Pond Bank Repair

[Creamer]

I am renting a small tracked excavator to repair the banks of my pond/lake (about 14 acres under water). I have had some erosion of the banks in some areas and muskrat damage in other areas. We have had a really dry summer so the pond is as low as I have seen it in twenty years. The pond bottom seems firm enough that I think I can take the excavator onto the pond floor beyond the pond bank and therefore I can dig the muck on one side of the machine and deposit on the other.
I think I know what I am doing but would appreciate some wisdom on things not to do.

 

[Depmandog]

I am renting a small tracked excavator to repair the banks of my pond/lake (about 14 acres under water). I have had some erosion of the banks in some areas and muskrat damage in other areas. We have had a really dry summer so the pond is as low as I have seen it in twenty years. The pond bottom seems firm enough that I think I can take the excavator onto the pond floor beyond the pond bank and therefore I can dig the muck on one side of the machine and deposit on the other.
I think I know what I am doing but would appreciate some wisdom on things not to do.

Ummm, make sure to accept the insurance coverage the rental store offers . Please don't take this as a smartalec post.

What appears dry and firm may only be a dry crust on top. When you drive that narrow tracked machine out, you could break though the crust and end up in a pickle. Be cautious, dig some dirt as you move towards the water to make sure it's not crusted over muck.

That's my two cents have fun, be safe

 

[Creamer]

Well I got most of what I wanted done. I did put it down big time once though. Thanks to the drought we have a lot of dry land that is normally underwater. This has grown up to grass and it felt solid. I slowly drove the unit on it and it was not sinking at all. But when i started digging with the bucket on the water side and I accidently bit off too much, the one track fell through and I could not work it out. i got off the machine to see what a mess I was in and I found there was nothing under the track for probably ten inches or more - the machine was being held up by the frame. By now I had also broken the other track through the sod as well.
I went and got some firewood and a 14" log about 7' long that we used to sit on by the firepit. I got it lifted up and put the log under the track on the water side and set the machine back down and the log disappeared so I lifted it up again and put some firewood underneath it and did the same for the other side and then I got it out.

Now I just have a big mess of muck up on the shore that needs to dry a bit before I level it out and get the bank smoothed out again. I am sure I will have to haul some away but since i was renting the unit I wanted to have too much rather than too little.

thanks for the advice!

 

[Depmandog]

Glad you were able to get your project finished, and rescue the machine! That muck is some serious stuff. FIL lost a cow that got down in pond muck this summer.

Thanks for posting back

Pictures next time.....

 

[swick1]

Next time buy or build some wooden mats to drive on. You can build three of them and lay them in front of where you want to drive and you won't sink

 

[LD1]

Next time...take some pics

 

[Chaddo]

Pic's would have been great, but when your in a situation like that pictures are the last thing on your mind

 

[Creamer]

Here are a few pics of the damage I did. The last two photos are the excavator in trouble. If the bucket wasn't down I am not sure where the machine would be but definitely a lot more tipped.
The first two photos show the mess I made that I now get to play with my tractor to clean up. the second one is from where I put the excavator down and the first one is the bank around the point from the second one. I was planning on going on past the boat but it was just too soft.
I am waiting for the muck to dry a little. I was only trying to remove the muck and not change the edge. The part where the excavator is pretty sandy on top of clay but go out just a little and it was pure muck which is what i was pulling out. It was good and sloppy and the excavator and operator showed it with all the splatter.

I also did a couple of other areas around the pond.

Now more seat time on Junior (my 1710) to move all this around and finish the job. Good fun!

 

[jinman]

Creamer, you are a lucky man to have "escaped" from that pond. Dean's caution probably makes perfect sense now. I live on a lake about the size of yours and have several ponds. I've found muck to be several feet deep only after going out a few feet. I had one pond that was dry for 6 months. I could drive my 2500 lb tractor right across the middle. As soon as I got down 18", everything turned to pudge. The soft silt was 10' deep in places. I've also almost lost one tractor by driving along what looked to be a sandy shoreline. With the tractor on a slant toward the water, my lower side had weight shift that put the wheels down to the axles on the downhill side. It took rocks, crossties, cinder blocks, and a few answered prayers to get me out of that mess. Those things have a way of making an impression on you.

BTW: You have a beautiful pond and waterfront.:thumbsup: It may be down to your way of thinking, but to me it looks like normal seasonal level change. I can see the shallows extend well beyond your bank, far more than you'll ever reach with a mini-excavator. You need a full-sized excavator with extended length boom and dipper so it can reach out 25' to 30' from the bank. That kind of exacavator could completely restore your deep water along your shoreline. However, you'd need to move that silt away from the shoreline or it will just be back in the pond at the first heavy rain. A retainer wall is preferred, but rip-rap rocks along the shoreline and a raised terrace along the bank to control the flow of water and direct it to one entry point would give you the best long-term deep water shoreline in my opinion and not cost you an arm & leg. A pump dredge might also work for cleaning out silt, but they are very messy and need someplace to direct the muddy sludge unless you just dump it in the deeper portion of the pond.

I'd love to see more photos of your lake if you have some.

 

[Depmandog]

There are guys that have the right gear to work on wet ground with standard excavators.

This is a good video of an operator moving his excavator by picking and placing his swamp mats.

http://youtu.be/KFFBxubshsM


The excavators in this video should have used some swamps mats!!

http://youtu.be/xbppELSb-wU

Just be glad you didn't get stuck like these guys did!!