Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Wooden Spools

Power company left me six wooden spools for cable about 4 feet in diameter. While my pond is empty I am thinking of cabling these to an empty 250 gallon propane tank so they are suspended in the water column. also adding 10 foot pvc pipe "spokes" to the tops of them and then hanging some materials from them to the bottom. trying to create something like a kelp forest. few questions come up
How much weight needed to sink a spool?
Will they eventually sink? If so then i need to add foam insulation to keep then suspended.
Any suggestions for my "kelp' material

How deep is the area you want to install them in and how large is your BOW in total? Also, in general terms where is pond located.

My initial thought would be to make each one into 2 "mushrooms" and place in shallower water with a small rock pile covering the "cap" to hold in place. Bingo - Bango 8 ledges and FHM heaven.

That would be very good. The spools are unlikely to be made from PT lumber, so they will rot out after a few years leaving behind a nice pile of rocks.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317106&#Post317106

Be cautious about cutting them in half. The few that I have had used threaded rods to hold them together (side to side), if they (the rods) would have been cut in half they would have fallen apart without extra reinforcement.

Keep in mind how long they will last also. I have had one sitting outside for the last 7 years on dry gravel and it's about to fall apart with rot...not sure if it would be better submerged or not.

QA - I think you're right on the threaded rod by looking at other spool pics. Probably better to set atop 3 concrete blocks and then put rocks on top instead of cutting. Basically same result, just the high rise version. If they rot fairly quick I personally would not want to put much time or expense into rigging them. I do think they would be a great addition to a pond though.

Thanks ewest for the link. I had searched under wooden spools but nothing came up. roundy I am in No Va. 3.7 acyes 7 feet avg depth 15' max 10' depth is where I was going to place them suspended off bottom with cables. wood takes long time to deteriorate under water but aerator might accelerate that!

If you have access to an end loader or lift of some type, it might be easier to stack up than suspend if in dry area. I bet they will last quite a while unless loaded too heavily.

Here in hot and humid S. Louisiana, wooden spools last exactly one year outside. (above the ground, anyway.) I had several for my goats to play on, and within a year, they had all rotted completely. Cheap wood held together by steel rods, as mentioned earlier. Underwater, I'm sure they would last longer, but they really are made from crappy wood.

They will last a while if kept underwater. I would use them in 6-10 feet of water staked to the bottom singly (not stacked). If you need attritional height then attach a couple of oak (hard wood) limbs 2-3 feet (wrist sized at least) to the spool ( can use zip ties to attach). If the water fills slowly then they will water log and not pull lose.