I live on the side of a mountain, so one day I might weir my snowmelt
creek to make a pond, but the downside is that it would get flushed
routinely (snowmelt, rainfall etc). In the meantime, I live vicariously
through my friend's pond, a modest 50,000g construction ;~). Every year
they invent a new roof, and they are not getting better at it. This
year's pond roof was grey PVC poles, spaced at about 6 feet, connected
together to make a large oval roof structure, then covered by a plastic
sheet. Inside, they occasionally run a gas-fired campfire, and it's
quite pleasantly mild inside (tall enough to walk around the pond).

It looked great, well... it technically looked very functional, like a
white carport for a Sherman tank in your backyard ;~). However, winter
here (Ottawa Canada) has become milder, resulting in freezing rain
conditions. Their roof collapsed 4 times this year (was removed in Feb.
after the last time). They have asked me to help design next year's
roof. The criteria is that it be completely removable and easily stored
in the summer.

Structurally, it would benefit from 1 (or even 3) centre posts, but these
posts would be above the pond. I've been thinking of a floating
barge-type structure (wood and styrofoam), anchored by rope to 4 sides of
the pond. This would be the base of the centre pole. I would re-use
their grey pvc pole idea (economical and breaks down easily for storage),
but I need to tie them to each other (during ice load, they slid
together, and leaned over). Perhaps metal rings and ropes? It's
difficult to access them when they are up.

Alternately, some sort of an inflatable structure in a dark color, so if
there is an ice sheet, it will melt off faster.

Could someone send me some links or ideas. I heard this was a good place
for pond information again ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

"NetMax" wrote in message
.. .
I live on the side of a mountain, so one day I might weir my snowmelt creek
to make a pond, but the downside is that it would get flushed routinely
(snowmelt, rainfall etc). In the meantime, I live vicariously through my
friend's pond, a modest 50,000g construction ;~). Every year they invent a
new roof, and they are not getting better at it. This year's pond roof was
grey PVC poles, spaced at about 6 feet, connected together to make a large
oval roof structure, then covered by a plastic sheet. Inside, they
occasionally run a gas-fired campfire, and it's quite pleasantly mild
inside (tall enough to walk around the pond).

It looked great, well... it technically looked very functional, like a
white carport for a Sherman tank in your backyard ;~). However, winter
here (Ottawa Canada) has become milder, resulting in freezing rain
conditions. Their roof collapsed 4 times this year (was removed in Feb.
after the last time). They have asked me to help design next year's roof.
The criteria is that it be completely removable and easily stored in the
summer.

Structurally, it would benefit from 1 (or even 3) centre posts, but these
posts would be above the pond. I've been thinking of a floating
barge-type structure (wood and styrofoam), anchored by rope to 4 sides of
the pond. This would be the base of the centre pole. I would re-use
their grey pvc pole idea (economical and breaks down easily for storage),
but I need to tie them to each other (during ice load, they slid together,
and leaned over). Perhaps metal rings and ropes? It's difficult to
access them when they are up.

Alternately, some sort of an inflatable structure in a dark color, so if
there is an ice sheet, it will melt off faster.

Could someone send me some links or ideas. I heard this was a good place
for pond information again ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

I'm not sure from your description how big
the cover needs to be, or exactly its purpose,
but I immediately thought of a shade sail:
http://www.shadesails.com/

They would seem to be adaptable to most
conditions you're describing, although it's
less like an enclosure than you describe.

I use a gazebo with canvas-like cover over
my little pond, but a 10' x 10' structure
probably isn't big enough for your friend's
"lake":
www.academy.com
Keyword search on Gazebo. They show
quite a few different varieties. Academy
is a local (TX) sporting goods store but
these gazebos should be available at
home improvement stores and the like.
The 10'x10' basic models run about US$100,
which is half what I paid for mine a few
years ago. The cover attaches with velcro
and is exceedingly easy to remove when
thunderstorms threaten.

I would have preferred a shade sail if I'd
known about them before I purchased
the gazebo.

Gail
near San Antonio TX USA Zone 8

"Gail Futoran" wrote in message
...
"NetMax" wrote in message
.. .
I live on the side of a mountain, so one day I might weir my snowmelt
creek to make a pond, but the downside is that it would get flushed
routinely (snowmelt, rainfall etc). In the meantime, I live
vicariously through my friend's pond, a modest 50,000g construction
;~). Every year they invent a new roof, and they are not getting
better at it. This year's pond roof was grey PVC poles, spaced at
about 6 feet, connected together to make a large oval roof structure,
then covered by a plastic sheet. Inside, they occasionally run a
gas-fired campfire, and it's quite pleasantly mild inside (tall enough
to walk around the pond).

It looked great, well... it technically looked very functional, like a
white carport for a Sherman tank in your backyard ;~). However,
winter here (Ottawa Canada) has become milder, resulting in freezing
rain conditions. Their roof collapsed 4 times this year (was removed
in Feb. after the last time). They have asked me to help design next
year's roof. The criteria is that it be completely removable and
easily stored in the summer.

Structurally, it would benefit from 1 (or even 3) centre posts, but
these posts would be above the pond. I've been thinking of a floating
barge-type structure (wood and styrofoam), anchored by rope to 4 sides
of the pond. This would be the base of the centre pole. I would
re-use their grey pvc pole idea (economical and breaks down easily for
storage), but I need to tie them to each other (during ice load, they
slid together, and leaned over). Perhaps metal rings and ropes? It's
difficult to access them when they are up.

Alternately, some sort of an inflatable structure in a dark color, so
if there is an ice sheet, it will melt off faster.

Could someone send me some links or ideas. I heard this was a good
place for pond information again ;~).
--
www.NetMax.tk

I'm not sure from your description how big
the cover needs to be, or exactly its purpose,
but I immediately thought of a shade sail:
http://www.shadesails.com/

They would seem to be adaptable to most
conditions you're describing, although it's
less like an enclosure than you describe.

I use a gazebo with canvas-like cover over
my little pond, but a 10' x 10' structure
probably isn't big enough for your friend's
"lake":
www.academy.com
Keyword search on Gazebo. They show
quite a few different varieties. Academy
is a local (TX) sporting goods store but
these gazebos should be available at
home improvement stores and the like.
The 10'x10' basic models run about US$100,
which is half what I paid for mine a few
years ago. The cover attaches with velcro
and is exceedingly easy to remove when
thunderstorms threaten.

I would have preferred a shade sail if I'd
known about them before I purchased
the gazebo.

Gail
near San Antonio TX USA Zone 8


Thanks Gail, the structure dimensions are 25' long and the ends would be
20' and 25' (or 25'x25'). Home Depot & Canadian Tire may have adaptable
designs, but they would be better off researching direct from the
manufacturer to avoid the ridiculous mark-up, but they haven't found the
manufacturer.

My volume calculation must have been wrong (metric?), as I think they are
closer to 15,000g (I'm not used to volume calculations of this scale, my
bad). Their pond is 6' deep and surface is 16' x 20'.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"NetMax" wrote in message
...

Thanks Gail, the structure dimensions are 25' long and the ends would be
20' and 25' (or 25'x25'). Home Depot & Canadian Tire may have adaptable
designs, but they would be better off researching direct from the
manufacturer to avoid the ridiculous mark-up, but they haven't found the
manufacturer.

It sounds like they need to find a local
handyperson to build something from
scratch to fit their space/needs.

My volume calculation must have been wrong (metric?), as I think they are
closer to 15,000g (I'm not used to volume calculations of this scale, my
bad). Their pond is 6' deep and surface is 16' x 20'.
--
www.NetMax.tk

Sounds lovely.

Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8

1" white pvc to form a hoop, and use battens half way up the side. stretch the
plastic tight. hoop structures have greater flex and can stand up to more weight,
altho my greenhouse hoop over my big ponds at the dacha made with aluminum (it was
commercial type) came down after 55" of snow hit in 2 days. so did a lot of the
commercial hoops in the area. Ingrid

"NetMax" wrote:
This
year's pond roof was grey PVC poles
The criteria is that it be completely removable and easily stored
in the summer.



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I used to have a link to do it yourself green house and other shelter
frames. This company sold the connecting fittings that adapated say
PVC pipe to a ridge board of pressure treated lumber. They had base
supports that attached to wood like landscape timbers etc that
accepted PVC uprights, and then they sold a heat shrink plastic film
that was virtually indestructable.. They used commonly available
zippers for door ways. You can buy them in most big box builder stores
in the USA like Home Depot. Its a pressure sensitve adhesive strip on
a sort of heavy duty zip lock baggies type seal called a zip lock
zipper. You peel the paper off the zipper, and apply to where you want
the doorway, then unzip the zipper, and slit the plastic between
zipper halves, and presto you have a zippered doorway..About 7 bucks
in HOme depot. Works fine on plastic sheeting as well as the heat
shrink stuff. I know a few of my friends in another web forum have
bought and used the green house fittings for pvc / lumber to construct
green houses and shelters etc and they still use em after a 3 or 4
years, the stuff does not tear up that easy. I fyou give it some
thought, the heat shrink panels cana be made in sections so it can be
saved after use, or else just buy plastic sheeting or new heat shrink
the next time. The heat shrink stuff only needs to be exposed to
sunlingt for a few hours and warmed up and it pulls tight, but not to
the poiint it buckles PVC uprights, and double faced tape is used to
fasten the edges in place, buy folding it around the PVC pipes and
hold it in place with the double faced tape.. Seems to work fine.
--
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The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....