45 years ago I dug ponds &ditches with a Bucyrus Erie 22B dragline. Mats would be 4 logs cabled together and would move them by hooking the cable with a tooth on the bucket and dragging them around. The tracks on the machine were smooth and on the wet slippery mats one always had to pay attention because you could inadvertently pull the machine off the mats real quickly when digging. With a dragline trees and brush were a lot harder to deal with than with a hoe with a thumb. Also, we didn’t have ATV’s back then and when working out in the marsh you had the pleasure of walking to the machine each day. I collect old machines and what was work back then I now consider fun. Keep up the good work.
I have worked with some good operators that could control underground water when coring man holes , there are a lot that can’t . You are certainly the best pond maintenance and builder of ponds that I think there is around here ! Very methodical in the way you work off the Matt’s with those big old Volvo Excavators . Seems to want to rain once or twice a week here lately . The best thing about the pandemic is the traffic ! We are going to hate it when every body goes back to work at work ! Thanks for taking us along with you today !
Great video. Majority of what I have been doing lately. Working for a farmer that bought 1100 acres that was a hunting club. Probably 700 acres cleared so far but have been in nothing but the bottoms and creeks and working w the pond some to get the creeks, water runoff from the fields, along w putting in or getting ready to put in drain tile and pipe. The main messes so far have been where ditches or small ponds have been made for runoff and overflow of ponds they dug out and didn't fan the dirt out up the field where the runoff afterwards will come down into it. Until this week everytime it rained the field runoff in alot of spots would come down 10 to 20 us from ditches and hit the humps of dirt and make a wash and run alongside it so for both sides of the ditch for a ways 20 yds or more in places would hold water and have bad washes. Been fixing those and going into some new places clearing and making them drain off.
Love it when you get down and dirty Chris , that’s when I started watching you, when you were clearing out beaver dams and ditches, about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago, working off mats. You’re the man to sort that mess out. Thanks for the fantastic videos 👏👏👏👏👏👍🇬🇧
You have a great 'systematic approach' to these projects which makes for an efficient use of time! It's also most likely why the previous guy walked away, He was overwhelmed by the scale of the project and jumped from one thing to another, never completing anything.
There is nothing like digging a channel thru mud and making a stream. Reminds me of childhood stream clearing...so satisfying!!!!! Thanks chris that video was cool as hell!!!!
I don’t like fixing other folk’s messes, but I figure as long as there isn’t a tremendous potential for hidden problems, then it all pays the same. I wonder if the previous contractor of this project subscribes to your channel? I’m guessing no, but they should 😀. I look forward to seeing beautification, transformation, and perfection when y’all finish.
thats what i useually do wich seems just gounging money from people istead working for it thats why i have a great company helps me alot and there great wich i enjoy have the best greatest help
At first, the whole area has to be dried up by creating canals, just like they drain swamps. When everything is dry then a nice lake bed can be excavated
New area, other peoples mess, unknowns, getting a plan, all adds to the "pucker" factor!! Amazes me how you're able to see what has to be done and then just do it. Nice job and great video! Jim.
Well, the new mud mats were diffidently Baptisted in mud on their first job, inasmuch, as they got mud-coated and soaking wet. It's really good to see you back digging ponds once again, I had missed seeing you guys track-deep in water and mud. I know it's hard on the equipment and gives you extra work having to clean everything up after the job's completion, but it sure is interesting to watch a new pond being dug, formed, and coming to life.
Chris this seems to be a specialty of yours , building ponds and repairing existing ones. I live in a small town next door to the town you live in and was wondering what permits one would need to build a pond on there property if any permits were needed. Due to I would be damming up a good size creek for the time it would take for the pond to fill them of course the creek would turn back to normal.
Lol , I just cut a channel from large dirt pit to a 3 ac pond next to it. Filled the hole pit up in about 20 minutes. It’s the video I put up two days ago if you want to see it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ftdzylAv_DQ.html
Chris, you're always doing a darn heck of a good job ! You got some skills operating these huge machines, man. I really hope you're making good money with such skills !
you make your living by showing how it is suppose to be done, word of mouth goes a long way but having video proof of the care you take at every job large or small keeps you busy. you never know the circumstances of the first person doing the job, but you jump in organize it so it can be done correctly and as efficiently as possible
Hey Chris, glad to see that you are back to diggin' some Carolina liquid earth! When I was in the business I always thought mat work was awesome. When you get that "pucker factor" feeling of "am I gonna stay afloat?"
Are you going to show us start to finish on this pond ? I hope so I love your videos of building ponds you are amazing and I really enjoy watching you ,thanks Chris your amazing
Great days work you got done there Chris . I'm a operater it's great watching the way u go about things. Always have a plan and know what your doing which makes a great driver 👍 Great watching your videos currently sitting at home due to this covid shite 🙄can't wait to get back to work.. Glen 🇮🇪
What a muddy mess you've stepped into bud! But I'm looking forward to the transformation into a beautiful body of water! Keep the videos coming! It's fun and relaxing watch you do your thing!
Those mats look familiar,you sure they weren’t stock piled near a local sawmill that you visit weekly.and so nice person said take few were not going to be using them ,anytime soon.😎😎😎👍👍👍😏😏😏
Lol, I have a stack by us. The pipe line guy told us that each Matt a has a small gps tracking device in the side of each one so they can track them if any are left behind in the 80mile line there doing here. OR in case anybody gets sticky fingers 😂
Chris there’s nothing in the world that I hate the most is to go behind someone else and clean up their mess I hate that but great video brother and I’m glad to see y’all back on a big pond job
This was kinda gross, but I couldn't stop watching. I'm blown away at the skill displayed and that you didn't sink. I bet that's going to be one great minnow pond. And kudos to you for helping those folks out when they were left with this mess.
It's interesting how consistent your cycle time is. I have noticed this on the mini ex, as well as the larger ones, where when I am using the 10 second Skip on the RU-vid app, your bucket is in the same spot every time I skip ahead lol Sometimes if I hit on mid swing, I have to wait a few seconds so that it's when you are starting another scoop and it's more interesting, and then I can just watch the scoops and skip the swings.
In my work I'm always in the planning end of these projects but I have rode a many a hour, barely in the cab about where you have your camera set up, watching it actually happen.
Chris. I’ve been enjoying your longer videos you’ve been putting out lately! I’m sure the customer will be happy when you’re done with your attention to detail.
So was John using the 220 on the other project? When Chris said the dead tree at 13:00 would need the chainsaw, I had a mind picture of Tim up to his armpits in swamp.
city kid here . never seen stuff like this close up. interesting. cool to watch. these metal monsters are damn powerful and they're not even close to the biggest ones we have on this globe of ours.
Love watching your videos mate... Just thinking you wouldn't want a breakdown as you are always in bad situations to get a mechanic to fix it... lucky volvo are reliable 🙋♂️ Adam Australia
I would really like an update on the LD18 attachment line. I am curious as to how many they have sold or have been ordered for people. I don’t know if you can find that information out or not. I like hearing that people, like you, who own businesses come up with an amazing idea and the manufacture is on board with it. I would just like to see it take off for you and AMI