What Material for Beach

[Skoot1123]

Ok - so I had always figured we would put sand on a beach for the lake, but after seeing the pea gravel used in typical home construction sites I have to consider that as an option. I have heard that if you use sand you'll need to replace it quite frequently, especially if there is any type of downslope on the beach. One advantage to pea gravel is that it wouldn't get tracked in the house like sand does/would. Has anyone done a combination of pea gravel first and then dumped sand on top? Thanks for the suggestions!

[Skoot1123]

@scotchipman‌ - lake is finish graded - for the most part at least. We are filling it this winter. The beach area is a 10:1 ratio. We may put a "wall" of some sort 10ft out so we can limit the amount of draining area from the beach. We also intend to put some geotextile fabric underneath the sand or pea gravel to help with erosion as well.

[Skoot1123]

@scotchipman‌ - the wall is just a thought, but basically we would make a barrier ~10 ft from the beach head and have that barrier reduce wave action from the main lake. The beach is already set back from the main lake by ~100 feet, so waves will be somewhat dissipated already. This is just one option I have been thinking of.

 

That turf solution is pretty interesting. Might have to look into that for our shore lines.....

[A_B]

You could put the retaining wall behind the beach in effect lowering the beach so the correct ratio is achieved. Like a terrace. Also helps keep sand in check. We used stone sand which might be the same as the material you are looking at. The regular sand didn't work too good.

[crashman]

Everyone on our lake uses pea gravel- makes for a nice base to walk on and doesn't track into the boat. Kids seem to like it fine. I was going to bring some sand to have on shore with pea gravel at the water line and in the water but after starting with the pea gravel I think I will stick with it.

[jipster43]

The sand at our lake was pushed in unwanted areas. We have pea gravel on the beach at our cabin and it hasn't moved in 40 years. I like it way more than traditional sand.

[Skoot1123]

Thanks for the feedback @AB, @crashman, and @jipster43! I think we are going to go Pea Gravel. It is cheaper than sand too, at least in our area.

 

Also, we will probably have some type of terrace surrounding the beach so that should cut back on the velocity of runoff. Grass or some vegetation will be planted along the shore as well.

[bishop8950]

We put sand on our beach and it lasted 10yrs on a 16:1 shoreline. It's 6-10" deep and a foot into the waterline and several feet on shore. We just refreshed it with another $700 of washed sand an expect that to last another 10yrs.

 

An unverified theory is that the angle of the shoreline is a factor as well. I am sure this has been studied and I have done no investigation. But it seems where the shore is parallel to the direction of the boat, there is less erosion. It's like the waves break instead of close out. Our sand stays in these places. Where our shore is at an angle vs the direction of the boat we see significantly more erosion and the sand gets pulled out. In these places pea gravel may work but we are going with 4-6" crushed stone. Fortunately these areas are not the primary beach spot.

[slow]

I have freind who buys and sells used turf nation wide. c2cturf.com