Need help with my lake

[jwroblew]

For the past 5 years I have rented a lake from a farmer in the middle of a corn field. When the water is high in the spring it gets very choppy and this year is even worse because of all the rain we've had. I've got the timer set at 105 seconds and it still not long enough for the water to calm down. I'm looking for a cheap solution to disapate the rollers, since I don't own the property I don't want to invest a ton of money. Any suggestions?

 

Here is a picture:

[Wish]

Depending on what the farmer will let you do, the water fluctiation and the shore line condition, I would suggest planting cattails along the shore. They grow quickly and spread along shallower water. Another option may be a snow fence along the shore submerged half way. I've heard of this being done but have not seen it. For whatever reason I can't see your photo via my phone.

[jwroblew]

snow fence sounds interesting, I can't see the photo either, I must have done something wrong, it was my first attempt at posting with a photo

 

[A_B]

Depends on how wide it is. How much land you can work with beyond the current bank. You can pull the shore back with an excavator and a large bucket, where the course is, maybe on one side. A good operator could do close to 1,000 feet for the course in a day or two. Or, you can put large rip rap rocks on one side. The thought is that you put the course closer to the shore that isn't worked on. The waves bounce back quicker through the course one time and dissipate on the sloped or rip rapped shore. That cuts you cost in half. The cattails are a good solution, but it will take several years of growing imo, and who is to say that the farmer's weed killers don't leach into the lake and kill them? Digging them up to transplanting cattails is a pita, and unless you have an army, will be tough to do.

[jwroblew]

Here is the picture, believe it or not its the side with the trees, on the left, that cause the issue, the other side is to far away. So pulling the shore back won't work because of the trees. Rip rap sounds expensive.

 

http://static-cl1.vanilladev.com/ballofspray.vanillaforums.com/uploads/FileUpload/96/216b4ceb17bf0001960348172e8c17.jpg

[Horton]

it looks awesome. When can I come ski?

[jwroblew]

come any time, but I would wait until August when the water is down and the rollers aren't to bad!

[MattP]

@jwroblew I take it you are in the midwest someplace?

[A_B]

we had the same issue on one side. Not enough room to pull back and grade out, with trees right on the shoreline. We put rocks in and cut down the wash a significant amount. It is tough work. Dump truck dumps smaller piles along shore, use a backhoe to scoop and dump, use shovels and rakes to push around trees. Not easy work, but reducing the wash from the last several years of higher water tables is well worth it. I am thinking we dumped 4 or 5 loads, approx 20 tons each, at around $250 per load. We have a old JD backhoe that has paid for itself X10 when working acreage. The other side had plenty of shoreline to work with and we pulled that back in a better slope.

 

We tried cattails, maybe 20 years ago, and some took hold, and others didn't. You need at least 2-3 feet of solid cattails to see a significant difference. That takes a while to grow that much. At least we couldn't in our lake.

[RichardDoane]

how about bunches of old car tires, tied together and grouped along the problem side, they're usually free for the asking at auto shops

[nam1975]

@ jwroblew

 

Are you an Ohio skier by chance....let me know where....

 

We run into the same issue at our pond and we have lots of cat tails. There is a spot or 2 by shore that don't have a grade.

Not sure there is an easy fix?

 

I've heard of 55 gallon plastic drums half filled with water and strung together. I saw this used at a marina once.

 

I think it did help but not sure how much?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hugh Nichols]

If you can find them wooden pallets laid long ways (so the planks run up & down) will act as a great "baffle" of the wake.

[PAskier]

We have the same problem but no access to work on shore line. Old gravel pit. Has anyone tried snow fence?

[jwroblew]

Yep I'm in the midwest, Toledo Ohio. The snow fence sounds interesting but I would have to take it out every winter, plus it would run approx $750 with poles and fence etc. Might has well do rock if the estimate of $250 per load is close, that would put me at $1000 to $1250 and wouldn't have to worry about ice. I wonder if I put an add in Craigs list that said free concrete disposal if I would get enough to do the shore for free. Used tire sounds good to, but I can't imagine the farmer would let me put it in his lake, that would be one hell of a mess he would have to clean up if I ever left.

[A_B]

J, stay away from concrete. You can come over to my lake and I will show you why.

 

Shoot me an email. If the rain holds off, we should be at our lake tomorrow. If you are in Toledo, you are 15 minutes away.

 

AB

[jwroblew]

Well, I have talked with the farmer, and he has a better solution for me. The current water levels are flooding his fields so he can't plant. So he is putting in a drain tile to control the lake level, I will be helping him put it in this coming weekend, and of course I'll put it at a level that is good for back wash. I wonder how long it will take a 16 acre lake to drop 2 feet through a 12" drain tile?

[303Skier]

I really like this siphon idea that OB is talking about. Never really thought about that!? How much rise over run do you need though? Not sure if I have enough drop to do this?

 

OB - What is a drain box? Can you explain better?

[jwroblew]

There is a creek about 500 feet away from the lake that is much lower than the current lake level. He is going to run a 12" pipe from the lake to the creek, obviously sloped from the lake to the creek. We will set the pipe in at the level were I want the lake to be for optimal rollers, which would also keep his fields from flooding.

[303Skier]

Nice!! Thanks for the pictures. What is the brand name of this box?

 

OB - Also say we just want to go with the Siphon and nothing else to control level, will that work? Say we need to get the lake down a foot, do we take it down a foot with the siphon and call it a day?

[jwroblew]

When I initially talked with him he just through out 12" as his idea. He has since priced it out and decided to go 4". Going the gravity route, and the drop will only be about 15 feet over the 500 foot run. After we get it installed, I would assume the initial lower of the lake will take awhile, 16 acre lake needing to be lowered 2 feet. But after its there I would image the 4" pipe should be able to keep up.

[A_B]

We had a 4 or 5 inch drain tile dug and dumped to a roadside drain ditch, went about 300 feet. This did not drain very fast. We later added a 15" pipe that runs from a drain ditch we dug and goes about 50 feet into the same roadside ditch. The theory was to move more volume. Neither are very forceful, as I think OB's setup would probably come out like a fire hydrant. Even the 15" pipe doesn't keep up with heavy rain and for sure is waY behind in Spring the last few years. We are a good foot above the pipe.

[MichaelGoodman]

I had to rebuild the dam on the old mill pond I live on. The pond was built about 200 years ago by damning up a river the pond is about 42 acres which is about 1,100,000 gallons per inch of surface water. I also have between 8,000,000 and 10,000,000 gallons of water flowing in and out of the pond per day depending on the season and rainfall amounts. I managed to lower the pond 10 feet using about 35 sections of 4" pipe I had to add more pipes as the pond went down because the drop decreased from around 18' to 8' as the pond went lower with the decrease in drop or head height the suction power of each pipe went way down. I used 4 inch schedule 40 electrical pipe (used for running underground cable) with bell ends that slide into each other and were glued together. The electrical pipe is a lot cheaper than plumber's grade P V C. I put a 4 inch clean out

at the top of each section and to start a section going I just had to cap the lower end fill the pipe

with water through the clean out once full close the clean out take of the lower cap and let the suctioning began. The only thing that would stop the process is if I sucked something up the pipe

and it became blocked. Just as a heads up I also tried using cheap drain pipe I think it was schedule

20 it was real cheap to buy and very easy to work with but after a couple week use the suction would collapse the pipe like a straw that is sucked on to hard.

[jwroblew]

@OB What kind of SDR did you use 21, 26, 35?

[thompjs]

I've used http://www.jmeagle.com/plastic-pipe/pvc-pipe/irrigation-pip.html for stuff like this.

 

You can push 6in together by hand. You just need to bury it 3 or 4 feet to avoid crushing it.

 

 

[jwroblew]

So what's more important about the siphon? The inlet tube depth? or the outlet height, difference between the inlet and the outlet? What I mean is siphons don't really suck the water, they work because of the pressure drop across the inlet and the outlet. So the deeper the inlet the greater the water pressure at the inlet, so as long as the outlet is not higher than the inlet the siphon will work, because the outlet is always at atmospheric pressure regardless of its height. Or I'm I misunderstanding something?

[jwroblew]

Got it all going this past weekend. The water is dropping at a rate of 1" to 1.5" inches per day. At that rate I should be at the level I want in 10 to 15 days.