Skimmer at the Ready

I’ve always been a demon when it comes to getting everything having to do with my pond skimmers right: If they’re set up properly, they’ll work so well that you rarely need to think about them – and that’s always my goal, both for me and for my clients.

Trouble is, you usually end up securing the liner to the faceplate at a fairly awkward point in the installation process. By this time, much of the rockwork is in place, for example, so you have to work around it. In addition, the weight of the big rocks makes it harder to wrestle the liner into place, so much so that more than once I’ve wished it were possible to take care of this step earlier in the process.

As the video discusses, there’s also merit at this stage in thinking about the future and the possibility that the skimmer might someday need to be replaced. That’s why we fold the excess liner down instead of trimming it off, even though working with such heavy material in a confined space makes you want to reach for a knife – something, as the video suggests, you simply should not do.

All things considered, this really is a pretty simple step, and if you’re listening carefully, it seems that the local frogs are getting impatient with the process and can’t wait for us to add water!

To see in detail the process of affixing the faceplate and liner to the skimmer, click here.

Eric Triplett is founder and chief executive officer at The Pond Digger Waterscape Design & Construction in Yucaipa, Calif. He may be reached at eric@the ponddigger.com.