My lake almost finished

My lake is almost finished. 2009 will be a great year.

????

You guys have identical personal lakes... Man I'm jealous!

Try again

Damn thats sweet. Did u just dig the whole thing from a field or was there water there already. Also how deep?

15 feet deep. The water was 3' down from most of the surface. We have the water depressed 1.5' from the normal surface, so I don't have to pump water into it.

The banks are sloped so there is no washback from passing wakes.

thats ridiculous... so jealous. have fun in '09

sick

Looks awesome, I totally jealous!

How long and wide is it? What does it cost to dig a lake like that and how long did it take? Not that I have the money, but I looked into at one point. Thought about going in with like 5 friends so we would have only people we wanted on the lake.

Looks like I might need to make a Michigan Road Trip!!!!!!!!

With engineering, fees, taxes, land, materials, labor, equipment, etc. about $7 million right now. We started in 2005.

Three more lakes to go!

The middle bay is 2,150 long by 280 wide. The others are 220 feet wide. They are engineered for slalom.

We will likely hold a tournament the last weekend of June. Should be a lot of fun.

let me clear my throat.......

7 million..........!!!!!!!!!

I am in the wrong thread/forum..

ya nevermind on that one

Karl, is that Placid Lakes??

Yes. Lake Placid. The name of the development is Placid Waters (www.placidwaters.com). This is not just for my personal use, it is a real estate investment. Lots are $300k.

that place is amazing, what a great idea

i thought that looked familiar...a co-worker gave me the brochure for placid waters that he got in the mail...too bad i live on the opposite side of the state...

What did you do with the dirt you removed? Were you able to sell it to offset some costs?

Eton College in England built a rowing lake (about the same dimensions) and funded it totally be selling the aggregate that they removed. Then I guess they routed the river Thames through it to fill 'er up:



If only they allowed wakeboarding on it.

On the left side of the photo, you can see some very large piles of sand. We are selling about 10,000 - 20,000 yards a week.

Rowing lakes are typically only a meter deep. I don't have any info on Eton's lake, but typically they are too shallow for all but slalom.

Quote: Rowing lakes are typically only a meter deep.

Not this one - a minimum of 3.5m deep (11.5'):

http://www.dorneylake.com/technical.htm

As with wakeboarding (but for different reasons) there is a minimum depth requirement for optimal boat operation.

Congrats Karl I remeber when they only drawings way to see it through. Best of luck.
ITCH

10,000-20,000 yds per week being sold??? That's a lot of trucks coming and going!

Yeah, it is slowing down a bit now, but we still have aoout 12-15 doubles making continious turns - about 50 cy a load. We just bought our own truck, a 15-yard 4-axle dump so we can take care of the smaller jobs ourselves.

Check out the new photos on www.placidwaters.com

Sunday was a sad day, the I winterized the X-2.

If you are in MI, keep the last weekend of June open. It will be worthwhile. No details, yet, but it will be big.

There aren't enough lakes in MI, so you had to build one?

the lake looks VERY similar to the mccormicks cable park lake in tampa florida. the island in the center is awesome for killing the chop. The only downfall of OWC

I think it's awesome and definetly not knocking it, but if there's 60 slips of hardcore water junkies, and only 6 lanes, looks like it would be hard to find a lane during optimal times like after work or weekends etc...

If you look at the typical lifestyles of people, only about 1/3 of people are home at any daylight hours. Of that number, only half will be out on the lake on a given day or time. So, typically, you will have the water to yourself or have one other boat to alternate with. Of course, there will be variations, but that is how it typically works on private lakes.

Wow, amazing!!!

Are there going to be restrictions on loud speakers or volume, etc.? I'm guessing the buyers would have to know going in that they are going to have to accept hearing loud music from the boats, etc. all day long?

so how much land min for the basic, 1 boat wake boarding lake, depth and width?

The lake needs to be at least 2,100-feet long and 250-feet wide. Built-up shoreline at least 50' from the water's edge. Minimum 12-feet deep. Bottom countour has a lot of bearing on performance. I spent a lot of time and money learning how to do that well.

It is a site condominium community. The association will make their own rules. Starting off, the music should not be heard inside of a house with windows closed or after sunset or 10:00 pm, whichever is earlier.

Becuase the shape of the shoreline contains the sounds, you don't need to crank it as you do on more open water. The factory X-2 setup has enough to be heard very clearly at 75-feet.

Hey Karl, nice looking set up! Might have to take a trip back to check them out.

How much do you think just one of those lakes would cost to build?

Gordie - you are welcome anytime. Just call.

One lake cost: Depends on area. Figure about $50-150k for engineering and permitting. About $2 per cubic yard to excavate and move about 1,000 feet. About $1,000 per week for dewatering. Depending upon size, you need to remove about 1.5 to 2 million yards of material to make the lake right. It is not cheap. Of course, there will be a chorus of people asserting they can do it cheaper or have a friend who did it cheaper. Most lakes dug fall into these figures.

That development is one heck of an undertaking and those who buy there will surely benefit from an enthusiastic builder/developer that knows what the end users want.

Congrats and good luck on the development. The market and economy are tight but hopefully will pick up once the homes and the rest of the development are ready. But then again, I bet high end buyers usually don't have the kind of cash flow issues the rest of us do!!!

(Message edited by kvoman on November 04, 2008)

So about 4 million to dig the lake, plus cost of land and then the cost of your home. Damn to do it right its gonna be like 7 to 8 million dollar project. Im thinking you could sell some of the dirt to help off set the cost of digging it. Still that would be one heck of family estate. I guess the other option is get 10 kegs of beer rent the equipment and hire your buddies to do it. Some how I could see a ton of stuff going wrong doing that.

The raw cost of running machinery (fuel only, $3.00 gallon) is about $50 per hour. The machinery takes maintenance and depreciation. Add in the cost of a skilled operator and the control system (GPS/Surveyor), and you can see how it gets expensive, fast. For my lakes, I am at about $7 million. Our machinery comes from my partner's family business, so we have it at cost.

Can me and my friend Wally bring our jetski's over to your house?

No jet-skis allowed. Inboards only (service craft excepted).

If you want a tow, I have an X-2 that I will have ready to go by the first of May, 2009. We usually ride until the end of November, but I am on the road this month, so I winterized the boat already.

A lot is $300k. It is a lot cheaper than digging your own lake.

Scott it wont cost 7million . You can buy this place for 3million with two lakes. My friend dug one himself , although out in the boonies of Nor Cal, for about 800 including everything.

Here is a lake that was just finished , also in Nor Cal. Lots will be 350K . Only 3 lots so plenty of water time!!

I don't get it but I'll let Wally know we won't be spending time on your lake.

Looks like a nice site anyway. Hope the sales go well for you.

What water depth?

Do you have to pump?

Neither property is mine , although I wish. Both sites are/will be using a well. Stillwater ranch which is the first pic , is a waterski club with two lakes. No housing as it is not splitable land. The owner will sell both lakes that sit on 80 ac for 3mil. They are located just outside of Sacramento, CA . The larger lake is 8ft deep and the smaller is 4ft deep. The larger lake makes a great wakeboard lake, however vdrive and ballasts are not allowed per club rules. Obviously whoever buys it can do whatever they want.

The second pic which is of the newly dug lake sits on 2 10 ac parcels and 1 20ac parcel. The lake was just completed and will be filled in the spring. It is about 6 ft deep and will primarly be a slalom lake. The 20ac lot is sold and the 2 10ac lots remain available. Once the three lots are sold, then the owners will make up the rules and regs.

I have nothing to do with the sale of either site. I ski at stillwater and my friend was the contractor in charge of the excavation of the second. Around here the typical excavation cost for your average ski lake is 250K plus land , permits , well etc...

Rod,
I sent you a PM, do you have any other information, location, contact, etc. on the second lake with the 2-10 ac parcels for sale?

Thanks!

What I did was dig the water depth to 12-15 feet (15 for wakeboarding) and then depress the water depth 13-15 feet below the surrounding ground. It protects the water from the wind. Shallower, you have a lot of weed growth to deal with and weed treatment is expensive over time.

This is so cool; if I ever move to the west side of the state I'd buy here in a second!

Are you also building the site condos, or is it up to each buyer to design/build their own? Whats the ETA on housing, assuming your building it.

Im planing on eventually building my own lake, so this thread is great. I wish I lived out in Nor Cal and had the cash right now to buy your friends two lakes Rod. I got a buddy who's father dug his own lake but its only for slalom, which sucks but its still damn cool. There is no question I would do Karls idea of digging it 15 feet deep. There is no way I would want to deal with the weed problem! I attached a picture of my buddys fathers lake.

Heres the link to the picture of the lake.


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=slalom&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=43.029545,-88.486612&spn=0.006604,0.027466&t=h&z=16

Everyone builds their own house. A Site Condo is a form of an association that owns and manages the "common elements" such as lake, roads, football field, fishing pond, etc. Plaicd Waters is one of the very few with all underground utilities including city water and sewer.

I know what a site condo is, I was just curious if you were requiring the same builder/plans for all of the properties. Can I buy a lot and live in a tent?

No tents. You have 8-years to build. No boats at docks or moored - they must be on a lift or removed from the water (eliminates the hazard of hitting a boat on a fall).

There are a few builder requirements - basically I need to have well-qualified luxury home builders in there for high property values.

A "Site Condo"??? Why not just have CC&R's and a HOA, or even a PUD?

aerial view of the new lake. just spoke with the owner, wakeboarding okay! email me at rodltg2@aol.com for contact info. 2 lots left.

location?

off highway 99 in between Chico, and Yuba City. Biggs CA.

sorry for the threadjack Karl!

someone buy my Epic so I can put a down on one lot!!! Selling it cheap!

Home Owners Assocition does not allow for the management of common elements of a lake. It varies by state, but the condo laws were the best for protecting the owners from lawsuits from lake activities. We took a hard look at all options and the Site Condo was the best option.

Threadjack - no worries. Good civil discussion.

Here is a similar one in Oklahoma where I bought a lot about 1 year ago...

http://www.turnercommunities.com/cgi-bin/CommunityList.cgi?section=community&communityID=17

How many people have lake access?

In Washington, for a mere 3.9 million, you can have this lake and two houses.
http://www.lakecushmanrealty.com/water_ski_lake.htm

thats place is frinken awesome, too bad im about 3.8999 million short...

Hey okwakebdr, dude i love that lake. I live like 5 minutes away. I was wondering, how big of boats can you have in there and is there a weight limit on that lake? AND you should hook me up, so i could come ride with you since its private.

Taylor - I actually contacted you back in the spring about hooking up for some wakeboard lessons, but I was never able to get with you. (If you remember, I was the one that said I had access to a private lake, well...now ya know.)

Basically, you have to own a lakefront lot in the addition to be able to use the lake. Currently, though - there are only 3 of us (of the 12 lots) that use the lake. It is really great. I believe the length limit for boats is 23 feet, but I'd have to read the rules on that. The weight limit is (whatever the weight limit on the boat is). Basically, the people who use the lake are the ones who have to pay to maintain it, so - we don't want to destroy it unnecessarily, but - we want to use it also. I typically run my 2005 SANTE 210 at full ballast (850 lbs + 150 lbs lead). If it is just me and my wife out there, then I'll throw in about 300 - 500 lbs of additional fat sacks.

Feel free to email me (my email is on my profile). I'll tell you all about it. We can hook up this spring for sure. I'm always looking for people to ride with (especially during the week after I get home from work).

Here's another link to my builder's website. He has some really cool "virtual tour" type pictures of the lake from above. Just click on the link that says "Aerial Tour of Lakeside of Oakdale"

http://www.shawnforthcustomhomes.com/virtualtours.htm

Yeah I remember. When you contacted me, I was hoping you lived on that lake! Do you have a blue 210? Because my friend's house overlooks the lake from the neighborhood behind and I saw one out there. Thats the only boat i've ever seen out there! Its a beautiful lake. But I'll e-mail you about a deal we could maybe work out about lessons.

Whats up okwakebdr, nice set up man love that lake u got. If u ever want someone to ride with or just someone to throwdown on that lake after work im down i will bring gas money all day to have a lake to myself cause lake stanley draper just doesnt work for me anymore.

Taylor was up man bet ur still jumping in that cold water still or going to florida and riding. Just winterize my 07 23 lsv and u need to get with cult and come throw down behind it one day (next summer) good luck with your progression on the board.

kress is def killin it these days...

and I'll add to danny's ante if you'll host another southsider....i can bring gas $, beer, pop, snacks....you call it. i'd love to be able to ride on a saturday without worrying about getting killed by an idiot out on t-bird!

p.s. for danny: how's the baby? gettin' big and ready for the lake no doubt....

*end hi-jack*

I believe the cost of our lake to be around 1.2 million. Our lake was dug 6 years ago though. We aren't 15' deep, but we are 12, and the wake builds fine behind the X Star. Currently, there are only 7 boats total on the lake, and we have no problem getting everyone a set.

One part of my design is to have the home sites elevated about 13-15' above the lake level. That keeps the wind off the lake until the trees mature. It takes a lot of material to do, but the results are worth it. We can have 25mph of a cross wind and still ride.

A group of us in the UK looked at building this type of relatively exclusive lake and then building another one next to it for ski school and more open use for private boat owners and a cable ski area. we had a 250 acre site - ex sand and gravel pit. we had prices agreed for the site and all that then the environmental nature people managed to whip it away from our grasp with government secured funding. These people are so powerful, can anyone tell me how you guys managed to get round these type of people. we had all the right people on our side plus government ministers in support of us ... but we still lost the fight. cheers matt

I am a professional environmentalist. I worked on those issues all the time and made sure we had all the background completed before the application went in. We also co-opted the groups by working with them on pet issues such as wetlands, migratory birds, ground water, runoff, storm water holding, noise, and emissions. It took about 18-months of pre-work and the application sailed though the 6-month long process in exactly 6-months. No negative comments or any fights.

You need to realize that for many it is a power struggle. They, however you define "they," typically want to have power over your project. Fine, but keep control by active outreach in the planning stage. It is risky and tough, but it has worked for me on many project.

Karl congrats on the new lakes! Im not sure you remember, but i met you and your family at the Indiana INT tour stops in ft wayne a few years back. I always enjoyed watching you and your fam push the sport and always enjoyed your shop's presence at the stops. Hope all is well, looks like you have some fun ahead of you.

Matt - I do remember you. Great man and rider. Keep in touch with me. My phone number is on the www.placidwaters.com website. I hope to have a big event in 2009. Likely the last weekend in June.

If you want a tow, give me a call. The X-2 will be ready to splash mid-April.

I hate to do it, but I'm selling my lot that is on two private custom lakes in Central Florida. Just dropped the price to 249k obo.
Check it out:
www.waterskilot.com