Pond dredging

[mikester]

Looking for ideas here on dredging

I have an old pond that is all silted up. At one time was 4-6' deep, approx 150 long by 120 feet wide. Rumoured to have quicksand in places, spring fed and would be nearly impossible to pump dry to stick a machine in the muck/silt. Only accessible along the 150' side.

Dragline? Amphibious Excavator?

 

[ponytug]

Where in Canada are you? There are parts of Canada where barges/aquatic excavators are more common, but I can't see that as being cheap, but location is everything.

How much sand/silt is in the pond now? i.e. What amount of excavation are we talking about, and what is the goal?

Assuming you can square any regulatory concerns, the inability to pump dry cuts both ways; you might be able to use trash pumps to excavate the silt and sand, and perhaps it isn't as large a flow as rumored. That would be a fair amount of work.

What is on the other side from the 150' edge that makes it inaccessible? Would a corduroy road be possible? A 150' dragline crane would be enormous, heavy, and hard on the perimeter, but they do exist. 60-75' excavators are more common.

All the best,

Peter

 

[mikester]

Where in Canada are you? There are parts of Canada where barges/aquatic excavators are more common, but I can't see that as being cheap, but location is everything.

How much sand/silt is in the pond now? i.e. What amount of excavation are we talking about, and what is the goal?

Assuming you can square any regulatory concerns, the inability to pump dry cuts both ways; you might be able to use trash pumps to excavate the silt and sand, and perhaps it isn't as large a flow as rumored. That would be a fair amount of work.

What is on the other side from the 150' edge that makes it inaccessible? Would a corduroy road be possible? A 150' dragline crane would be enormous, heavy, and hard on the perimeter, but they do exist. 60-75' excavators are more common.

All the best,

Peter

Southern Ontario. Figure 4' of muck for about 1/2+ acre pond. Backing on wetland so getting permission would be nearly impossible for mere mortals. The cheapest option would be to cut down all the trees on 3 sides and get a long reach excavator to dump the spoil on top - but those good'ol days are long gone.

 

[bcp]

Bruce

 

[oldnslo]

How deep is the water today? Would a small floating dredge work if you have a place to dump the silt?

 

[Captain Dirty]

Figure 4' of muck for about 1/2+ acre pond. Backing on wetland so getting permission would be nearly impossible for mere mortals.

It is often easier to beg forgiveness than to secure permission. How close are your neighbors, and do you get along with them?
Have you considered a redneck floating dredge--a well muffled trash pump in a flat-bottomed boat? Progress might be so slow and changes so incremental that the authorities take no note, especially if you dump the spoil in the adjacent woods and do nothing stupid, like running in the still of the night when sound carries (unless during a power outage).

 

[mikester]

How deep is the water today? Would a small floating dredge work if you have a place to dump the silt?

Maybe up to a couple of feet deep in spots. Starting to fill with cattails and phragmites. I'm sure there is room for the silt around the pond...

I've seen images online for the large floating dredges, I just don't know anything about them when it comes to smaller scales.

 

[ponytug]

Maybe up to a couple of feet deep in spots. Starting to fill with cattails and phragmites. I'm sure there is room for the silt around the pond...

I've seen images online for the large floating dredges, I just don't know anything about them when it comes to smaller scales.

I'd put a note up at the local feed store, or start talking heavy equipment operators. I suspect what you want is a barge someone made, designed to be trailered in a a couple of trailer loads that will take a small excavator with a long boom. This isn't exactly an uncommon problem.

The purpose built aquatic excavators aren't small, so that they require assembly on site in most instances. Still, I think they are neat machines.

All the best,

Peter

 

[nyone]

make a suction jet pump. Parts are prety cheap and it's going to be way cheaper than a long reach excavator.

 

[EddieWalker]

I dredged my small 3/4 acre pond about 15 years ago. It was a supper hot summer and most of the water evaporated, so I wanted to make it several feet deeper.

I used my 2 wheel drive 555E backhoe to dig a ramp into the shallow, dry area of pond, where I had solid dirt under it.

I drove in and scooped up the sloppy mud, then backed out. I did this until I was down to solid dirt, then I went farther in. I kept doing this until I had enough room to widen my path and create a working area that I could turn around in and drive out of the pond.

I worked my way over to the deeper end that still had water in it and then I used the backhoe to dig a massive swimming pool sized hole in the pond. I was shocked to find that the mud and several inches of standing water was full of fingerlings. All my big catfish and bluegill had died, but the fingerlings where all still alive. I was also surprised to see how much water drained into that hole from the mud. The hole I dug was about ten feet deep, ten feet wide and about 30 feet long. It filled up with what only looked like a few inches of water over a small area.

Then I kept scooping up wet mud until I got to solid ground, and then when I had more area to work, I dug down several feet and hauled that out too.

At first I was hauling the dirt out to a pasture so it would be out of the way, but then I just piled it up right next to the pond. It was taking too long and I knew winter was coming. This took several months to get it cleaned out and dug deeper. It took a few years to haul off all that dirt and pile it up in the pasture.

Most of that dirt is still piled up in the pasture. I use it when I need dirt somewhere, but trees have grown in it and overall, it's still a big mess that I need to deal with, but never have the time.

4 wheel drive would of made it easier and faster. A few times my ramp got wet and I couldn't get out with a load of dirt. I had to drop it and use my bucket to get me to a dry spot. Then I had to work on the ramp to get the mud off of it so I could haul dirt out again.

My backhoe has a one yard bucket. A bigger bucket and more HP would of been nice too. But it's what I had, and I did what it took to make it work.

Another member on here named Jinman, who has passed away, did the same thing with his pond, except he hired a guy with a tracked loader that could haul 3 yards at a time. That was a much better way to do it, but it was a lot more money than using what I had. After that he bought a 4wheel drive backhoe to build another pond and maintain his place.