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paulagc

How to build a pea gravel pit

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Woo-Whooo! That B.S. in Aerospace Engineering was worth it!



Yeah, but I see you prefaced it as a WAG. Typical engineer. :o:P I pulled out my old Means and actually looked it up.:);) Have to admit though, you were pretty close.



Well, if I would have gotten out my converstion tables and scientific calculator, it would have been a SWAG, rather then a WAG.

... buuut, seeing as how pea gravel can range form 1.2 to 1.5 (guess) tons per cubic yard and the guys at the rock quarry are going to sell it to you by the ton rather then volume... going overboard on this is a great example of, "Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk and cut it with an ax."

Same thing, different words, I learned a long time ago things to do with this skydiving "stuff" ain't rocket science!

;)

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Half a sphere would be 7.66 yds deep at the center. Hell of a lot more digging than .5 yds for a flat bottomed cylinder.



And seeing as how its probably going to be a bunch of drunk skydivers digging that hole... just try to get them to dig a perfect half sphere in the ground.

Heck, if you told them to mark out a circle on the ground 7 meters in radius and dig it out to 1.5 feet in depth, I doubt they'd get that right!
:P:S:D

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Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk and cut it with an ax.



:ph34r::ph34r::ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

Mind if I steal that? I'll give you the credit.



You can steal it, but I can't take credit for it.

I'd venture to guess it dates back to some really old engineer... probably by the name of da Vinci,

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Of course if we could get everybody to hit the airport it would be an improvement huh?
How about 10 meters across, lined with plastic, 3 foot deep with 1 foot of gravel. We could put fish in it.
"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

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Take a trip to SD Temple to see how not to do it, and go from there. :D:P



The peas at Skydive Temple are fine but I keep on getting that annoying pea gravel in my shoes. Wouldn't be all that bad but since I land in the peas quite often....B|

Walt
Just a hint, those aren't "peas". It is some kind of aggergate.


Dude, please tell me that you didn't do something really vile in the peas!>:(

Walt

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Take a trip to SD Temple to see how not to do it, and go from there. :D:P



The peas at Skydive Temple are fine but I keep on getting that annoying pea gravel in my shoes. Wouldn't be all that bad but since I land in the peas quite often....B|

Walt
Just a hint, those aren't "peas". It is some kind of aggergate.


Dude, please tell me that you didn't do something really vile in the peas!>:(

Walt
If I did it wouldn't matter, it would just roll off. Considering that it is a "Pea mound" instead of a "pea pit". :o:P
"No cookies for you"- GFD
"I don't think I like the sound of that" ~ MB65
Don't be a "Racer Hater"

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***Do we dig?



No that leads to sprained and broken ankles when you hit the sides of the pit.

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Do we line it with sand or anything else?



Line it with some plastic or other weed control.

It sounds like it might be more accurately described as a "pea pile" rather than a "pea pit" - in other words, you lay the plastic (or equal) right on the ground with no digging, then put the gravel on top of the plastic. The pile has a depth of 1.5 feet in the center and maybe tapers down to the edges?

I can see where if you dug out a cylinder that was 1.5 feet deep everywhere, it'd be easy for somebody to get tripped up if they landed near the edge. The only other way that seems to make sense is the bowl idea, but it seems like you could still get a surprise around the edges where the gravel isn't as deep.

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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Well, I'll risk making a math fool of myself too...



(Message edited to try and correct my mistake.)

Yep, sure enough, I screwed something up. I knew that the surface area was the diameter times pi (same thing as the radius squared times pi), but I forgot to square the radius to get the diameter. Doh!Umm that circumference

So, I'll try again.

This time... I think...


ONe more time for good luck;)
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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Yep, sure enough, I screwed something up. I knew that the surface area was the diameter times pi (same thing as the radius squared times pi), but I forgot to square the radius to get the diameter. Doh!

So, I'll try again.

The diameter of a pit with a 7-meter radius is: 14 meters, converted to feet, and rounded up to get a dimension divisible by 3, for yards = 48 feet. So that's 16 yards diameter (48 / 3 = 16).



7^2 is 49, 7 x 2 is 14.

if 8 yards is the radius - I still get ~100 cubic yards.
Scars remind us that the past is real

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Thanks all for sharing your knowledge, info, suggestions, ideas and the great math refresher course. I really appreciate everyone's help.

Paula



So... are you gonna build a pea pit?

Let us know how much it cost and how much pea gravel it took for the sized pit y'all build... if you do decide to go ahead with the project. I do think the hardest part will be getting a bunch of drunk skydivers to do (good) cheap labor.

:P:D;)

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How many skydivers dose it take to figure out how much peas to order.....:ph34r:


It's bloody sad isn't it:ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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If you taper the edges of your pit slowly you will greatly reduce the effect of the gravel spreading out to a thin useless layer, and reduce the chance of ankels getting bit by the edge of the pit. Also DO NOT line your pit with plastic It will hold water. You don't want to be landing in a mossy moldy festering swamp. Instead line it with mirafi fabric (I think that is how it is spelled).

Death is so permanant, and I'm just not ready for that kind of committment.

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Dunno... why don't you go ask that bunch of jumpers over there trying to screw in that there light bulb...



Well I went over there to ask, but they was all doing some fancy kind of math to figure out how tall of a ladder they needed to reach it and how many skydivers are need to to hold said ladder......So i just took a cold :D and sat down to watch the show, when they get R done, I going to watch um spread pea gravel too.....after some more fancy math problems....:P
you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

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Ok, I have never built a Pea Pit before, but I am a residential contractor and work with foundations, fill dirt, fill sand, fill gravel all the time.

7 meters * 3.25 = 22.75 ft ^2 = 517.5625 sq ft * 3.1415 = 1626 sq ft = surface area, in square feet, of a 7 meter radius Pea Pit

1626 sq ft * 1.5 ft = 2439 cu ft / 27 = 90.3 cu yds = volume of said Pea Pit in, cubic yards, with depth of 1.5 ft.

This does not include any imperfections in your digging, or how accurately the trucks are loaded. So, in my area and with resources available here, I would budget 8 - 12yd trucks of pea gravel, which I can get for $600 per truck for a pea gravel budget of $4800.

Again, I have never built a Pea Pit, but I would argue that the gravel only need to be a couple inches deeper than the deepest divot ones knee would make on landing. I would think about 9" would be sufficient. If so, the numbers would drop to 45 cu yds, or 4 - 12yd trucks, and $2400 for pea gravel.


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All right all you math and light bulb geniuses...now I need some additional facts and calculations:

Assuming I'm going to dump a 1 1/2' pile (of washed, real pea gravel) on the ground, tapered at the edges, on top of some kind of landscaping cloth that allows water to pass through, in a clear area, free of turbulence, but clear of the swoop lane, but not too far of a walk that no one will use it [see, I've been paying attention], with about a 7 meter radius (erring on the smaller side is fine, to save $$ and it's really not for regulation competitions, just to try to get our jumpers to be able to hit a target)...I need to know the following:

1. How many lbs/tons of rock to do I buy...(hmm...I've never bought rock myself...I don't really know how you order it...weight, truck load, ???)

2. Assuming we're going to pick it up ourselves, in a full-sized long bed pick up, how many truck loads? Or, is it more practical to have it delivered?

3. How many skydivers, equipped with shovels, will it take to shovel out the truck (assuming we do it ourselves), calculating the amount of rock to shovel, and the average amount of work that one skydiver, working for free, is capable of doing

4. Most importantly, how many cases of beer do I have to buy to get this done?

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