Thanks Rainman. I added photos of the sandy area used briefly in getting material for the levee. This is a small spot past the north end, and opposite the lake basin.
Because the lake was so hard to keep full I chose not to disturb the lake bed wth ditches, etc. We pushed up a few fingers from the bank into the lake, formed a few small submerged humps, and bulldozed in some big trees and brushpiles that are submerged, but I didn't want to disturb the lake bed except for the basic essentials. I hauled in several dump truck loads of gravel for the bluegull to spawn on, and that's about it other than a few brush piles.
I've never used a sheepsfoot and know nothing about them. I see the big ones used in road construction, but what is a good size for this project and what is needed to pull it? And what is needed to pull a disk? I'm a bit gunshy on equipment around the levee. When we raised the levee several years ago a guy flipped a $60,000 dump truck on the back side by being careless and thankfully no one was seriously hurt. In 2008 the dozer operator hit a slick spot and sailed his $80,000 dozer into the lake going downhill, but thankfully he was working by one of the coves as the lake was half drained and the dozer mired down before getting any deeper in water than the top of the dozer tracks. Again, thankfully we got it winched out and water didn't get into the motor but he spent quite a bit flushing out and changing oil, grease, hydraulics, and so on.
I can drain it down more, but working on such a slope could still cause the equipment to break through to some slick mud and slide the whole thing into the lake. I can't drain it dry because I re-stocked it in the late winter of 2009.
With safety as the first consideration, what are some good options for small equipment on the front-water side of the levee? We're never going to disk it 12" deep, but the same thing could be done with a dozer just roughing up the face of the levee and blading it down. Then we could apply the Bentonite-Pondseal and let him track it in pulling a sheepsfoot. I don't know if any speed is needed to make the sheepsfoot work any better, and I really don't know what kind of equipment I'll need for such a project, or the rental-operator cost.
If we did this, would it help to let it get a few rains and set up and then overlay it with some 15' wide x 100'long X 45 mil thick Firestone pond liner?
If a dozer can pull a sheepsfoot effectively I would think they could work the levee in a day's time. What is an average price for a sheepsfoot rental?
Thanks again. The saga continues. Hopefully this time I'll fix it.
