Hello Ian!
On 30 Sep 97, Ian Macaulay wrote to Roger Marshall:
 IM> Hell! My whole swamp area is only 800 foot by 200. Half of it is water.
 IM> I guess I'll have one of them STOL strips:-)
A more costly option is concrete or asphalt.  Asphalt's advantage is it's 
more flexible so it doesn't tend to crack as badly as concrete and it's much 
cheaper.  You could probably get by with a 4" concrete slab if you pour it in 
25'x6' sections.  Depending on the stability of your soil, you may get some 
uneven settling at the expansion joints, but you will want to tie the whole 
thing together with a wire mesh (heavy wire, not chickenwire).
A 25 foot by 600 foot runway would be about 5000 cubic feet, or about 185 
yards... not cheap... a truck mixer is 9 yards, which would mean 21 
truckloads... but if you've already put 50k into the project, another couple 
of grand isn't that much more.  Make that about 33 truckloads if you want to 
go 6" thick, which will be much more resistant to cracking (and is the same 
thickness used on non-truck freeway lanes (truck lanes are 12" thick).   By 
comparison, I poured a 3'x12'x6" slab in my yard for a small storage shed and 
landing for the gate.  I used 33 90# bags of concrete plus a bag of Portland, 
a few bags of pea gravel, and the framing materials, which ran me about $100. 
 I was able to borrow a small electric mixer.
Asphalt will require more frequent maintanence, such as resurfacing after the 
winter snows and spring floods, so over the years concrete may pay for 
itself, but I can certainly understand the logistics of getting that much 
concrete onto swampy property.
Ever consider building a scale carrier, using a scale catapult and tripwire 
recovery system, and only building Navy birds?  The other option is to use 
the recovery method that the military uses for their recon drones.... a 
verticle net is hoisted into the air and the plane is flown into it.  It has 
horizontal members at the top and bottom only, with loose 'ribbons' running 
up and down. Get the plane on a good glidepath to hit the net and kill the 
engine so the prop isn't turning when it hits.  Keep feeding elevator and try 
to stall the plane into the net. ~8-)
 IM> I am still thinking of a harder surface but Can't think of any other
 IM> excuse for building one except as a runway.  Must appease my wife with 
y
 IM> expenditures:-)
Disguise it as a large patio for entertaining any guests that she may invite 
over. ~8-)
C-ya! Rich
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