It's about to go down (the pond liner, that is)

[sgtboz]

I'll be operatin' my Kubota (and my kids) to get pond liners down over the next couple of days. This has been 4 years in the making while working a few hours here and there when I can.

It's hard to believe, but the spot where the pond is now used to be covered in blackjack trees so thick you really couldn't walk through.

Anyway, here's the latest view. The person in the pic is my wife who is freezing and wondering why I dragged her down to the 'pond' site.

 

[Traderdell]

What an undertaking! What a restful fun place that will be when completed. One your wife will enjoy when the temperature rises.

How will the pond be fed? Please keep us posted as it progresses.

 

[David Page]

That looks like its been quite a job. Hope you both enjoy it.

 

[Lil Foot]

A massive undertaking! Looks great!

 

[quazz]

Wow! That is a huge job and well done. I want to dig a pond too but I am going to hire an excavator. I don't have the time or skills to do this with my L3800.
That is going to take a lot of liner!
I'm hoping to get away without a liner since I have clay soil and lots of water.

 

[D2Cat]

Sgt, quite the project! Has to be some form of therapy in determining what a project will be, the size, location, and how it will be accomplished. Nice job.

A few years back the Antique Caterpillar Club would have a "Spring Fling". It was located at someone's property where there was plenty of room for campers and tents. People would load up their toys and haul them many miles.

The person hosting the event had some project they wanted done. Folks would bring their equipment, camp out and "play" all day for 3 days, at least.

Ponds were built, trees removed, fields terraced, bonfire and BS spread thickly. They were fun. Your pond would have been a candidate for such a project!!

 

[sgtboz]

Sgt, quite the project! Has to be some form of therapy in determining what a project will be, the size, location, and how it will be accomplished. Nice job.

A few years back the Antique Caterpillar Club would have a "Spring Fling". It was located at someone's property where there was plenty of room for campers and tents. People would load up their toys and haul them many miles.

The person hosting the event had some project they wanted done. Folks would bring their equipment, camp out and "play" all day for 3 days, at least.

Ponds were built, trees removed, fields terraced, bonfire and BS spread thickly. They were fun. Your pond would have been a candidate for such a project!!

Now THAT is some kind of clever. What a fun idea!

 

[sgtboz]

Well, the deed is did. It just about killed me because I ended up doing the entire thing by myself. I've yet to smooth out some of the wrinkles although I won't get them all out because there are curves in my dam, varying depths in the pond and that dang island that I really regretted at the height of my fatigue.

Nonetheless, I consider it about 90% done until I finalize where the water flows into the pond (that part is 98% done) and get some water in it to see where the liner will nudge and tighten.

I couldn't even begin to describe all the things I didn't know I didn't know! I unrolled the first liner in the wrong spot because I thought it unfolded from the center. Nope. I had to use the forks to move all 130ft of it up to the top of the dam. Fortunately it unfolded from the top side! That's one example of so many more things I didn't know I didn't know until I had to know it!

Doing this alone was an incredible challenge. I put down a little over 11,500 sq ft of liner. If I hadn't had the second tractor, the backhoe (for pulling sideways where I couldn't drive straight) and my pallet puller from work, I wouldn't have been able to do even what I did. Each liner weighs almost 800lbs and I about took off all my fingernails pulling and tugging on it. It's not perfect and it's not professional but it'll work just fine until the next phase. I had enough clay to line each end of the pond and I have just enough liner left over to line one end, at least, if needed later. The dirt in the bottom was placed there to keep the wind from undoing everything since I didn't have any tape and the bottom of the pond has clay lining as well. I just didn't have enough for the whole thing.

Here's what it looked like when I started on Friday afternoon (it was nothing but a forest when I REALLY started 4yrs ago).

And here's a raggedy ol' low-res timelapse with mediocre music.
https://youtu.be/1BnivWc0Q0A

 

[flyidaho]

Wow, that is one ambitous project! Handling that liner reminds me of an old saying on the construction site, when handling something especially awkward, "like wrestling a fat woman." The island is a nice touch.

 

[D2Cat]

Wow, that is an ambitious project especially for one person. I remember you got the liners at bargain price, but after seeing how hard it is to get the liner in place....I'd almost choose to haul in clay.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I was looking at some interesting things about putting a pond in in OK, looks like Fish and Wildlife will give you the fish to stock the pond for free.

 

[Traderdell]

Truly impressive!

 

[bearbait]

Wow, great job, that is massive.

 

[WillD]

wow incredible job. you made it look easy for sure!

 

[sgtboz]

Thanks for the kind words. It's still pretty ugly with all the wrinkles. Although most of them will be covered by water, I'll still have to work to make the shoreline look a little nicer.

Burying the liner in the top trench was the single toughest part of the job.

The liner looks all soft and pliable in the pics but it is a big, stiff, ornery beast with a mind of its own. I'm surprised it didn't roll me up and devour me.

Here is how I used the pallet pullers to move the liner around. The specs recommend a crew of 4-5 people for a liner of this size! Since it was just me, I really had to improvise.

 

[D2Cat]

You were working by yourself, and still took pictures! I get busy and forget them.

 

[bearbait]

That's a major project, don't kill yourself doing it.

 

[Lil Foot]

This pond liner stuff is new to me-
Are there seams? If so, do you fold/lap, glue, seal them? Just overlap & hope for the best? How much overlap? How about the inevitable puncture? Patch kit?

 

[bearbait]

This pond liner stuff is new to me-
Are there seams? If so, do you fold/lap, glue, seal them? Just overlap & hope for the best? How much overlap? How about the inevitable puncture? Patch kit?

Good question Lil Foot, I was wondering the same thing myself.

 

[sgtboz]

This pond liner stuff is new to me-
Are there seams? If so, do you fold/lap, glue, seal them? Just overlap & hope for the best? How much overlap? How about the inevitable puncture? Patch kit?

The degree to which you care about these things is determined by many things...amount of water flowing into the pond, type of soil in the pond, etc etc. In my case, these were the main factors:
1) my watershed acreage is just right at the minimum recommended for ponds in my part of Oklahoma,
2) I had enough clay for the bottom of the pond (it's held water in the bottom through the driest part of our hot, dry summers) but not the sides
3) Ideally I'd tape the seams where the tarps overlap but that tape is expensive and I'll probably put down what little clay I have left over the seams. I've kept the clay separate from top soil/red select throughout the excavation.
4) I had plenty of liner width for the project so I overlapped them by several feet at the bottom of the pond.
5) I built about 200 feet of swales that run to the lowest point possible above the pond to direct runoff into the pond. When it rains heavy, each runoff point forms a decent little waterfall into what previously was the mudhole (the deer never complained, they just liked the water.)