Al fairly common system. I like the fact you can use the system to raise and lower the water level. Hate the fact you are taking water offf the top. Not sure about the safety part.
If you rid of this system what will you install for water control? I would not suggest the spillway its purpose is emergency not primary outlet. If you simply want to rid of this it is easy by pressure grouting the pipe with concrete from the backside but you did say cheaply and that it is not. I have had our shockboat beside many of them in normal water levels and not felt any fear. Simply put no one needs to be in a boat anyways if water is being sucked down from the top of the drain.
Thanks, Greg!
That event where the water was coming in over the top only happened once (that I know about). We believe we've now got that situation under control since we've started doing actual maintenance to keep the notch clear.
That whole dangerous episode with us taking the boat out when it was over-topping was a true emergency as we had just bought the place and we were very afraid for our dam. As dangerous as it was, we felt we had to clear some of the debris or we might lose the whole dam. In truth, we exercised a lot of safety precautions while doing it - lots of ropes securing the boat and me with a quite large and strong guy on the shore holding the ropes in addition to them being tied off to large trees. Still, in retrospect, I would never do that again!
