how big does a lake have to be?

I am looking at two possibilities at the moment. Should I buy a place in florida on a lake to use as a holiday home until I retire in about two or three years time when I would use it for three to four months of the year or should I buy a place in france big enough to build my own lake. I live in Europe and have a holiday home in one of the best surfing spots in france and was looking at buying a second holiday home there with enough land. What would you say was the smallest lake I could get away with building. I have heard that it needs to be about 12-15 foot deep to allow the boat wake to form properly? what do you guys think. I would prefer florida for the weather plus I think a private lake might end up as a lot of work.

Build in Florida. A private lake is a lot of work, and it would be in France.

I would build a private lake in Kansas. I would maintain it and watch over it while you were not using it. It would be great for both of us.

Private lakes take a lot of time and money, they need to be at least 2200 ft long and 350 ft wide to turn a fully loaded wake board boat. Our development is 67 acres, two lakes and 18 one and quarter acres each. You could get away with 20 acres but it would need to be the right shape. I just got this development done.

Are those archs to dissipate the wake?

Wakes will develop in 7' of water. Our private lake is 7-8' deep on one end, and 12-13 on the other. Two turn islands. 23-25 acres of lake. I don't know how wide the lake is, but I don't have any problems turning the Wakesetter, full ballast, wedge, etc. The lake is I think, 3500' long.

Paul, The archs which creates a cove is were private docks and boatlifts will be installed. If I had to do it again, they would not be there. With our clay bottom, 8:1 slope, the slopes have had little wake eroision. The points(archs) have to be re-graded yearly due to boat wake erosion. Turn islands are great for lakes but hell on getting insurance. We were told by several insurance companies that they wouldn't even look at us if we had turn islands. Several skiers have gotten hurt or died going around them on other private lakes.

Hey Mark sounds like ya got a real dilemna on your hands... Way to make the rest of us feel like total sh*thead...

I apologize for my last post... I'm not having a good day and reading that really set me off... Mark you should build your own lake!

isnt that pic of the new correct craft property?

Craig,

We are insured by USA Waterski. We could only find two companies that would insure us. We do have a seperate liability policy through the HOA. A private lake is the way to go if you have the means. Our lake cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5-1.8 million to build. The cost of construction was offset by subdividing the surrounding property. You get real spoiled really quick on a private lake though.

Craig, have you tried landscape matting. We just regraded the area behind our east island, and are using landscape matting for erosion control. We decided to use a grass mixture on the shoreline behind the island for safety sake. We have rip rap in other areas, such as the boat slips, but we've had two people end up on land behind the islands, and thought that rip rap would be too unforgiving. I will say this, having a private lake is a lot of work, but well worth it. Here's a link to our lake.
www.ninovan.com
This will give you some idea of what is involved in constructing a lake.

about this big...

Sweet lake Shawn, all of our shorelines have held up real well except the points. Thanks for the info Shawn on what your using.

I am going to have to agree with Jon's post.

Just a silly question... How are these lake filled and what keeps them from draining?!

Rain and a dam.

In Florida, ground water supply, rain will fill these lakes. Biggest problem is pumping water out when your building the lakes to get the proper contours and bank shapes/slope

Rain and a well.

Jim Bogden,
That looks like the new wake/ski development I believe near palm bay FL, but is definitely not the Correct Craft factory lakes. They are more unusual in shape, go to http://nautiques.com/main.htm and click on "values" and then "facilities" to see their lakes. (Its flash so I can't copy the pic)

Surprisingly there are now five custom ski developments here in Central Florida even though we have around 2,000 natural lakes. can't beat the private use and when lakefront homes in Orlando (or most cities for that matter)start at $700,000 to 900,000 making your own for less than that starts sounding more economically viable, even when adding the cost of the home. I wonder how many there will be in ten or twenty years?
TM

wow, a private lake. i cant even imagine, what a waste of money...

In Florida, you almost HAVE to have a private lake if you plan on spending any time on the water. You can't move around some of these public lakes anymore.

There are a lot of advantages to having a private lake. Less fuel consumption, because you ride, and then you get off the water, less boat maintenance, for the same reason, butter conditions all the time, more riding time, the list goes on and on.
Craig, we have a 7-1 slope on all of our shorelines, and thusfar everything has held up well. Do you have an overflow control on your lake? We have a 12" drain to control overflow. We also installed a drain for lake maintenance purposes.
Paul, we have a polymer liner in our lake that mixes with the clay to for a barrier. Also, as the lakes fill up, they tend to seal themselves up. We control evaporation with a well that discharges somewhere around 200,000 gallons a day.

Yes, we have an outfall structure with an 18" pipe. We don't have a man-made liner, what was the cost and size of your liner?

We ride in a lake that gets down to 3 feet on one end. The wake shapes fine.

Craig, our liner is a polymer that was mixed in with the clay during soil compaction, called ESS-13. It was purchased through Seepage Control. We had a soil engineer on site during construction to examine the consistancy. The liner comes in 55 gallon drums, and cost somewhere around $13/gallon. We used 80 drums in the dry application, and 30 more in a wet application.

There are other options. The one mentioned above, mine (www.placidwaters.com), and several more. Private lakes do not have to be a lot of work, if designed right for the local conditions.

1. Avoid wells, if possible. They cost to operate and with the entire water-rights issues, you have potential for a lot of unintended consequences.

2. Look at the local vegitation in the area. Waterfowl will bring it in. Make arrangements to solve the problem ahead of time.

3. You are right, 15 feet depth for boarding. I did the math for an X-Star.

4. Permitting and engineering will take up a lot of time and money. Make sure you do it right or you will regret it.