Moving sand

S

shenzi

Greenie
Jun 1, 2015
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Primary Interest:
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Been advised to post this in this section!

Hi Guys,
New here and hope I am in the right place. I am Aussiemike from South Coast Kenya.
I found this site whilst looking/surfing the web trying to find out how to move wet beach sand.
Got onto your gold search pages and studied up on Dredge nozzles.
Head is spinning with all the new info.
My problem.
I have bought a property on the beach in Tanzania and it is at the entrance to a tidal river. Over the years the river blocked itself up and when the rains came the following year it broke out 600 meters north of its original exit causing huge erosion problems.
What I need to do is a one time job of blocking this new exit by moving 500 tons of sand from the sand bank.
To do it manually would be a nightmare and where I am there is no chance of a D9 or similar.
Reading the news lately I notice the Chinese making their own islands by dredging sand and spraying it to form an island.
I thought I might use the same method to solve my problem.
So my question is this.
Which is the best homemade design for a dredging nozzle that can move the most sand in the shortest time with a 2 inch water pump?
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Regards from Kenya
Aussiemike
 

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That's 375 cubic yards or a little more than 40 9 yard dump trucks. How much time do you have? Is this something your gonna pick away at in your spare time or is this a one-time go big or go home scenario? Your nozzle won't be the big factor as the material is loose, not compacted so you won't need a blaster or anything specialized. Your problem will be the pump, the type and size- yours is a 2" semi trash pump I assume? How far away from where you will be dredging up the sand to where you want to have it end up? Are you going to dredge the sand into something or are you wanting to use the dredge to place it where it goes? How deep is the water you will be pulling the sand from? Depth and how fast you want it done will be your deciding factors. Big differences in prices as the size increases. Your best bet would be to get a hold of Keene Engineering or a local commercial dredge manufacturer like used for harbor maintenance.
 

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Time is not a real issue. I will just sit on the beach with a bottle of nice red and watch it happen. I will keep moving the outlet a few feet at a time until the complete build up has finished. Cannot get a company to help as my nearest neighbour is 40 kms away. The river is the border of a game park. Elephant and lion actually on the beach.
Cheers
Mike
 

sand 2.jpgsand.jpg
 

This is the pump and the flow with a 6 foot head.

flow.jpgpump.jpg
 

Shenzi, what are the odds of there being some values in your sand? Diamonds, gold ,etc ?
 

Hahaha you are NOT gonna be lying there drinking but in that water working your butt off keeping that nozzle from being plugged up. From the pics you'll need a simple suction nozzle for the suction end,yet another pump with a powerjet to blast the sands way up there high and dry. Easily doable but not lazing around. Moved many 1,000s of yards in a cleanout of a reclamation project and not just sand.John
 

One thing you forget John. This is Africa and labour here is $5 per day. I shall be overseeing from my deck chair.
 

The dredges your talking about, you can't start up and let them go on their own, they need an operator and from the looks of it you'd be a busy boy. Have you thought of installing a curtain wall across the new opening and let mother nature and the tide do the work for you. I think doing it the way you propose is fighting an uphill never ending battle. Because of the tide and nature of sand you won't be able to do a little at a time, it's gonna back fill on you constantly or wash away what you spent all day moving.
 

Not sure what a curtain wall is.
my plan was to do this over a one week period starting with a ebbing neap tide. At a low neap all I have to build up is around 3 foot high by about 30 feet wide. That I would not have thought to be a lot of work. I will then have another week to just add another foot a day to keep ahead of things. I also have a few thousand bags I intend to use to support my fill. The info I really need is what size pump and the best nozzle to use.
 

I forgot to mention that if anyone wants to do a little pro bone I Ave a great place to stay.
 

A curtain wall is a series of sheets that look like corrugated tin roofing that are pressed into or trenched and set vertical on end into the sand, the corrugation interlocks the sheets. To me this would be your best option as it's a permanent fix. The dredging route will be a repetive process for you as high tides, and storms do again what your trying to fix. Have you had a demolitions guy look at it? Maybe they could blast the new outlet closed.

Sorry for being vague, not trying to avoid the question, there is alot more to it than what you ask. You didn't state the depth which is important and can be very problematic as the more lift (height from pickup point to drop off point) of material the more inefficeint the system becomes to the point it won't do the job. Regardless; This is the type of nozzle you would need to use your pump-
Jobe and Keene Suction Nozzles 1.5" to 4"
Now you will need a supply and a discharge set up. The supply is the 2" hose from your pump discharge outlet to your nozzle, shorter is better say 25', I wouldn't go any longer than that (others that use this type may chime in with more accuracy as to actual length). The discharge for the nozzle I showed is 4", so you will need a length of 4" smooth bore hose, again shorter is better. Now you need to decide how to set it up. If it were me I'd put the pump on a small pontoon or barge set up that you can get the pump as close to the water as possibe. Have one guy on the nozzle and another acting as tender and discharge hose monitor, moving the discharge hose around for even placement. Remember this hose needs to be as low as it can as well, less lift more efficient. Having said all this you may find this system simply won't keep up, your looking to move a lot of material with a counter force fighting you along the way. Good luck, I hope this helps.
 

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fowledup said:
A curtain wall is a series of sheets that look like corrugated tin roofing that are pressed into or trenched and set vertical on end into the sand, the corrugation interlocks the sheets. To me this would be your best option as it's a permanent fix. The dredging route will be a repetive process for you as high tides, and storms do again what your trying to fix. Have you had a demolitions guy look at it? Maybe they could blast the new outlet closed.

Sorry for being vague, not trying to avoid the question, there is alot more to it than what you ask. You didn't state the depth which is important and can be very problematic as the more lift (height from pickup point to drop off point) of material the more inefficeint the system becomes to the point it won't do the job. Regardless; This is the type of nozzle you would need to use your pump-
Jobe and Keene Suction Nozzles 1.5" to 4"
Now you will need a supply and a discharge set up. The supply is the 2" hose from your pump discharge outlet to your nozzle, shorter is better say 25', I wouldn't go any longer than that (others that use this type may chime in with more accuracy as to actual length). The discharge for the nozzle I showed is 4", so you will need a length of 4" smooth bore hose, again shorter is better. Now you need to decide how to set it up. If it were me I'd put the pump on a small pontoon or barge set up that you can get the pump as close to the water as possibe. Have one guy on the nozzle and another acting as tender and discharge hose monitor, moving the discharge hose around for even placement. Remember this hose needs to be as low as it can as well, less lift more efficient. Having said all this you may find this system simply won't keep up, your looking to move a lot of material with a counter force fighting you along the way. Good luck, I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Much appreciate all your help. Just want to make sure I understand it completely.

What is meant by =============The discharge for the nozzle I showed is 4", so you will need a length of 4" smooth bore hose, again shorter is better.==========

And with the curtain. Which way?
I have attachedriver.jpg
Cheers
Mike
 

to me a 2 1/2 inch nozzle will be a LOT of work! if it were me , id go with a minimum of a 4 inch nozzle with a 6.6 hp engine and a P180 Keene or a HP400 Proline pump to get the job done! and id have a sharpshooter to keep watch on them Lions and other potential maneaters!
 

A 2.5 nozzle is not going to move squat you can out shovel that small of a nozzle. Do a search for a piranha dredge that is what is used for the job your describing.
 

The curtain wall would go at the top of the new outlet close to the main channnel, and would block the entrance to the new outlet. No a 2.5 nozzle wont work. Look up Highbanker Dredge combo. You will be doing the same thing nix the sluice and hopper. The 2" from your pump feeds the 4" nozzle I linked. The 4" hose from the working end of the nozzle is where the material goes. No material goes through the pump.
 

Just put logs/brush running along the shoreline and that will keep enough in place. Salvation army has blankets you can roll up and make erosion control barriers with also. Many ways to go. Not familiar with that green sn mfgr? That on the end and a nice powerjet at just under the water at the shore and good to go. More fun to do than watch,just a face mask and snorkel and a whole world opens up. When you hit that sand the critters will come for a feast. John
 

Thanks again guys. Thought I might give you a better shot of my problem taken from a drone.
If anyone can use the image to draw a line on as an example would be great. Am off down there again tomorrow to test the depth of sand as am driving 10 inch pilings down for my cottage over the backwater lagoon. Sorry about our time difference. I am just getting up.
sima drone river.jpg
 

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