Enlarging a half acre pond (just slightly)

[knuckledragger]

If you are only wanting to enlarge a pond by a little bit, do you have to drain it, wait for it to dry and then use a bulldozer, or can you use a backhoe and excavate a small area (starting at the outermost point and working your way back towards the pond)

[Anon001]

You can't just drain it and get in with a dozer or a backhoe. Some ponds can take two years to dry out enough to get in with big equipment.

The quickest and easiest way would be with a "drag line". With this, you don't have to drain the pond or do anything else.

[cinok]

Let me speak from experience bulldozers + saturated ground = stuck bulldozer. If you can find a large excavator with and extended boom they might be able to do what you want

[STORM_SHADOW]

The quickest and easiest way would be with a "drag line". *With this, you don't have to drain the pond or do anything else.[/quote]

Paul can you provide a link to what this equipment looks like so that I can picture it being done in my head? This might come in handy some day.

Thanks

[DM]

The quickest and easiest way would be with a "drag line". *With this, you don't have to drain the pond or do anything else.Paul can you provide a link to what this equipment looks like so that I can picture it being done in my head? *This might come in handy some day.

Thanks


I googled dragline crane, and a picture came up in less than a second! I always wonder why folks don't try that themselves first?

Anyway, when i was a kid i spent MANY an hour in a dragline, digging a pond or two... It paid off, as my homestead is the the land with one of the ponds... lol

DM

[knuckledragger]

In our area, it's easy to find folks to do dozer work, and pretty easy to find folks to work a backhoe. How hard is it typically to find someone who can work a dragline?

[STORM_SHADOW]

*I googled dragline crane, and a picture came up in less than a second! *I always wonder why folks don't try that themselves first?

*Anyway, when i was a kid i spent MANY an hour in a dragline, digging a pond or two... *It paid off, as my homestead is the the land with one of the ponds... *lol

*DM

I did google 'drag line' and didn't get anything that had to do with it.... now you say drag line crane..well that's different..I can google that... now how smart are you?

[Anon001]

I did google 'drag line' and didn't get anything that had to do with it.... now you say drag line crane..well that's different..I can google that... now how smart are you?

I too, google "drag line" and the first entries that came up were dozens of drag line photos. Put quotes around "drag line". How smart are YOU?

[Anon001]

Knuckledragger,

If a person can run a bulldozer or a backhoe, they can run a drag line. But, a drag line is the only way you will enlarge a pond. Like I said, in many areas, even after the pond is drained it takes at least a couple years to dry out enough to get any large equipment in it. The drag line extends out over the water and the "bucket" is dragged back toward the edge. I'm only guessing, but I would assume that it wouldn't cost anymore to hire a drag line that a dozer. But I could be wrong. Some dozer work here is upwards of $200 per hour.

[STORM_SHADOW]

I too, google "drag line" and the first entries that came up were dozens of drag line photos. *Put quotes around "drag line". *How smart are YOU?
I did drag line and got fishing techniques..now how smart are you?
Had you just said drag line crane it would have made sense..I would have known what to look for since I never heard of the term

[cinok]

Its also 200+ a hour to unstick them

[flatwater]

I like to keep it simple so I just did drag :o Don't go there , it's pretty ugly. Although if you could get them to dig it would be less then two hundred an hour.

[indyguy]

you will be hard pressed to find anyone today doing pond work with a dragline.

The hydraulic excavator has replaced draglines for many reasons, easier to move, more productive, easier to operate.

How much do you need to enlarge this pond? How deep you need it to be? What you consider slightly may differ from my idea of slightly.

[ArmySGT.]

Hmmm typing Drag line into the Google search box without any punctuation or symbols dredged up this.

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=drag+line&btnG=Goo gle+Search

A lot of links to drag lines. cranes, dredges, and buckets. Video too.

Why is this so hard?

[STORM_SHADOW]

It's not hard...when I typed 'dragline' <<< no space and excavator... I got a lot of hits... now I know what it is. Just never heard of it and didn't realize what to look for.

[Catalpa]

ROFL!!! Flat, man, you have got to warn a gal when you're going to be so dang funny!

Definitely a dragline. There are some bigger backhoes out there with a good reach, but they're so darn big it's really easy to bury them in the side of a pond. And if your pond is spring-fed, it will never, ever get dry enough to work with a bulldozer.

Also make sure you're not visible from the road; while the feds are trying to claim every bit of water as belonging to government, your state might already have some laws in place that would require a permit or something before you alter a wetland feature. Some folks down the road enlarged their pond just a bit over the state limit, and man did the SHTF!

[ArmySGT.]

you will be hard pressed to find anyone today doing pond work with a dragline.

The hydraulic excavator has replaced draglines for many reasons, easier to move, more productive, easier to operate.

How much do you need to enlarge this pond? How deep you need it to be? What you consider slightly may differ from my idea of slightly.



Sort off. But an Excavator with the reach, to get out into the pond, is itself a heavy piece of equipment to maneuver onto saturated ground next to a pond.

Some instances this is done with one bucket and two dozers. The dozers have a rear mounted winch each, and one pulls the full bucket in then ,the other reels the full bucket out.

[ArmySGT.]

You can't just drain it and get in with a dozer or a backhoe. Some ponds can take two years to dry out enough to get in with big equipment.

The quickest and easiest way would be with a "drag line". With this, you don't have to drain the pond or do anything else.

It's not hard...when I typed 'dragline' <<< no space and excavator... I got a lot of hits... now I know what it is. Just never heard of it and didn't realize what to look for.

As you can see from the first reply it was two separate words in quotes. "drag line"................. Now if that is to hard; or since dragline (<<<<<<<<<< your spelling not mine) didn't get you the info you needed. You couldn't try google or any other search engine of your choosing with different variations on the words?

By all means come back squealing about how unfair, or unkind we are to YOU. Because, you don't know which way you are special, after all.

However, after people do try to help, and you comeback as a sulky, basement dwellering, live at home; do not expect any Members to ever answer you requests for help or info.

Your bad behaviour based upon your own assumed anonymity has made you unwelcome.

[STORM_SHADOW]

OMG lol

[ArmySGT.]

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j218/ArmySGT_photos/Smileys and toons/popcorneater.gif

[DM]

I did google 'drag line' and didn't get anything that had to do with it.... now you say drag line crane..well that's different..I can google that... now how smart are you?

Apparently smart enough to dig 3 bigger ponds with a "drag line crane" here on my homestead, including this one by my shop.

http://www.fototime.com/32D16C002EB265B/orig.jpg

DM

[STORM_SHADOW]

*Apparently smart enough to dig 3 bigger ponds with a "drag line crane" here on my homestead, including this one by my shop.

http://www.fototime.com/32D16C002EB265B/orig.jpg

gawwd you missed the point entirely... all I said is I never heard of a drag line crane.

*DM

[adventure_ingles]

My dad enlarged my uncles pond with his trackhoe. He just started at the back end away from the dam and excavated back up the holler it is in. Made it quite a bit longer.
It does have a pretty good size boom on it though and the ground was decently solid enough to work on.

Nice pond pics there.

[LeatherneckPA]

Just my 2¢ worth of gas for the fire ...

I Googled "enlarging a farm pond" and got this article (http://www.pondowner.com/2006/04/pond-dredging.html) from Pond Owner Magazine. They actually have a magazine for pond owners!?! Who'd a thunk it?