I'm in the process of adding a peninsula to our pond, I have a couple questions I'm hoping someone can answer. The area that I added the fill to is very steep, close to a 2/1 slope and I am pretty close to being as far out into the pond as I was planning. We are planning on having a nice flat area close to the water level with a fire pit and maybe some sand at the edges. Not planning on doing any finish work until it sits through the winter. First question. Will the fill that is in the water settle? Obviously I can't compact anything under the water. I am guessing the water is about 10-12 feet deep at the furthest out point. 2nd. How high above the full pond level should the peninsula be? It's a runoff pond and it can get 12" or so above full(bottom of the overflow culvert). It only reaches the 12" or so higher for maybe 12-24 hours per year at most. Usually during one or 2 big spring rains. It's been 4-5 ft below full on dry years. I would prefer to have the finish height as close to the full pond level as possible but don't want it to turn to mud.
It is going to work down a bit. If you want a firm top but close to water level, that requires some good rocky larger stuff that will lock together, stabilize, and not turn to goo with water from below. I think the over winter idea is good, and plan on armoring it. I know you want a sandy or nicer surface but it needs to sit on something stable.
I'm thinking of leaving it about 2' above the full pond level over winter and see what it looks like in the spring. I'm about 3.5' above the current water level now and it seems to be bridging over really well. I don't really like the idea of putting rocky fill in but might have to like you said. Maybe we can put down some flagstone or something over it. Thanks
It depends entirely on what kind of fill you put in there. Some better agricultural soils I could see turning to slop, and a winter won't do much, they'd need to be drained out and dried for several months then refilled to have any strength. A less organic soil, or some mineral soils could be compacted. Clays will vary, but you could do some simple tests like setting clumps in the waters edge to see how they react over a few days, IF you have a choice on where the fill comes from. Rocks and coarse crushed stone will make it easy, but that's not always practical. Even a clayey sand could be near perfect.
Might be better off filling with 5” minus then putting barrier down and put topsoil about 5” then sand around edges
Some of the clay fill has been in along the waters edge for about a month. It seems that the water has only seeped up a few inches on it. The wet stuff is pretty sloppy. I don't really have much choice as far as fill, I've got a 1000+ yards in already and probably will need to add another 300-400 more. I would be ok buying a couple loads of 3" or larger stone for on top if needed and then cover it with sand or dirt.
I'm hoping to only use the stone where I ramp it down into the water then cover it with sand. I think the sand by itself would just mix with the dirt/mud. Would I still need a barrier for that? And what kind of barrier? I have some geotextile fabric I could use.
The fabric would work for foot traffic.
If the stone doesn’t have a good base fabric will help, unless you’re running heavy equipment over it.