JimH wrote:
"Don White" wrote in message
...

JimH wrote:

The weather looks great for us this Memorial Day weekend and we may take
the boat out Saturday and Monday. I also want to give my son some first
hand experience to see how stupid some folks can be on the water and
figure this will be a great opportunity for it. I will be at the helm as
I know how crazy it will probably be.

He received his boating safety class certification over the winter by
attending the Power Squadron classes and I want to give him some on
water time fine tuning instructions before I allow him to take it out on
his own. I also plan to take him out (just him and me) next week to go
over docking and key features of the boat he needs to know.

The nicest day of the weekend (weather wise) is expected to be Sunday but
we will be happy being away from the boat that day...........that same
son of mine is graduating from High School that day and my daughter will
be home for the ceremony and celebratory dinner (that I am cooking). ;-)

So what are your plans?

Since Sunday should be sunny (maybe), I'll be busy building a pressure
treated fence along the east side of my backyard...where my garage was
until a couple of weeks ago. This week it's either raining or threatening
to rain...tough trying to set 4" x 4" posts in concrete.


If the ground is wet just dig out the hole to the appropriate depth for your
area, widen out the hole base to form a footer, fill it with 2" of gravel,
set the post inside of it and pour in the dry quick set concrete. Use a
pole to probe the concrete mix to make sure there are no voids. Now
sprinkle with water. The concrete mix will wick the water you sprayed onto
it and most especially from the cavity walls and will
set.................and set firm

I used this method for years in this northern climate when setting posts for
fences, decks and basketball posts and have never run into a problem. I do,
however, make sure my holes are set deep enough for my winter climate.


We'll be using 8" 'SonoTube' to set the post in and will fill cavity
remaining with the concrete mix. (eventually backfilling around tube
with earth) Here they recommend from 3.5 to 4 feet below grade to avoid
frost heaves. Digging holes that deep by hand can be tiring when
hitting large rocks, roots etc.