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My buggest question is...SHould I rent a cement mixer...Should have 500 pieces of pvc from 3-5 foot...10 per cement base...50 structures...25 bags of cement...Hand mixing 25 bags doesn't sound that bad but then I think about how I feel after mixing 2 and I know of the 25 I'm gonn ahve to do half...SO we might rent...I'll post picks of our new REEF...
Hey Sac, Sounds like it wouldn't be a bad idea to rent a mixer. Or a least have a few buddies over to help mix the concrete. I mix mine with the bag hanging partially off the tailgate of my truck and my wheelbarrow underneath. I never made over 3 or 4 at a time though.
Some friends and I plan on building a lot of structures this winter too so lets take a lot of pictures of them as they are being built and putting them out. Also lets try to show the folks what the various types of cover looks like on our depthfinder screens. Especially the PVC condos.
Hey sac, I know you have a system that you use in making your condo's, but I wanted to share with you a thought I had last night. I found an old plastic planter like shrubs and bushes come in from the nursery, and it was pretty easy to cut, and stick pipes in the side also. Takes more concrete than the dish tubs we have been using, but it does give a three dimensional look. Thought I would tell you before the build. You obviously could use longer pipes, I just used some I had collected.
Here's a pic, and the red cement is just some old red mortar I had laying around the house that I mixed in.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2...3/S4020515.jpg
that's a great idea...what is that? about a 3 gal size?
Dang that looks heavy! ;)
soon as it ripens you pick up the center piece and mine are easy to move...Similar design...
It was five gallon pot.
take your bucket to a local concrete plant where they clean there trucks usually dont mind u filling up buckets if you tell them what your doing
al
this is the first 2 i built i have since learned that the pvc will stay standing up cut 5 foot or shorter.i run a stainless srew in the bottom of each piece of tubing got them all where i wanted and put the mix in dry.drounded them with water a few times and they will be solid all the way thru the bottom...i stick the hose and run water down in the 1 1/4" pvc also...i have built and set out 120 so far this summer...i scuba dive so i can retrieve the ones that don't pay off.
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/6923/bugscw5.jpg
Go to ebay and type in "drill mixer" and look at some of the things that you can hook to an electric drill to mix concrete, paint, etc.....you might want to mix it a little loose or get a big drill....I also found out that if you start with more water in the bottom of the bucket and only add a little concrete it will be very loose and then slowly finish adding the right amount of concrete that it's much easier to mix that way.....good luck and don't let it work you too hard...