Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions high water table and an excavator

I didn't have much choice in how many hrs a day we could move dirt. The equipment owner worked a full time job and moved dirt as a 2nd job, and I had to work to keep $$ coming in too.

There was some down time due to the rains that we had during construction, and some down time because it's not wise to operate lightening rods during a thunderstorm.

I totally get that. Hope no offense was taken. I'm just trying to make sure that Redclay knows what they are getting into!!!

Nope, we're all good.

i find i really dont know what i am in for until i am in it for the first time, but this forum has definitely opened my eyes...i am a school teacher, so i am about to have 2.5 straight months off...well off from teaching...i will start with the small/shallow first and then go from there.

2 summers ago i cleared all summer with my d7e...i found that i spent the first month in the belly of the beast...fixing a bunch of little things that took a newbie a long time, but once i got the nack for it , it went fairly smooth, mostly operator error caused breakdowns...i sold that and bought my case 9030b excavator to both clear land with and to dig the ponds and clean out drainage ditches etc. hoping i learned some lessons about heavy machinery...

if anybody has some advice on how to minimize wear and tear on an excavator while digging ponds, let me know!!!...i do know grease early and often!!!

FWIW observing the old guy that just expanded my water table pond, his "mud" maintenance during the two days consisted of greasing often and digging mud out of the tracks before he went home for the day.