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12-18 ft willow oak branches. Bases about bigs as my calf. 3 per bucket lashed together and tied to bottom of buckets with lots of drilled holes. Will put some large rocks in buckets. Question is will some bottles tied in tops help them sink and stand upright?
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It will probably take more weight to get them to sink than you think so go more weight rather than less if there is a question as to how much it will take. I doubt you can get enough large rocks into the buckets with the branches in there too to get them to sink effectively. They will sink eventually but they may drift from where you sank them before they settle on the bottom. You might use pea gravel instead. You could probably get more in and around the limb bases in the bucket that way, but I still think you'll need at least an additional concrete block or so. I think to some degree it depends on how deep of water you intend to sink these in as to whether the jugs will help hold them up. I once sank some in Greers Ferry fairly deep and then put an underwater camera down to see if they stood up like I wanted them to and the pressure had just crushed the jugs that I tied on to the tops and it didn't appear to have helped. There are more people with far more experience than I have at this on here that I hope will chime in.
Snag city!!!! I agree with Mac Daddy 100%. It's gonna be difficult to keep that vertical. You can try using a length of schedule 40 capped at both ends instead of bottles. Shouldn't have to worry about that collapsing from the pressure, but it will just make it that much harder to sink. If you are wanting a tall brush pile, try using bamboo in your buckets and then fill with concrete. Drill holes in the lower segments of the boo so they will fill with water, and leave some of the top ones alone. That will help keep it vertical. I like this type of structure because you can make them as tall, short, thin, or thick as you want. I like to trim all the branches and just leave the stalks for areas that I plan to spiderrig, or to place near a larger pile. This will usually hold a thumper or two. Just my two cents...
I sink willows in much the same way. I use a 16" foundation block with the trunk of the willow in one of the holes in the foundation block and then use rebar tie wire to secure the block to the tree at the base. I do mine that way as I'm sinking into 30 feet of water and wanting my brush at the 10-15 foot depth. I don't have to tie bottles to keep them up right. I'm not sure about the density of a willow oak, but I would think they would sink much the same.
I got one off these I'm going to tear down soon
It's a cell tower with carbon fiber limbs
I figure it will make a nice long lasting condo
Bet it will. I just had never seen one of those. Good luck!
Just got em sank this afternoon. The bucket o rocks worked well, took em straight down in a hurry. All seemed to be fairly upright when I graphed em on the way out, will report back this weekend on if they stay. Thanks for the input