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Digging out a pond
Hey guys, first post. I have 15 acres in NW Montana. I am landscaping the place and preparing it for a future RV Park and campground. I have about a 1 acre swamp/pond that I want to dig out to deepen. Any ideas how to go about that? It would be hard to just drain the pond since I think its spring fed.
Thanks,
BC
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Digging out a pond
Thanks guys. There isnt any drag line guys or excavators around that I could find. I thought about a dredge but that is just too complicated and I am afraid it would take a long long time. I do have plenty of area to put the mud to dry/drain. I was hoping it would be something that we could do ourselves.
Maybe a small dredge type pump with a weighted pickupline on a small raft with a 5 gallon fuel tank might work. Every once and a while pull it to another area? anybody know how well they suck vegitation? Ill try to post a picture of the pond later today after work.
Thanks,
BC
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Digging out a pond
Check out my pond on pic 1 and 2. The real tall grass around the outside is soft dirt. Picture 2 really shows it best. Its pretty much full of weeds but the water/muck/vegetation is about 3-4 feet deep on the sides. The outlet pipe/hose would have to be pretty long... Maybe too long to push it out good. The hose might just fill and get plugged up easy.
BC
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Digging out a pond
I do believe that this is a spring fed pond. Lots of other ponds in the area are dry now but mines still wet. I suspect that it is not possible to drain the pond. It looks like a pump may just be the best bet then. What is a good pump? How do you guys muck out golf course ponds? I dont mind if it takes a couple of weeks to do.
Thanks alot,
BC
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Digging out a pond
I do have a small high pressure pump 5.5hp or something like that that I run 2 irrigation sprinklers on. They work really good with a 8 foot draw from the river on the far side of property. Is that pump workable? There really isnt any need for a barrier. Will a 3in trash pump from Northern Tool do the job? Or should I get a bigger pump? Heres a portable dredge.
http://www.piranhapumps.com/portable_dredge_p135e_specs.161.html
Not sure how much it is but maybe Something like this is the answer.
Thanks again,
BC
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Digging out a pond
Yea, I thought about dynamite but where do you even buy that stuff? The Forest Service dynamited a couple of ponds nearby for Moose habitat. Guess they should have run the Moose off first. They killed four! I am still not sure exactly how to go about it. How deep of mud can you drive a cat? Like an older one?
Thanks,
BC
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Digging out a pond
Well my caretaker took the tractor out to dig a sump hole today and quickly fell through the sod up to the frame. Got real stuck. I guess the wetland/swamp extends much farther than we thought. Our plan was to dig a sump hole to pump water out from. Plan 2?
Thanks,
BC
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Digging out a pond
Thanks alot guys. The pond is about 200x250 feet with probably at least a 50 foot ring of soft soil. It would be quite a project. Especially if a 90 foot boom will only drag line out 70-80 feet. Sounds like that may be too much.
The way I see it there are really only two viable options.
Try to drag / rake something across to kill / remove the weeds in the middle. Put in some beneficial bacteria to break down vegetation, sunshade stuff to prevent new from growing and suction dredge it next year.
Or
Get a bulldover / excavator in there this winter when its frozen and go to town. Not sure how effective they would be going through 1 foot of ice to frozen ground? What do you guys think of this?
Thanks again!
BC
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Digging out a pond
Unfortunately, I dont really have much dirt to push out to build a pad. How well with an excavator dig through ice? If I was to do it this winter after everything froze up. I could clear out a road and a working pad so that the ground freezes really good. I am just not sure how well it could break through the ice.
Ahhh, I see on page 3 where this was already recommended...  I think Ill give it a shot.
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09-28-2004, 12:12 
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