Does anybody use skimmers or booms to clean your cove?
 

Does anybody live on a section of water without consistent flow? Have you found any methods to keep the water reasonably clean?

Thank you.

We live on a cove with natural beach and western exposure. Boat wakes used to keep it clean until neighbors partitioned for a no wake zone. After that, leaves and debris would blow in and we would get silt and leaves covering the sand.
I clean it with a snow rake. I start my boat, and make sure it's tied tightly, put it in gear and adjust the trim and the angle of prop wash so that the silt goes where I want it and then gently work the snow rake over the sandy bottom.
Takes a little practice but the results are amazing.

We live on a cove with natural beach and western exposure. Boat wakes used to keep it clean until neighbors partitioned for a no wake zone. After that, leaves and debris would blow in and we would get silt and leaves covering the sand.
I clean it with a snow rake. I start my boat, and make sure it's tied tightly so that you start a current in the direction of that you want to clean, put it in gear and adjust the trim and the angle of prop wash so that the silt goes where I want it and then gently work the snow rake over the sandy bottom.
Takes a little practice but the results are amazing.
Snow rakes have a long reach so you can do it from the shore or your dock in most cases, but when the water warms up I walk into the water to extend the reach

Thank you! If I understand correctly, the engine of the boat is used like an underwater leaf blower? That's awesome!

Do you direct the leaves and debris toward shore or out to the lake?

My old jet ski manual suggested pumping the ski up and down a few times in deeper water before starting to avoid picking up sand. I've heard of collecting sand in lower units from prop washing the sand. Our natural sandy beach stays clean on its own but silt collects behind the breakwater. If you dredge (permit required) the contractor will set up fences to prevent the silt from leaving the area and harming the fish. DES frowns on blowing debris and silt out into the lake.

I try to direct the flow toward the area that needs to be cleaned so that everything goes out to deeper water. You can change the current by turning the steering wheel or tying your boat with a longer dock line, also play with trim and throttle to get the desired effect.
I dont feel a bit guilty. Not adding any material into the lake just redirecting to deeper water.
You'll love the result.

Silt--What Is It?
 

When we built our place in 1956, we had a nice sandy shoreline--as it likely had been for a century or longer. As boats and their wakes got bigger and more frequent, soggy, muddy, silt moved in. New underwater plant species appeared. :confused: Waterlogged brush appeared along with the silt as more home lots were built nearby. Waterlogged leaves replaced pine needles. Some of the limbs were clearly "loppings" produced through yard maintenance. :rolleye2:

It has since dawned on me that the silt was coming from my own property! It was late last season that I heard two loud splashes along my shoreline. When I investigated the source, I found that boulders had dislodged from the rocky bank. One was very large--the size of a folded roll-a-way bed--and would take an excavator to reset it back into the hillside.

"Silt" is loamy soil washed from lakeside lots. I've seen loam loaded on barges, perhaps destined for island lawns. :confused:

Yesterday, I noticed the same silt situation at a Florida lakefront. Rain-fed, the lake level has been gradually raised since Hurricane Ian. I photographed my neighbor's grass sod being washed (underneath) of soil, producing the same silt situation in the shallows. Like Lake Winnipesaukee, powerboat activity encourages shoreline erosion--which encourages algae growth--which clouds the water.

I'll upload the photo next week, and later opine on "power-clearing"--the good and bad.

changes over time
 

If Mother Nature wants the boulder in the lake, it may be better to back fill with other boulders rather than trying to re-set it.
We may be more exposed than some, so we see boulders being moved onto the shoreline due to ice action, as well as some erosion from wave action, especially where boulders were removed to build a breakwater.

Dirt being barged to islands may also be the top layer of raised (Indian Mound) leach fields, far back from shore. Yes, islands that used to be mostly overgrown woods, are now being gradually expanded "grassy areas".