Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations placing rip rap on face of dam-pros and cons

Would anyone one care to comment on the pros and cons of facing a dam with rip rap- looks for one thing - I am building a shelf at the bottom of the dam -to hold the rock and am contemplating lining the face of my dam with 3-5 limestone rip rap- have already faced and lined both spillways- dam is about 250 feet long will probably take about 96 yards of rock......

That sounds like a lot of work.

I like rip rap. It keeps sand and other junk from running down into the pond. Good place for baby fish to hide and it will warm up a little quicker in the Spring than other areas of the water hole. Good early in the year fishing spot.

The only negatives that I can think of is that it keeps you from strolling along the waters edge. I have also found that snakes like it.

One pro is if your pond is the size or longitudinal direction to pile winds against your damn the rip rap will save your dam from eroding. What you end up with, with wave action, is a shelf that will keep on getting bigger and creates shallow water if nothing else.

I have rip rap around my warmwater pond and found the weeds and grass actually filled in the stone and you can't see it at all. However my water line is very high. I used a front loader to move it.

For small ponds I'm a big believer in lining the bank and up over the top with 6 foot wide burlap. Before you lay the burlap down and peg in place liberally seed with grass seed. The grass will come up through the burlap and the burlap will hold the soil in place until the grass gets thick. But that time the burlap will have disentigrated. If you put it in place before your water line tops it will protect the shore from wave action if you put part of it under the waterline.

A good company to get burlap from is this one:

http://www.daybag.com/industrial/burlap.html

I believe I got 300 foot by six foot rolls UPS'd for about $100.00.

I have rip rap around my small pond. I originally dug a small ditch and placed the first row of rocks and stacked them up the inclined bank. Heavy rains eroded the dirt under the bank and as the water rose above each layer some rocks would slide. I have removed most of the rocks and reinstalled them with concrete. I also installed a concrete border above and below the rip rap. The areas where there are only borders still suffers from erosion during heavy rains.
After the pond was dug I planted grass with the intention of limiting erosion, but the rains were so heavy that became impossible, so the rip rap. I would have used Cecil's method had I been able to secure burlap. If I dug another pond I will bite the bullet and have it shipped from the US.

Rip-rap is great to minimize erosion. It's also great cover for small sunfish, especially green sunfish and bluegill. Smallmouth bass also like rip-rap.