You have been busy! Congrats on a job well done.! What type of cover is on the shoreline to mitigate wave erosion?
Yeah, it has been a ton of work so far. When people ask me what I mean by moving 1 million tons of dirt, I tell them to imagine the big haul trucks on the show Gold Rush, and then realize that it has taken about 50,000 round trips with those trucks. Because of the size of the site, the average turn for a truck is about 1.5 miles.
Re the cover: The shoreline is sloped at a 6% grade until about 3ft deep, then 20% grade until 8ft deep, and then 33% grade to the bottom. The 6% beach slope provides a very nice break for the wakes. Less than that and you tend to see sand bars forming. Steeper and you start to see a ledge being cut. The entire lake has a thick layer of compacted clay to seal it up, then with a layer of very thick needle-punched non-woven fabric (~10oz weight). Most of the 6% grade has the fabric covered with 6" of imported white quartz sand. This sand has been washed, dried, and screened twice to a desired grain size; 40-60 mesh. This sand has virtually no fines, is soft enough to play barefoot without tearing up your feet, but coarse enough that it stays in place better against wind and waves, and as a bonus it sparkles like diamonds in the sun. We searched through a lot of different sand and the vast majority of "beach sand" used for this kind of project is just single screened at either 1/8" or 60 mesh. This usually means that it has about 20% in the desired particle size and the rest is powdery sand, silt, and usually about 5-10% clay, which makes it crust over when it dries. With that material, we would lose 50% of it each season to wind and waves, because the fines just don't stay put.
Near the slope transition from 6% to 20% we switch the cover from sand to a native cobble mix that is generally 2-4" with about 30% native sand and a bit of fines to lock it all together, and we place that at 6-8" thick. This layer just keeps the fabric in place and prevents the deep wake from eroding the clay liner. The cobble layer is large enough to stay in place better but the stones are smooth enough not to hurt the feet for people whom are wading past their waist. The cobble acts as a bit of a backstop for the sand getting dragged into the lake as well. The general shoreline isn't really intended for swimming. We have dedicated beach and paddle areas for that which are protected by floating wave breaks. But the beach is meant for walking and jogging, so it was important to create an authentic beach feel, even if it meant higher maintenance.
Beyond that, this is a big community, so there is a full-time staff to maintain the shoreline and water quality. The contract for the sand has us likely bringing in about 300-500 tons each season to top things off. Early in the year we will lower the waterline about 18" to allow us to run our compact track loader with a drag mat to smooth things out.
