Hello All,
It has been a while since I last posted. So, some things I have learned with my ponds. First I do not have photos of the different airlifts that I made and tried but none were effective shallower than 5' of water. What was effective in the range of 5' and shallower and even deeper as I thought from previous experience was a water lift/gold dredge type setup. I only can run a 2.5" model though but did just get a new 4" pump so may go larger in the future. Will try and get pictures of that later. Was in a hurry one day and now it is all tangled and covered in the grass
I redesigned the "drag" system I previously posted about, working on getting the pictures uploaded now. It took a 4x6 I had on the property and some 3/4" black iron pipe, as well as a few(which buy more as these tend to snap off after a while)rebar pins, also a handful of 16d nails. So, the setup is then connected by the drag not by the boat to the tractor and you need two people to operate. One to maneuver the tractor the other to operate the drag which you can adjust the rake angle manually as well as get a feel for how much you are pulling(Use someone in good shape for this, it is an excellent work out).
It is effective and less cumbersome to deploy than the previous version it just stays mounted on the boat. In the picture where I have it laid back in a "stowed" position it is being held down by a pitchfork. I was using a rope for this and it worked quite well. I think this system is ideal with 3 workers as I do not own a motor, so one person to position the boat the other two operate the drag.
No sign of beavers this year also which is good. Am looking into making a sandbag retainer wall times two so I can work one pond at a time as I have 5 that are interconnected. In the channels after taking into account for muck they are probably(best stick estimate) at the deepest point 5' and are 25' on average across. I do not have the pumps or the weather cooperation to drain and keep drawn down all 5 at once. Don't know if anyone has tackled a project this way but it looks like the most cost effective solution and hopefully I can reuse the sandbags for each stage of the operation.
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life.
