“We love our LakeMat, but we’re older and find it harder to move than we expected,” a customer said after getting an XL LakeMat Pro.
“The water is six feet deep at the end of my dock, how do I lift my LakeMat Pro off the bottom?” Another caller asked.
I wish they had called me first.
In deeper the water, smaller LakeMat Pros are easier to move. And you’ll want to move them about every four weeks to get rid of more lake weeds. When you move your Mat, you’ll clean the sediment off that’s settled on top of it.
I invented LakeMats Pros, I’ve moved lots of them. Speaking from experience, here’s the deal on which size to get.
We have five Mats to eliminate weeds at different depths.
XL LakeMat Pro 12’x24’
For shallow water to about three feet deep
Large LakeMat Pro 12’x19’
For shallow water to about five feet deep
Medium LakeMat Pro 12’x14’
For shallow water to deep water that’s over your head
Lily Hammer Mat 9’x14’ or 6’x14’ (Easiest to maneuver)
Also for shallow water to deep water that’s over your head
To eliminate lake weeds in shallow water, you can use any size Mat. But in deeper water, smaller is better. Here’s why.
They move sort of like airplane wings
Think of an airplane taking off with its wings angled up, slicing through the air gradually lifting the plane off the ground. That’s how you move a LakeMat Pro through water, you lift one end at a slight angle and pull it. It will rise up and slide through the water.
The deeper you go, the more water must be displaced. A smaller Mats move less water when pulling it off the bottom — just like a small airplane can lift off faster than a commercial airliner.
XL LakeMat Pro 12’x24’ The XL LakeMat Pro is our most popular size. It covers 290 square feet and it’s flexible enough to conform to variations in lake bottoms. But imagine turning something in water that’s twice as long as it is wide underwater. For water over three feet deep, you may want to consider a smaller size.
Large LakeMat Pro 12’x19’ In most situations this is my preferred size for a few reasons. It covers over 230 square feet, it’s much easier to move in deeper water. It’s more rigid, making it more responsive while moving it — kinda like “rack and pinion” steering.
If you have help, you can use this size in deep water at the end of your dock, Tie a couple lines from the Mat’s corners to your dock. Use the lines to lift it off the bottom.
Medium LakeMat Pro 12’x14’ It’s almost square. You can probably picture a square feeling much easier to turn than a rectangle. It’s rigid, and it’s easier to move something rigid than something flexible. Great size for any depth.
Lily Hammer Mat 9’x14’ For the “older couple” who wrote me, or for deep-water at the end of docks, this is what I recommend. It’s the easiest of all to maneuver for two reasons.
It’s the smallest, so it has to displace the least water to move it.
It’s made of special fabric that can’t absorb water. The super-strong, woven polypropylene is water- and gas-permeable, yet doesn’t add water weight and has very little stretch to it.
Finally the Lily Hammer Mat is the only one of these four that will hold you up in muck. Not quite as firm as a MuckMat Pro, but you won’t sink when you walk on it. Remember LakeMat Pros are for controlling lake weeds, not for holding you up in muck.
To have a firm lake bottom —and— get rid of your lake weeds see MuckMat Pro.
Thanks for reading!
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