After much deliberation and hand-wringing I decided to move forward with the pond for the boat. One of the big motivators for me was that I was outside trying to decide if I should scale the project way back and just put the boat in a shallow hole in the dirt when some neighbors walked by. They asked what we were doing with the boat and the hole and I explained what I was thinking about the pond / natural pool but that I was unsure of what to do. They told me that they loved the idea of the pond and couldn’t wait until it was finished so they could come over for a boat party / luau. Then my neighbor across the street came out and also expressed how excited she was about this project. That decided it for me. I called the contractor back who had given me an estimate and told him that I would like to move forward. So…. next week the pond construction begins!
The plan for the pond is actually what’s called a “natural pool”. The hole will get shaped up a bit to have more gradually sloping sides and will be divided (using ecology blocks) into two main areas: the deep area with the boat and with room for swimming and a more shallow area full of plants. There will be a pump that moves water from the deep area to the shallow area and the plants act as a natural filter. The whole thing is lined with felt with a rubber-type liner on top and then the bottom and outside borders are lined with boulders and everything is covered with gravel and sand. The whole thing will be roughly 50’x100’, the deep area is 10’ deep. Oh and of course there will be a pier so we don’t have to take a dinghy to get to the big boat.
