Our lake on the mountain is slowly filling with sediment. We are exploring ways to remove the sediment, one of which is a do it yourself dredge. The smallest of these is a hand held unit that attaches to the end of a pontoon boat and creates a suction by using a whirling impeller.
The USA distributor for the DIY Dredge is found in a suburb of Minneapolis so we stopped by to check out the unit while on our travels.
This cutting action removes plant material, small rocks and lots of sediment along with the water it pumps up the shaft and along up to 400 feet of hose. Once ashore the water is allowed to drain back into the lake while the sediment piles up along the shore.
It removes sediment at the rate of 200 cubic feet per hour. This is material roughly the size of a single car garage one foot deep. We have around four acres of lake to remove sediment and at this rate it may take quite a bit of time.
The cost is around $5400 which includes 150 feet of hose. The needed pontoon boat is an additional cost. These images show an 8 foot shaft model, however 6' and 10' models are available. Extra hose is available up to 400 feet.
More information can be found on their website: DIY Dredge
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| This is the part that attaches to the boat and holds the dredge while in operation. |
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| All boxed up ready to ship - about 10 foot long and 400 pounds |
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| They also sell weed cutters and moving blade weed clippers. |
Whoa! Removing sediment sounds like a lot of work. I wonder how that compares to companies (for hire) that have heavier-duty machinery? I know there are several around here because there are many lakes in this area. Interesting post for sure. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing you would be the one out there on the pontoon boat doing this? Is there a committee figuring all of this out? Looks like a lot of work.
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