[TowerTalk] Digging the hole

[Chuck Lewis]

Andy,

It really depends on your fitness level. At age 58 (or so), and in the 135th
percentile on a treadmill test, I took me about three days, but that
included lots of rest stops, distracting phone calls, errands and plain old
procrastination. Not much gas in the tank when I was done; it was all left
in the hole. If you're a hockey player (you must be, eh?), work it like a
short bench with 90 second shifts: go like hell, then rest...then back to
work. Take lots of water and don't get into oxygen deficit.

My soil conditions sound like yours, except that the clay turned to sandy
clay, then to soft sandstone, then to impenetrable sandstone as I got down
to the bottom. It slows down to a crawl when you start to hit the sandstone
:>{ . You really ought to have a few more data points. As usual, YMMV!

Setting up the forms to hold the rebar cage and getting everything level and
plumb took another 4 or 5 hours (mostly re-rechecking my measurements and
levels many times! If I were to do it again, I bet I could cut the time in
half; but "that's life in DIY-land"!

Chuck, N4NM

----- Original Message -----
From: "VeeAthreePL" <va3pl at cuic.ca>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 6:57 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Digging the hole


> Just wandering how long (in hours perhaps) it will take to dig 4 X 4 X 6
> feet deep hole in medium to heavy clay using just hand tools like a
> shovel and stuff by one person. I am looking for ball park number of
> hours in order for better planning to put up my TX-455 crank up tower.
>
> 73 de Andy - VA3PL
>
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