Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Methods of Compaction

There have been a couple of questions recently concerning making a sheepsfoot roller and how to compact soil on a steep pond bank... I have similar questions myself as a sheepsfoot roller is awefully expensive to rent, a wacker packer isn't really that great at compacting clay, and a jumping jack compactor, although great at compacting clay, is just brutal on the user.

I've seen somewhere on here where somebody used a baseball bat to help increase compaction a small dam, but other than that I have not seen any other ideas for homemade or simple means of compacting soil on a pond dam/bottom.

I have thought about trying to build a small concrete roller with railroad spikes for "Sheepsfeet" or using cultipacker disks to make a small roller that I can push or pull manually or behind a 4-wheeler. The main problem I am running into is that I really need 7-8psi of pressure to get decent compaction and that is tough to get with something small enough to use manually or pull with something with a small engine. Has anybody tried anything like this and had any success???

Cody Note: here is a link to various methods for compacting soil:
http://extension.missouri.edu/webster/pond-seal.aspx

About the only other "simple" way is to pile about 30-50 feet of soil on it, but it sure ain't the cheapest way!!!!! A big self-propelled sheepsfoot vibrator may be able to go straight up and down the slope, and some can compact 31 inches deep IIRC. Or try to find a dozer/loader with sheepsfoot drive wheels.

There are jumping jack and plate compactor attachments for all kinds of machinery. Maybe a heavy duty jumping jack mounted on a track hoe would be the best fit or even possibly a track skid loader with such an attachment. A weekend rental of a skid steer and compactor attachment wouldn't be excessively expensive and maybe you could use the equipment to take care of some other chores while it's there.