Digging a well by hand 

don't let this discourage you, May God bless you

Good luck on the well quest, Chad… & glad to see the family having some fun in the boat.

Why not get water from the stream? Get a trash pump and put an IBC tote behind the tractor and haul it back. We do this for our off grid "hunting" cabin. We have a 300 gallon ibc tote inside our shed that's heated, hooked a shallow well pump to it so we have pressurized water. That tote lasts us 6 guys a week. Just putting it out there.

We will praying for you and your family. Hoping to find a water for your well quest👍🙏 you guys are a lovely family. Don't give up super dad.

Boy I really hope it works for you Good Luck God Bless.

Thats a heart breaking video

Dont giv up.... Your family-girls counting on you... You may need some help finding the right spot.. It took us 6months 2 find water... A 80yr old man helped us...god bless him.. Its there somewhere

Always room for 1 more.

ok ppl, there has to be someone that can help them, im sure someone know a trick or two that can help these good ppl. im too far away an i dont know jack about wells except turn the leaver. im sure the whole family will help and they are hard workers.

You'll find water, just have to go deeper. My well in PA is 200 feet, my neighbor not even 100 ft away is 420 ft, a house not even a 1/4 mile away damn near 500ft!!!! The depth of the hole is one thing but you want to allow for as much volume in that hole to keep your replenish or commonly known as "gallons per minute". Rule of thumb is to shoot for a minimum of 10 gpm anything below that and you risk draining the well and waiting for it to refill. Your 40 ft well gave you a great example of that. It will get water, but then may have to wait some time for it to fill the hole you dug. Like others have said you will have to get some sort of drilling rig to go deeper past the clay and muck to hit a vein, then you'll need to ensure you have enough PVC to make the well case to keep the hole from caving in like you've already experienced. It sucks I know, my saying is "if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" but it does drive me to over everything. Definitely speak to people around the area get a feel for the depths their wells are and start from there.

Who would have thought finding water anywhere in Michigan would be such a hard task?😓. I know there is water everywhere underneath but you may have to find a way to go deeper somehow. I’m guessing the “rotten smell” you had on the last attempt was sulfur❓If so there are ways to remove it from your water. Keeping it Dutch has some recent videos on his well where he solved that problem. Loved the footage of your great family out in the boat with Issac😂. Looks like some busy Beavers been damming up your waterway. Praying for you guys to find the perfect water spot for your well🙏.

Praying for water for ya'll. 🙏

Awwwww man

The rods worked you just need experience with them.once you get that real strong feeling from the rods you will know the water is close to the top of the surface. If you know anyone or a place that has water lines running underground see if they will let you walk around see if you can find the water lines. And that will show you that feeling that you get when the rods detect water it is not just them crossing over each other their is strong pull and the closer to the surface the water is the stronger it will be and you have to keep believing that is 95% of life. Love your channel also.

Perhaps you should take up pottery! (because of the clay)

Thats a big bear for Michigan .. Holy shit bro its a biggen🤣 I live here in Michigan also & looking to purchase property. Gonna rent or sell my home here.

Aww you have bad luck, thought you got the well then

I know it would cost a lot more but why don't you have a well driller do it? Just asking.

hi ,first time commenting i was wondering how far back you guys hauled that tiny boat to the creek if not to far would that be a viable water supply...just wondering any how i wish you good luck

Yay Issac time. This water hunt is really discouraging I'm sure. You have a lot of cheer leaders out here hoping and praying with you.

Dont let the land defeat you my friend. She can be a real pain sometimes, that's why your heart must remain strong!! God bless you!!!

The last scene was an eye opener. Without water we can't live here is a humbling statement after all the time and effort you've put into living your dream. It's going to happen. You will find water. I've got my church group praying for you and your family. Keep the faith my friend. God bless you and your family.

There’s water, it’s deeper, ask people around the area how deep their wells are. You may have to step up your game with a small motorized drill. Not something that you want, I know. How far would you have to pipe from the creek? Then a good filter and sanitize system would be necessary.

GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS... ISSAC IS FUNNY IN THE BOAT.KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

As hard as you have been trying it just got to work out! Wow Youngman, if it means anything I am praying you and your family will conquer this obstacle.

Looks like something big has been checking y’all out... be careful !

Chad I am honored that your still useing my nick name I gave tylynn, I glad you had some R O R with the family before you got disappointed on the well

Instead of drilling for a well, why not pump the water from the creek/ river that you were all safely boating on. There is an endless supply of water there. Yes there is the distance from the creek/river, buy a sufficient size pump to send it to an inground tank or one on stilts just like Gridlessness did last year. Then you can filter it as needed for drinking, please consider that.

The way I was taught was to cut the short side (of the metal rods) to fit in the center of your palm and the bend in the first joint on your "pointer" finger. Hold them level. Walk. When the rods move both in the same direction-that is the flow direction. Slowly turn in the direction of flow until the rods cross, then stop. Stomp your feet hard on the ground and count the number of stomps until the rods separate. The number of stomps indicates the depth of the flowing water in "feet." ie. 30 stomps is 30 feet, 50 stomps is 50 feet etc. When used properly this is fool proof. I have used this method for years and have never been wrong. Good luck.

Chad, my heart sank when your hand pump quit bringing up water! I don"t know what the Lord has in mind in terms of your water supply but I will keep praying, just like many others, that He will soon reward your efforts at solving the problem. Just keep working, keep thinking the situation through and a solution will be found! I love the fact that you take such good care of your family with the "fun day" sprinkled in there with the hard work. You da man!

Don’t give up my friend. Get some tanks. Build a roof over it and catch water though the rainy season. Get some tanks that you can put in the ground for winter. The roof won’t have to be too tall either. You guys will find a way you always do..!! Stay positive my favorite little off grid family..!!🙏❤️

I use a lot of rain water. The money and time spent on well drilling would provide a big tank and catchment.

You where on track with the big drums but they’re not sufficiently strong. Try to get hands on some salvage plastic water service pipe from a utility or a large steel caseing 12” or bigger. Sink it in 18-20’ , no slits to plug up, the water will fill the pipe from the bottom. Use a trash pump to suck out any mud and water after install. Then drop your hand pump and draw off the top 4-5’. You might be able to dig it in with a rented backhoe.

Too funny how chicken and goat follow you

The saying “ gonna need a bigger boat “ came to mind😂 really thought you struck gold Chad. Absolutely gutted for you.

Dang still no water?! Man, I hate that!! I don't know about where you are, but here in the Virginia mountains the karst geology causes most of the wells to exceed 400+ feet😬 I know when we were first completely off grid here, even though we were fortunate to have a mountain/gravity fed spring line to eventually tap into, our well exceeded 400 feet and we had to double case it. Hang in there. Keep the faith. Praying you hit good water!

Seems by my count...you were one daughter short on your boat trip...everything ok with the missing daughter?? Got to say, I was really hoping this one would be the well that would produce...bummer!! I'm going to be praying really hard that soon, very soon, you'll finally get a good, clean well...I can't see you giving up on your dream and I can't see the rest of your family walking away from this. God will provide the answer for you. Definitely keeping you and your beautiful family in my prayers! 👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸

My great great uncle was a water witch in NM and AZ back in the day. They said his dowsing was never wrong. I know well drillers around here still use that technique!

Sounds like getting water isn't the problem. It sounds like getting a usable well is. Talk to an expert well driller in your area, I bet they have a trick to making it work.

Just a suggestion after many attempts at a water well.....contact the county or maybe a state agency but every well drilled has a log of what they find at each depth, living on a pond and creeks at far side of property you have water its just a question of where and how to develop the well.

Our well can have a sulfur smell and we use chlorine tablets to remedy it. Good luck. You will lick the problem!

Chad try one more time closer I mean really close to the house for your well.

OMG! OVERLOAD!...LMAZZOFF!

You should use high pressure water from a jet that is inside the pvc. You can work the pipe down a long way by forcing water into the pipe. Search on utube people do it with a pressure washer.

With the bear tracks so close, I think I'd remove the trigger finger from the gloves, lol.

That was fresh bear track

Take a break and try again. My heart goes out to you. LOL

NO MORE HAMMERING WELLS GO DEEP BEYOND THE CLAY DeepRock Hydra-Drill - Deep Rock Manufacturing model HD2000 Designed for 2" finished wells up to 200' deep model HD2001 Designed for 2" 3" or 4" finished wells up to 200' deep I published this a couple days ago but YT scrubbed it because I had a link to their site.

First time watching. Enjoyed watching your family outing. Stay safe ang God bless. 💃🏃‍♂️

on the whole explanation there is something i forgot it does take at least two people to do this type of well one in the hole with the shovel and a bucket the other on top with a rope on the bucket for the top to help if it is just your wife and can do a tripod and pulley but be ready to get some nice cold water on you

I'm keepin my fingers crossed for you guys to get good water.

Big family little boat, nothing wrong with a little R~n~R ✌❤ take care.

You will get it. Might take a company & it won't be cheap. But dam it. It's down there. Persistent you must be. Good luck, it will happen.

Love the dowsing. It's not witchcraft...I have dowsed for several people...found water, waterlines, power lines, and lost objects. It's a great tool to use! Keep up the great work...you, your wife and those girls are wonderful and are some hard workers!!

We dug one with my dad we used well tile cement one with ladder rungs in side first dug a hole deep to set first section then dug inside till we could set the next and so on till we had good flow of water

I used to use a trickle charge system into a cistern. It would pull 4 gallons every hour which was more than enough for my needs.

excavator :) to dig a moat for the bears...hahahahaha water witch bwwwaaahahhahaahahah power tools.....sometimes its best to hire a pro and get er done.....

I don't know if this will help any but I heard if you find a big sycamore tree you should be able to hit water. Because they won't grow unless water is nearby. Don't give up. God Bless you and family.

The old timers used to dig out a 6 ft square hole then shore with wood. Can you buy or borrow a back home attachment for your tractor? Dig a couple of "steps" say 4ft high then dig your well. Put your pipe in add some shingle to filter the mud then just back fill. Just a thought.

I hope you find a clean water source soon. If not, you can build a natural filter system. Cloth, fresh moss, or straw at the bottom. Then a thick layer of finely crushed charcoal. Fine sand. Coarse sand. Rock on top. Pour your stream water through. For as much water as you need, I would use a plastic 50 gallon barrel as a filter media holder.

Thought for sure you would get lucky this time. Just a shame the cabin is not accessible for a well rig. Are there not any sort of extensions for the post hole digger on your tractor ?????? If not I'm sure you could fab some sort of extensions to a smaller gas powered post digger ???? Could also pipe it in from the creek, but would think the system may freeze up in the cold winter.

Man, that sucks, can't say you didn't try, you gave it your best. another bitter pill to swallow, but eventualy you will succeed. You ain't no quitter. Maybe better luck next time.

finally found this one question why did you not drill holes in the casing to allow water in, and once you had pumped what was in the casing that was it ,if you re continuing with this one pour gravel around the casing to allow the water to enter may be a slow amount ,what you need is to find a under ground stream, saw you divining ,that will show you where water is walk about and see just where the rods start to cross ,then walk to the other side and so on ,IF a stream will indicate its width tand that is what you need a constant flow for the spear point do you have any diviners in your area ?? may be worth checking them out and their results and then see what they charge and is a guarantee on water and a constant flow, do not listen to naysayers it does not work,, it does and is used in AU in earlier times, and still out bush when looking for water, we used it at our farm AND HE WAS BANG ON WHERE I HAD PLACED A PEG at Ground level , AND ANOTHER CHAP HAD ALSO DIVINED TO THE SAME SPOT unknown to him the paid diviner as we did not really trust our own divining also was bang on with the depth with in as he said at the time 2 or 3 foot you need that stream with a flow how far from creek to the house and how much height difference ,possibly down close there with a piston pump also a tank with which you can keep a constant flow to and have that high enough to get pressure in the house with out power or a pressure pump fitted , water from that creek ran through sand filters , old pool ones work well and are cheap when pools are pulled out, then into a holding tank bingo constant water at the home just suggestions some time those with older heads that have been there and done that can be of some guidance that may or may not be taken even if not on your continent but a dry one down under

Get a point, set up a tripod and drill a well. I've been to the UP and grew up in southern MI, always had a drilled well, about 25 ft deep, good luck.

2nd 😁

We are laughing at you guys how loud you all are going though the forest. We are what you Americans call native Americans lol. Get the point.

Hey buddy, just sold my moms house and now buying a log cabin off grid up north by my house , gonna sell the house and move out there! Happy trails guys

I pray you find water. You've put so much into your homestead. ❤️

Oh noooo I started writing congratulations when the water started to flow, but I had to erase it…. So sorry…

I think your goat thinks he is your family dog. Poor goat, why the dog get to go and not her ?

You could also dig out a small strip of land with the tractor ( a sort of ditch ) about 4 feet deep with a dirt ramp on one end to get the tractor out after. Then start drilling in the ditch, add your pipe, and back fill the ditch around the pipe. May be able to go deeper that way.

Its better to hire a well driller to put in a well for your homestead I know its expensive but the thought of having no water outweighs the possibility of knowing that there is viable water to be had on your property but much closer

I seen folks use the bucket on the tractor to drive fence posts why not metal well pipe, also use vice grips to hold the pipe in place.

I got a commercial! Yay! : )

As long your kids keep that moonshine coming, you can keep digging those holes.🤘😜

Ok you’ve officially convinced me i DONT wanna dig a well by hand😳

Can't forget the goat and chicken 🤣🥰. Love you guys.

Don't give up you will get water soon. Be safe and be careful my friend.

🇨🇦 Hi Chad, first of all you are one fantastic Dad. Giving your daughters one on one time is incredibly special to each child. I had a good laugh at Elsa and a chicken following all of you. I also laughed at Issac sitting down with his stubby little tail. My heart goes out to you for all your attempts at the wells, I admire your persistence. Loved your video, great job. God bless. 🙏

did you ever get a well to work? Have you considered using rain water off a roof or something?

Ugh man this well stuff if crazy!!

A great fishing trip but a lousy ending!

Had to chuckle at the boat fiasco... reminds me of us when the kids were younger. I think I have a favorite, autumn... if she ever wants to fish with my daughter and I. That's my kind of gal.

New subscriber from the U.P - love your channel! Chad, I googled several U.P. well digging contractors and depending on water depth your cost could reach $5,000+. I highly recommend calling these local professional oufits anyway and at least get some free estimates. Also, in the U.P folks love to barter and swap so maybe offering your bodyman services in exchange for a well might be a possibility. Also, maybe a Go-Fund-Me account could be an option so your subscribers and fans can donate. Don't give up, my friend, because I'm betting many folks would support your cause!

lol elsa's pissed after following you ... get some machetes on that trail to make it easier next time.

Do you carry for the off chance the bear is spotted and decides you look like lunch?

I have faith in you brother,the water will come, don't give up on it

Black bear or grizzly?

Nice hat Autumn (hope I spelled your name properly…)!

don't give up hug and blessing ! :)

Somewhere, somehow I saw a little system for digging with anything that had a endless wheel or a tire that went round and round and it had a weight on it and turned the steel down into the ground. They built a little stand to hold everything in place and it just kept going similar to the systems that had the little lawnmower engine... something with a shaft drive anyway. A lawnmower engine doesn't work because the shaft comes out on the bottom and I think it had to come from the side. It had a pedestal..... like a ring and pinion in a car or truck. If you had metal and a old car rear end, small but low geared if possible... design a deal to turn a shaft and drill down. It wouldn't work in big rocks as thats a whole new ballgame. Another idea is to dig a large hole with the tractor and go down to ground water level or a little more if possible. Fill the hole with something like two inch minus so that you can still drive a sandpoint down through it. When you reach the bottom of your hole, stop!!! Wait a while for the groundwater to backfill the gravel hole and how ever much fills in, in a matter of hours or even a day would be your tank level. You pump that to a holding tank, and hook up your system to that. Trying to remember the name of this, its not the submersible but a "JET PUMP" and then put your pump protector in so that when the source runs low, it shuts off. I don't think its a bladder type system. I just can't remember all of what I did to do this in a place know for no water. It took me a week with picks and shovels to dig that hole and cover it after putting some rock in it. That rock acts as a filter. Anyway in that large hole was a lot of water after some time went by as it developed itself to better and better., the larger the hole the better as its your new tank under ground. I built a top to cover it and had a little travel trailer so put my system for pumping water to my house in it., I had to pump it out as it was dirty water at first but with in a couple days there was no dirt or anything in the glass but clean water., I tasted it and it didn't didn't instantly kill me so figured its water for dishes and toilet, even washing machine if no iron in it to ruin clothes. It was very hot outside when I hooked that jet pump up and started pumping out the dirty water and in a matter of no time water running down my driveway and filling that county road in front of my house., People came to see the dirt poor guy with all the water running and they were hauling water to their fancy shanties., Now I don't carry grudges but this is serious, if someone hooks to your water line, you can't shut them off. I lived in Beaver Washington at this time.... early seventies, I was a nasty looking vet and people wouldn't give me the time of day. Long hair, beard, bike of course, a trampy dressing lady when she rode on the bike with me. I would love to tell you that story sometime. That was good times and it ended very badly as she was my life and soul. She changed her mind once we had money in four banks. Its also why I moved back to alaska for which I am grateful

Try using a large diameter pipe to act as the well casing. Drill your hole and then put the large pipe in to hold the dirt back. Then put your auger down into the big pipe and continue digging. Push the big pipe down as you go deeper. You will have to use a ladder to get into new lengths of the big pipe. Just an idea.

Is that MOON pard, you be sippin!??

I'd be freaking out. But every show I've seen has ended up with a working well, hang in there!

O PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP I HAVE FAITH IN GOD YOU GOING TO FIND WATER BECAUSE ALL YOU DID TO MOVE YOUR WONDERFUL FAMILY TO THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE I KNOW GOD IS WATCHING OVER YOU AND YOUR FAMILY PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP YOU ARE A VERY AMAZING STRONG MAN AND I JUST KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO FIND ALL THE WATER YOU WILL EVER NEED JUST PLEASE DON'T LOSE YOUR FAITH AND HOPE THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR VIDEO I REALLY ENJOY WATCHING YOUR WONDERFUL FAMILY AND YOUR AMAZING VIDEOS ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND

I think you need a bigger boat..

You definitely need a bigger boat bro 😆😆😆

Love your family ❤

Has this charachgot anything more than air in thetopof his body?

RU-vid keeps vanishing my post for some reason? Ill try again: Here is what you need to do... Measure the diameter of your hand digging tool/auger. Then purchase pvc piping 2 inches bigger in diameter than the tool. This should give you enough room to work the tool within the pipe and at the same time not be so wide that you can't hammer it down within your well to form a 'casing.' 1. Dig down 8 feet. 2. Hammer a 6 Ft piece of the pvc/casing down the well. Use a hand tool of any kind that will help undermine underneath the pvc to get it down the well. 4. When flush with top of ground add coupler to the pvc prepping for the next pipe/casing. 5. Continue digging another 6 feet. If ground starts caving in add another 6 foot piece on top of the first pipe and hammer in down as you dig. 6. Continue digging and adding the pvc casing until desired depth. 7. When desired depth is achieved dig an additional 2 feet past the bottom of casing. 8. Add 3 feet of 3/4 inch stone into the bottom of well for a filter. (The stone elevation should be 1 foot within the casing and 2 feet past the bottom of the casing.) 9. Attach 'Foot Valve' (not a check valve) to the "bottom" of your well pipe. Keep Foot Valve up no less than a foot from stone filter at the bottom of well. 10. Make a platform on top of well to support the well pump. 11. Enjoy