With our lake at an all time low I figured now would be the best time to put in the "beach" area. Most of my lake has steep sides to prevent plant growth and I simply wanted a deep pond. However, next to the dock, I made the slope much more gentle so a person could stand on the bottom and climb up the ladder or walk out of the pond rather than have to climb out.
Being the water level is just over 4' low now, I figured now or never. It's been 15 years and it's never been this low. I scooped yards and yards of goo out of the gently sloped area, cutting out about 12" of the bottom that I filled with sand. It's a lot nicer walking on a sandy bottom than a mucky goo bottom.
I made a beach area on land surrounded by wooden railroad ties and then a beach area going into the lake. Having a track loader and excavator sure made the work a lot easier. I filled most of the area in with the track loader with my larger 1 yard bucket on it and then actually drove my excavator out into the lake about 8' or so past my dock. I then used the track loader to pile a HUGE mound of sand just out into the pond and then used the excavator to grab that sand and spread it over the 20' reach I had.
Well, all was well, but there was just no way to tell if I'd covered the bottom evenly by just spreading it with the excavator bucket. So, I drove the excavator out and found that with a nice sand bottom, I had no problem back blading the sand underwater with my track loader. Man, it sure would take a lot of water no problem. My feet were soaked but as long as I kept the radiator fan blade from getting in the water, all was well...until I slid off the sand onto the muck and quickly started sliding into deep water.
My wife snapped this pic with her phone before I just jammed the bucket into the bottom and reached out and pulled it back with my excavator. In hind sight, I should have worn my wet suit. That water is getting a bit brisk already. I suppose I'll go ahead and winterize my Jet Ski's tomorrow after freezing my nads off today.
Being the water level is just over 4' low now, I figured now or never. It's been 15 years and it's never been this low. I scooped yards and yards of goo out of the gently sloped area, cutting out about 12" of the bottom that I filled with sand. It's a lot nicer walking on a sandy bottom than a mucky goo bottom.
I made a beach area on land surrounded by wooden railroad ties and then a beach area going into the lake. Having a track loader and excavator sure made the work a lot easier. I filled most of the area in with the track loader with my larger 1 yard bucket on it and then actually drove my excavator out into the lake about 8' or so past my dock. I then used the track loader to pile a HUGE mound of sand just out into the pond and then used the excavator to grab that sand and spread it over the 20' reach I had.
Well, all was well, but there was just no way to tell if I'd covered the bottom evenly by just spreading it with the excavator bucket. So, I drove the excavator out and found that with a nice sand bottom, I had no problem back blading the sand underwater with my track loader. Man, it sure would take a lot of water no problem. My feet were soaked but as long as I kept the radiator fan blade from getting in the water, all was well...until I slid off the sand onto the muck and quickly started sliding into deep water.
My wife snapped this pic with her phone before I just jammed the bucket into the bottom and reached out and pulled it back with my excavator. In hind sight, I should have worn my wet suit. That water is getting a bit brisk already. I suppose I'll go ahead and winterize my Jet Ski's tomorrow after freezing my nads off today.