Otto built my pond about 2 years ago, last September the pond caught full. This past winter the North Winds have really eaten away at my dam (erosion). Has anyone on the forum ever used bags of sakrete in place of rock Rip Rap? I am in an area that does not have immediate access to alot of rock for Rip Rap. What are your thoughts on how high above the water line should I place the Rip Rap and how far below the water line?

We have used sakrete like that but not on the ponds. It worked well. Placed the bags on the area , wet it real good and let it dry for a few days then placed them in position. Not sure you can put them in the water before they are first wet and allowed to harden.

If you want to use sacks, consider the 40 pound ones. The edge of the sack is what you really want to protect the dam, so there's no advantage to wider sacks. You can get more edge area for your money with the 40 pound sacks versus the 80 pound ones.

The real work will be digging a base to stack them on. Once you have that, then just place them where you want them and pound some rebar through the sacks. The rebar goes through the sacks real easy, but when they set up, the rebar will lock them all together. You probably want at least one row below waterlline, then two above.

Another option might be blocks. Landscape retaining wall blocks might be cheaper and allot nicer looking.

But before I did either of those, I'd price rock. Some river rock, or something that's available locally would probably be cheaper, easier and just as effective.

Eddie

fishinglth,
I am guessing that the dam bank is eroded. My opinion is that laying a row of bags in this eroded area would do a lot of good. Guess it gets a little ugly while the paper is weathering off.
The paper should last long enough for the bags to set up. If they will stay where you want when you lay them in I wouldn't think they would need to be staked down.

We have had suggestions made by a pond designer, to simply plant aquatic emergent plants like Thalia or rush, to break up the North wind errosion issues. If you select a managable plant type that is winter hardy and has a stem and leaf system that is substantial, this works. We used a combination of Thalia and sedge to make this work. It also dresses up the look of the dam area and provides gooding fish habitat.
Mike