Almost finished with inside of pond. Back side of dam needs grading and big pile of topsoil placed around, and a little cleanup of clods all around the inside and outside of pond. Need to raise the dam about 4 inches in one area about 40 feet long. We quit digging at just over 8 feet as we were starting to get a little bit of rock in the clay. Going to pack the bottom tomorrow with a very heavy wheeled tractor, but I don't think it will do much. The bottom clay is so hard that the newer grouser bars on the dozer hardly make an impression in it. A sheep's foot roller wouldn't make much of a dent either. The water line will only stand about 32 inches above natural ground on the low side at full pool, so there won't be a lot of pressure on the dam, which is much much wider than tall.
All finished. Packed down tight with a 18,000 pound 4wd tractor with nearly bald tires. Here's a few pictures. The stakes (if you can make them out) represent the full water line. There's about 14 inches of freeboard, a main grassy spillway, plus an auxiliary spillway four inches higher. It's just over 1/5 acre, 8 feet deep. Total cost was $2,735 as it sits right now, including the marking paint and stakes.
Neat thread John, I hope the pond works out well for you!
How are you determining the full water line? Is it from your spillway level?
Looking at my pond I don't have any idea what full pool will look like. I was thinking of taking a level and a laser out there to get a concept but I don't know how accurate that would be.
Snort Coffee is a podcast about goofy stuff. Hope to add ponding to my list of hobbies.
Neat thread John, I hope the pond works out well for you!
How are you determining the full water line? Is it from your spillway level?
Looking at my pond I don't have any idea what full pool will look like. I was thinking of taking a level and a laser out there to get a concept but I don't know how accurate that would be.
The full water line is determined from the lowest edge of the spillway. We used a laser level to determine water line and dam elevations all around the pond. The laser level we used is accurate to less than 1/8 of an inch over the distance across the pond. The pond at full pool is a rough oval about 130 feet by 105 feet. In my experience they don't stand at full pool most of the time. You don't have to use an expensive laser level to determine full pool. A regular telescopic level and rod will do; it only takes a lot more time, and two people, one at the level, and one with the rod. My pond builder has a high end laser level, so we used that. The wife and I laid out the pond initially with my relatively inexpensive telescopic level when studying its feasibility.
Thanks John, I'm thinking along the right lines. I have one of those relatively powerful pocket lasers that shoots like a mile that I expect to rig and I imagine it'll work well enough.
Snort Coffee is a podcast about goofy stuff. Hope to add ponding to my list of hobbies.
Thanks John, I'm thinking along the right lines. I have one of those relatively powerful pocket lasers that shoots like a mile that I expect to rig and I imagine it'll work well enough.
A good laser level with good level rod is a precision instrument accurate to small fractions of an inch at a couple of hundred feet. A decent manual telescopic type level, tripod and rod can be had for about $230, and will be good to about 1/4 inch in a hundred feet, plenty good for a pond.
A pocket laser rigged to a carpenter level would probably be off by at least a few inches in a hundred feet. I wouldn't trust it much as an accurate building level.
Update: The new pond now has just over 6 FOW in it and is spread out well over 1/8 acre already. Last weekend I stocked 45 six to eight inch CC, 35 two to three inch RES and about 150 FHM. Two big piles of brush and piles of rocks and bricks are in there.
Edit 3/21 - Now just about thirteen inches to go to reach full pool. I stretched the latest rain by diverting runoff from the creek with my 2" pump. I look at it as increasing my available watershed. A two inch rain effectively becomes as big a rain as I take time to pump.
New pond and 1.5 yr old renovated pond are both only 4" from being completely full. I hope the drought is over. Six inches rain so far in March, and more predicted this week.
Here's a pic showing all three ponds. The pic was taken from the west side of the 19 month old renovated pond. The FHM pond is on the left, new pond is in the center foreground. My house is the red brick near the top center of the pic. The two sheds are mine. The other houses are on lots sold off this place by the former owner. The creek is to the right.
Here's the new pond 4" from full. It's nearly crystal clear right now. No alum needed. I probably could see the bottom in the current max depth of 8 feet if I took a boat out.
