clearing leaves and debris
 

I have tried to clear decayed leaves and debris from my waterfront every Fall and Spring with me wading into the water and raking the bottom onto the shore. It has worked but I'm looking for a more convenient way to do this. I have heard that some folks use on shore compressors connected to fire nozzles to move clutter. Similar to DASH boats but they suck milfoil onboard. I have used my boat props. It does work but creates depressions that allow leaves to accumulate. Has anyone successfully used some sort of method to remove decayed litter from their water?

My uncle used his teen aged nephews to clear all the rocks from the sandy bottom in front of his property: if you have any young-uns willing to work give em a rake and tell them to go jump in the lake.

My beach gets light debris and leaves over the winter and spring.
Here's what works for me.......With my boat tied to the dock and stern facing the shore, I trim the motor up so as not to create depressions, but start a good strong current along the dock and shore. Then I use my roof rake to loosen up the debris and it sweeps everything right out. I have an extra handle section, they usually come with 3 but the forth gives me a lot more reach. Leaves the sand sparkling clean.
You'll need to experiment with trim, direction of lower unit to get best results.
I do this on both sides of my dock and sometimes change to boat to facing away from the shore in order to clean up around the dock.
Nice afternoon project but results are worth it.

Using your boat propeller works well. I got a little too aggressive with the throttle and it picked up a rock that was in front of the boat propeller and the rock hit the prop on the way by. $$$$. Maybe 3500 RPM's was a but much!

New plan. If you have a circulator or "ice eater" you can anchor it on it's side and move it around as needed. I bolted mine to a 2 X 4 and I can clamp the 2 X 4 to different dock posts at different angles as needed.

If you want to move debris into the water flow you can use a pressure washer with an extension on the wand.

Hmm. I would think using your boat motor to move detritus and likely some weeds/vegetative matter off the lake floor would aid in the dispersal of nutrients into the watershed to an area that may not have such a concentration. It would also seem that it would assist in the spread of weeds, no?

water pump?
 

Using your boat to dredge can add sand etc to the cooling system where it becomes lodged. As flow through the system is impeded, you can overheat and cause long term problems. My old marina slip was in an area where there was considerable milfoil. Over time, the strainers would clog with chewed up weeds and the engine would overheat. Cleaning the strainers was an easy project, but less fun when it was unexpected and the engine was hot to work on. I have two engines, so I cold get home on one, but no fun and perhaps some $$ if I had to get a tow.

Leaf removal with a rake may not be a problem, but I believe DES frowns on blowing sand and silt around. Certainly don't want to disturb fish breeding/nesting sites.

I've thought about the cheap little gas powered water pumps at Harbor Freight (and save my boats cooling system).
You can buy the 2" 158GPM pump for a little under $200. Then I'd rig up hoses with a pole with an under water nozzle attached to blow the schmoo off the bottom where it can float away and provide valuable nutrients to the rest of the lake. Not sure if any of this is against DES rules as it might be considered "dredging".

Not that I'd ever really do any of this...

Dredging
 

Maintenance dredging can be permitted. Marinas do it. You have to hang silt fences in the water and other restrictions and the local Conservation Commission will delay the permit, at least in Gilford, and restrict the amount of spoil; to be removed. I'm not sure where the line is drawn between cleaning the bottom and dredging.

Get the kids in the water playing works everytime.....

While the option listed here are all viable, I wouldn't recommend them.....except, moving rocks that hold up the flow of debris....

Take a peek at https://weedersdigest.com/, they have many solutions.

...... a scythe?
 

The grim reaper is always imaged swing'n a scythe ..... which could be used for underwater, weed removal ....... so's you could use an old field scythe .... to get it done.

You know .... I suspect a scythe could work pretty good in depths up to about five feet, and probably is easier to use in more shallow water depths? A scythe actually works pretty good, as long as it is kept sharp. Sort of like shaving the weeds off the lake floor.

www.digg.com/video/how-to-scythe ..... and, don't forget your flip-flops for staying steady on the uneven lake floor!

Craigslist-nh/farm&garden has a used scythe identical to that in this video for 20-bucks, down in Raymond, NH.

Whoa! There are no "valuable nutrients to the rest of the lake" The phosphorous and other nutrients you are releasing will promote milfoil, cyanobacteria, and other plant growth. Perhaps right near by.

I wait
 

Until the water get low before winter freeze. Excellent time to clean that shore front!