Did I screw up with the first Sandpoint well that I drove? Tune in to this weeks video as we discuss where are the best possibilities are for hitting water at the cabin.
This last well I had just tried was in a lower marsh area. There is plenty of ground water but the problem is the thick clay type substance in the ground. I did some research around here and most other cabins in the area have sandpoint wells and are driven way up on top of a hill.. Sounds crazy but it makes sense to me now. That’s going to be my next try. #9 to be exact! 😆 Have a great day Karl!
As a kid my grandpa’s well was up on top of the hill, it doesn’t surprise me. When I looked around with the dowsing rods they really didn’t react too much on any of my hills. I wish I knew an old timer who could mentor me, lol. I’ve got the same problem with the thick clay, Hopefully the sandy area I’m targeting holds water. I guess we’ll see next week. Thanks for the info I’ll try to look at some of my higher points too. Stay blessed!
Hi Karl, I recently purchased an old cabin in Manitowish Waters WI that I am renovating. Having recently completed this task I will share some of my lessons learned because as you say, the videos out there skimp on the details and I was lucky enough to have some old timers to skool me to this game. I was lucky to find water directly below the cabin and was able to bring the pipe straight up into the utility room. Wishing you well on finding water; I think that sandy low spot is a good bet! - Dig down as far as you can with post hole digger to sample the soil before you start anything. I had damp sand at 5'. - We used a rented jackhammer with a cup attachment to effortlessly drive the point. - I ended up using 5 - 5' sections of 1.25" pipe, 3' drive point, and drive rated couplers, check valve, 3/4 hp pump and tank combo, water filter, pex, pex manifolds, tankless water heater - Put a pipe cleaning brush on a stick with dawn soap and clean out the inside of the pipes before you drive it. - I cannot stress the importance of how tight the pipes need to be. Use two guys with 24" pipe wrenches as tight as you can get them. - Those drive caps they sell suck. They will break the threads off your pipe. Just get a a 12" sacrificial piece of pipe and pound right on that. - Teflon tape sucks. Don't use it. Pipe dope for the win. Keep it off the last thread. - Put the check valve between the sand point and the pump otherwise when the pump shuts off the pressure tank will blow the water back down the point. - run a garden hose spigot in your plumbing before the filter so you can flush it out at first and after being gone for awhile.
Thank you so much you are awesome! There is so much useful information here I greatly appreciate it. The one thing I could really use help on is finding somebody who is experienced at using dowsing rods. I feel pretty confident that I have found water but I guess someone who is more experienced might be able to tell how deep the water is. The dowsing rods I have used definitely indicate water I just can’t tell how deep it is. Thanks for all the information it is greatly appreciated!
Thank you very much I’m just trying to keep it real. Too many videos on RU-vid make it look like doing all these things are easy but that’s not always true. I guess the disappointments really make the victories much sweeter. I have a trapper friend in Canada who always says “just keep moving forward“ too. That’s great advice thanks for sharing. Have a great week
Karl you'll find it buddy and when you do it will be a sweeter victory. If we didn't work for anything we wouldn't appreciate it as much. If all else fails, when you build your bathhouse you could put a holding tank inside it and bring water up from the lake and use your off grid shower equipment. I built my bathroom in my cabin to have it set up kind of like a RV. I have a 30 gallon holding tank hidden in the bathroom and I hooked my shower up to it. You'll hit water though I'm sure of it. I'm rooting for ya buddy. Have a great week!
Good info Karl and really liked the intro! I have no doubt you will strike gold your next attempt! Looking forward to watching the celebration! Have a great week!
I go fishing for the peace.... catching fish is just an added bonus 😅. I sent your video link to Chad!!! Chad and his family are great people! Sounds like you have a plan!
Thank you so much Kevin! I can’t believe that I hadn’t heard about his channel earlier he really knows his stuff and he’s a lot of fun to watch. The wife and I are binge watching some of his older videos now. It’s always great to meet new people that are going through the same experiences.Trust me, I can use all the help I can get on this one. Have a great week brother
I am so impressed with how resourceful this off grid community really is. I feel blessed to have found Chads channel too. I really enjoy learning from other people’s experiences
Me too. The lady i saw do it died so I can't ask her. It had something to do with distance to the side and a certain reading that determined the depth. I wish I could remember just how she did it. @@karlsoffthegrid1378
Jason you are a pretty amazing friend too! You were the first channel I ever subscribed to and I am so grateful I have met you. I still think we should get together and do a hunting collaboration. I think we would have a blast, excuse the pun 😂
About five months ago I watched a video on 9252 Life Off Grid when Dave Whipple of Bushradical helped drive a point in the cabin and they didn't hit water. I'm sure that it can be discouraging after all the time, effort and expense. I hope that you are able to hit water as drilling a well can cost too much money. Have a good week. Todd from da U.P.
Thanks Todd! It is very discouraging but if that’s the worst life throws at me, I guess I’ve got it pretty good. I feel pretty good about this next location I guess we will see what this next weekend brings. I have been studying deep well pumps and I think I might not give up and the first well yet. I guess I have a couple of different options, I’ll have to decide which way I want to go. Life is good, I hope you have a great week too
Karl best of luck on the next well. By any chance is there an good ol boy around your location that dows's for water. My old friend that used a peach branch he could tell you how deep and direction of flow. Sometimes as strange as it sounds the water is in a hill.
You are the second person tonight that suggested checking a hill. I think that’s a great suggestion my grandfather’s well was at the top of the hill. I wish I could find an old timer that could help me locate water but I haven’t had much luck finding anyone. Thanks for the great advice I really do appreciate the help.
Here’s a link to a short video that I did a couple years ago. Hopefully this helps. Thanks for watching. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Tz0UHqQfHxg.html
Well.., lol. Now that you made some of the mistakes, you can bring the jig and hammer up to my cabin and give me a hand with my sand point. With luck though we'll hit water on the first try. Give me a call buddy, when you get a chance.
I appreciate the info. I have been looking for a check valve or some people refer to them as a foot valve but I can’t find any that are rated for drive pipe. Any idea and where I could get one or who manufactures them for drive pipe?Thanks again I appreciate your help
Reading 9252's comments made me wonder about this second well location and hopefully your reputation stays intact, Karl! lol. If that new area gets plenty of sunshine there's some really cool solar driven well pumps ideal for off grid camps. The story on working with your grandpa back in the day is just like mine and our well point was driven by a rope, pulley, gravity and elbow grease. lol. Good times! That boat and especially your oars are just like my setup and I can tell you the fish are biting but the secret is working low pressure smaller lakes without concrete boat ramps. The best lakes are where a boat or canoe must be carried or dragged to the launch because most folks access the more convenient launch sites. I highly recommend a little 10' foot flat bottom aluminum jon boat for ultra lightweight and I believe Walmart sells an inexpensive 9' foot plastic rowboat with sockets for your oars. Wishing you success on the well, Karl!
Thank you for all the advice it is greatly appreciated! I will definitely look into this solar driven well pump, I think that would work great in this application. Hopefully we find water. I made a little cart with bicycle wheels that fits under my little boat. I have to agree with you, I have pulled that thing back into some very productive lakes that don’t have boat launches. With a little bit of work you can really get back into just about any hidden lake. It seems like those lakes always have the best fishing.
@@karlsoffthegrid1378 That 9252 family is a good blast of humor and awesome work ethic. Those girls could outwork many a grown man! lol. So funny you mentioned making a boat dolly because I built one awhile back off a utube video and it works great with one ratchet strap. I'm ready for a panfish catch and cook when you are Karl!
I really enjoy getting to know Chad and his family Through his videos.They appear to be a very hard-working family that knows how to have fun. Reminds me a lot of when my kids were young
Great question. You definitely can drive it past the water. What I should’ve shown on camera is every 3 feet I would drop a cotton string with a weight on it down the pipe to see if I hit water. Lots of people make the mistake of driving past the water
I think there is a hand pump called a Buffalo Pump that can pump down to 60', is stainless steel, and is frost resistant. I think they are pricey compared to the pitcher pumps. I am not an expert, I just saw it in passing. Good luck.
Thank you so much for the heads up! I did manage to find water at a different spot but I would like to come back and finish this well. I will do a search on Buffalo pumps. I appreciate your help, thank you so much for watching
Collecting rainwater is my Plan B. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can hang gutters on the cabin. The one design flaw that I had while building the cabin was that I didn’t think about how to hang gutters. As soon as I can figure out how to hang gutters I will definitely be collecting rainwater. Great question, have an awesome week my friend!
@@karlsoffthegrid1378 with sloped land you can lay out plastic sheeting on the ground. Create a funnel at the bottom by raising the lower corners. Make a catch containment in the ground using a barrel.
ahhhh Fishing .Two people getting together to pound pipe sounds like the wrong kind of video lol . if you get good with the witching sticks you can tell how deep by stomping your foot and watching the stick and count stomps hard to believe but I have been using them for Many to many years lol
😂 I was hoping nobody would catch that statement after I said it. I’ll have to give you a call this week I can definitely use some advice. I’ve been looking for someone in our area that had experience with witching sticks but I haven’t had any success. Hopefully we find Water soon
I plan to install a sandpoint well with a shallow well jet pump. My off grid cabin which I plan to make 4 season is 200' from the lake and not more than 15' above the lake level. The land is clay with virtually no top soil. There's a creek running about a 150 yd south and 15' below the land into the lake where the sides running up from the creek bed are clay. There isn't any rock visible near the cabin there are some big boulders along the lakeshore mostly north of me. My greatest fear is because northern Manitoba is in the canadian shield I might hit buried rock or I might not have sand. There is a sandy beach area at the north end of the lake and past the south at the old gravel pit. I expect the lake was larger at some point in time. Is it possible to remove sandpoint piping once its driven into the ground? What advice would you give me in finding water? I'm worried about hitting rock and the possibility of no sand. I'd have used the plastic well point and a mini-jeter if I had access to pressurized water.
I pretty much have the same conditions in my area here. I have pulled my sand points back out by using a “riser clamp” and a “farmers Jack”. You simply bolt the riser clamp around the pipe and then use the jack to lift it out of the ground. It’s pretty simple. Good luck with your well it sounds like you have great conditions for finding water.
Awesome advice, i’m going to start loading some shotgun shells with buckshot and give it a try. LOL, you never know maybe I hit oil and I can go into instant retirement too.
So I had my septic replaced this year and the design team told me I had a high water table throughout the land and then I brought up a map on water table information for my location and I was getting 0 - 10 feet and 10 - 20 feet with multiple clicks. I’m currently at 23 feet down including the well point and I still haven’t hit the water table. I have a Simmons pitcher pump that’s rated for 25 feet. Is there anyway I can stretch that? I still have another 60 inch pipe left to drive.
I don’t know about that. This was the first well that I’ve ever tried to drive and I did hit water just not enough yet to pump. The second time I tried it I found water right away and successfully found a usable well. None of my neighbors have ever found water shallow enough for a Sandpoint well. All of them have tried and I am the only one to succeed. My closest neighbors well is 180’ deep. I am very skeptical about dousing rods but in this case I have to say I’m becoming a believer. Try it yourself before you form an opinion you might be surprised.
