All: Great discussion and link on siphoning extremes. I've learned a bunch. Thanks!

After getting back from fishing (3 people, 1 boat, @ 165 minutes, power plant lake, after white bass = 1 released LMB about 16") this morning, I checked it out. The water had dropped enough that the siphon had stopped. As feared it might, the water force had worn through the tarp. In retrospect, I should have known to place a big piece of sheet metal there to absorb the force. I was a little surprised that the tarp also didn't hold up that well in a couple other spots too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do different to improve that situation when I restart it.

Overall, I was very impressed with how well it worked and how easy it was to start. I'm going to order another saddle so that we can have two 8" siphons going when restart it. I'm also awaiting delivery of the remaining 14" pipe. I can only imagine how fast two 8" and one 14" siphons can pull out water.

I'm going to check again into the cost / availability of a check valve for the pond end. From safety / convenience standpoint, it'd be great.

As an alternative, I'm going to check into the cost / availability of a flexible connector / elbow to connect section from dam top to pond. If that piece could flex enough so water end could be raised easily even when in deep water and possibly be easily installed on the dam then swung out over water, it could make it a lot easier.

Barring those, we'll use the balls and straps again. They worked far better than I anticipated. I just realized that I hadn’t mentioned… We drove a four wheeler unto the pontoon boat and then used its winch to pull the pipe end up close enough I could see / reach the end to pop the ball. We then lowered it when siphoning started. Maybe an improvised redneck work around, but that worked fairly well… Each joint makes it about 5 foot deeper and I’m not confident the pipe will have enough flex to allow us to do that ahead out. We might find out…

Given that the siphon has stopped before having chance to add joints, that I doubt if enough flex exists to bring near enough to surface, that lake fills quickly (see spillway pic below), and that the water is cold now; I'm now debating whether to wait a bit to restart siphon.

Which reminds me… I don't remember what type of paint I should use on the pipe to protect it from sun and elements. Any suggestions?

Sorry in advance for size of spillway picture. I cropped it, reduced resolution, and etc.; but it still shows up huge.

Edited: Pic was too huge so I removed it. I can email if anyone knows how to shrink and doesn't mind.

[Linked Image from i108.photobucket.com]