I'm installing thin rock (real stone, approx 3/4"-1.25" thick) using CSC-4. The bag says to mix in a certain amount of water for every 80lb bag, let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then add additional water as necessary. When I do this the mix seems very hard to move with the trowel - but I can never seem to get it to a point where it will stay on my trowel - either it's too loose, or too thick. I've watched countless YouTube videos but I'm at a loss. I've installed about 20 sq ft, but am concerned I'll run into issues with stones falling off years from now... Any advice?

Just Curious if road base is always needed. I live in Vancouver. Rains a lot. doesn’t freeze much. The house I own has been here 50 years and the driveway are a gravel dirt mix. Very well compacted. When the guy I hired to put in pavers came to dig out the driveway he didn’t put road base and only a 2 - 3” machine packed rough sand. He said my driveway was already packed enough. Of course, this guy was the cheapest and all the other quotes included a 4" road base. This guy didn’t have a "real" quote. Only an end price. So, the sand is laid out and the guys to install pavers are coming back next week. But it rained tonight and some areas of the packed sand sink up to an inch when I walk on it. Not all areas as I assume the areas that don’t sink have a good packed base under them. Common sense tells me if it’s a dirt and gravel mix depending on how much dirt is in that mix it needs a road base... Thoughts?