill of dirt went quick once the dozer started spreading it.

Couple random shots of the pond with the camera phone...

BTW those things put about 15 pounds on you

Sat. we are going to start on the pier and pull the dirt off of the base of the trees with the BH..

EddieWalker · Sep 27, 2007

Good looking hole in the ground!!! hahahaha

What are the demensions and depth? How will water exit the pond when it's full and overlfowing?

Are you going to add some structure for fish? Now is the time, before it fills up and you can't get down there.

It looks like of like a rectangle from the pics, can you dig out some of the sides to give it more of a random shape? I'm sure it's fine like it is, so it doesn't really matter, I'm just the type who likes round shapes to a pond.

Thanks for the pics, that excavator sure is impressive.

Eddie

Chuck K. · Sep 27, 2007

Eddie, the pond is approx. 100' x 85' ~`12' deep I am not real sure how to check what depth we ended up at.. I am starting on the pier Sat. my BIL is letting me use his skid steer with a PH digger, I hope to at least get the poles in before rain comes again.... If I had used my head I could have saved a lot of work and just pushed the poles in with the trackhoe but its gone now..

I have been reading Pond Boss on ideas for some simple structure for fish, I was thinking old shopping carts and few tires but shopping carts would really cause snags when fishing. May go with 3 plastic 30 gallon drums stacked in pyramid with various size holes along with some Xmas trees when the season gets here.

Have to get some 6-12" O.D. pipe and cut a trench in the banks at each end that will allow water from the neighbors land to drain into the pond and at the other end allow water to exit during heavy rains, may even put some type of mesh wire to stop the fish from swimming away in the ditch..

I still have a lot to learn but overall its been an enjoyable project.. Chuck.

philbuilt · Sep 27, 2007

Nice pond Chuck,
I'm still digging away at mine. Most excavators that I have operated have a lever that you can change the control. My preference is bachoe.
Do you have a spring to feed the pond or do you plan on run off.
Again nice Job.
Phil

Chuck K. · Sep 27, 2007

Thanks for the compliments, unfortunately I can not take credit for most the work as my father in law sent his ranch hand/operator down along with the dozer so I just paid him and hourly rate. My BIL ran the dozer a lot pushing the dirt to the front of the property. I did some digging with the trackhoe must admit it was fun, sure wish I could have found out how to switch the controls to be same as my backhoe I would have been much more help.
I was working 12hr. graveyard shift while the digging was going on but did get up early one morning to run the dozer to push the dirt the trackhoe dug out of the way.. Simply pushing the dirt is realitively easy but to run it the way the operator did, being able to make a pass nice and smooth have the "eye" to crown the dirt for drainage etc. takes years of seat time IMHO.

The pond has no spring, I am hoping run off from my land plus the neighbors 2 acres will also drain into will keep the level up.. I am considering running pipe from the upcoming 4" submerisble well out to the pond just in case we have a bad dry spell so I dont loose the fish.. Chuck.

Maxfli · Sep 28, 2007

Thats Great Looking Pond. Can you estimate the number of hours required to dig something that size.
My issue is I am betting the NDR or county requires that I haul the spoils out. Most of my 6 acres is wooded with a really great low area for a pond. Short of cutting down trees I have little area where I can put the dirt.

bindian · Sep 28, 2007

Chuck K. said:
Thanks for the compliments, unfortunately I can not take credit for most the work as my father in law sent his ranch hand/operator down along with the dozer so I just paid him and hourly rate. My BIL ran the dozer a lot pushing the dirt to the front of the property. I did some digging with the trackhoe must admit it was fun, sure wish I could have found out how to switch the controls to be same as my backhoe I would have been much more help.
I was working 12hr. graveyard shift while the digging was going on but did get up early one morning to run the dozer to push the dirt the trackhoe dug out of the way.. Simply pushing the dirt is realitively easy but to run it the way the operator did, being able to make a pass nice and smooth have the "eye" to crown the dirt for drainage etc. takes years of seat time IMHO.

The pond has no spring, I am hoping run off from my land plus the neighbors 2 acres will also drain into will keep the level up.. I am considering running pipe from the upcoming 4" submerisble well out to the pond just in case we have a bad dry spell so I dont loose the fish.. Chuck.

Chuck,
Nice looking pond! How much an hour was the rental on the track hoe and where did you rent it?
hugs, Brandi

Chuck K. · Sep 30, 2007

Max, this was a comibed effort of the trackhoe and dozer. We started out using only the dozer one ~8 hr. day, then the rain came. A couple weeks later we decide to get the trackhoe about 20 hours using both machines trackhoe digging dozer pushing. Then one additional day and a half with dozer only spreading and touching up on the pond. Pushing the dirt more than ~20 yards or so is really time consuming and burns a lot of fuel a bull blade may have helped but a scraper buggy is the best route IMHO if the dirt has to be moverd very far.

Brandi, I rented the trackhoe from Alvin Equipment, It was billed to my Fatherinlaws account. I will know sometime next week how much it was and shoot you a PM.. Chuck.

Maxfli · Oct 1, 2007

Thanks Chuck, I have access to a dozer that I could use, Just not a lot of experience. My neighbor dug his pond directly into what the county called wetlands. They made him use an excavator and truck all of the dirt out. I think my site lends itself to be a little less restricted. Maybe a project for next year.