So sunday me and my dad decided to take a trip down to the cabin and get started on building the 12x16 (not 16x24 sorry) floating dock. We had a little break in the below zero weather and it actualy got up to 38. It felt like summer. dad and i were able to get dock framed and decked. were goin back down this friday to finish it and build the ganway. I bought the 2x4 basic bench brackets and I am going to use those on the sides and ends closest to the shore. the end of the dock with the 4x4 posts is going to have a hand rail with some big 3inch diameter tug of war rope. also have electric line run underneath the dock for the lighting, and aerator here are some pics. will add more after we get it finshed this weekend

Here some other pics of the pond before it froze up and while it was filling

The things we do when its winter.... looks like the ultimate FHM breeding ground

Boy, that's one pretty piece of country ya got there, RJ. I want more pics of the "cabin"...looks more like a home.
The dock looks great. Will you leave it in the water from here on in?

Thnaks guys! I bought the property back in august of 2009 and it didnt look anything like it does now! I too out a tuck and trailer load of scrap out, mostly old bent well case!Burned more stumps and junk then you could imagine. Beath the heck out of my yanmar 1700 brush hoggin! the guy who owned it preavously used it as dumping ground for all his crap! Im swear i picked up ove 5oo beer cans! lets just put it this way the neibors were so thankful i bought it, and they got rid of the old guy they couldnt thank me enough. Butas far as the dock I am going to mount solid eye bolts through the front braces and will use them to hook the tow straps up to the dock and the truck be able to roll it out useing the drums as wheels so I can stain it or do maintenace on it.

Here is a sneak peak at the cabin pics quick start to finish lol. will post more in another post today

Wow! It looks a whole lot different now than before! I like the hanging farm implements, were they found on the property during clean-up?

How far apart did you put the joists for the dock (over the barrels)? What size lumber did you use 2" x ?

Great looking pond and cabin, I'm also a big fan of the Gambrel roof.
That's some dock, you could put a cabin on it.

Looks like the outter frame is 2x6 and the inner framing is 2x4 but im also interested in the framing doesnt quite look like their evenly spaced looks like they spaced 2 over each barrel then spaced them 2 an even amount from the next 2 if that makes sense lol..

The construction is 2x8 out side frame with 2x4 in side joists. The 4 16 foot 2x4s are spaced 37 inches apart so the barrels would stay in beteen them. I went 37 inches over from the sides for the blue sections, then for the white i went 18.5 inches to the right and left of the center so that section of barrels was righ down the middle. The 12 foot 2x4 floor joists are spaced 17.5 inches on center that was the distance that the barrels would hit on the florr joists and not on the decking. I had to move the far last 2 floor joists toward the 4x4 post back toward the shore because i couldnt get my 4x4 posts in (trial and error, first docks always the toughest) Then I used 16 foot 5/4 boards for decking, heled with hot dippep ring shank galvanised nails out of the framing gun. This is the website i got the idea from and just modified it for my project. http://www.instructables.com/id/Floating-Dock-with-Barrels/

Esshup, didnt find any of the old farm stuff on property, but have been finding alot of cool old bottles. I found a HEINZ honey jar that is real old in the crick. Most of the farm stuff came from, flea markets,estate sales, and garage sales. out on the harley see somthin cool for sale and try to figure how and the heck i was gona get it home lol. Most expensive peice I bought was the old grain shuvvel on the barn for 20$ I liked it so I popped

So this past weekend did not go as planned! I had a interesting weekend at my place to say the least. got down there to find all the freezing rain and rain we got hwere in ohio melted the snow and th water running off my hill sides down into my pond decided to melt most of my ice where the dock was at. so my building the dock on the ice project has now turned into draging the dock up in the yard with my truck in 4x4 low, after i slipped and fell on a frozen pile of gravel and worked in the rain all weekend, pain in the butt project! lol will put pics up in the morning. after this weekend and the last 2 nights at work, I am sleeping in!

So here are pics of the dock sitting in the yard, with some more work done. I had to drive my Polaris ranger on to the dock in the pond to get the barrels to bust through the ice. used the truck ramps to drive it out on to it.

Had some problems with the bench brackets, I was shorted some hard ware,and had to drill out some of the holes for the hardware to work but over all they werent bad to use and the end product will be worth it!here are some pics of the bench bracket benches coming together. I didnt get as much done as I wanted to this weekend due to the weather, but managed to get a little done.

Nice benches....where did you get the base brackets?

How bout a pic of the whole thing.. Looks awesome man.. PM-sent

Hey Dracor, I bought the bracket kits from Home Depot on line. here is a link: http://www.homedepot.com/buy/lumber-comp...sand-52702.html

BGK that is as far as I have got. Going down this friday to finish it. hopefully! PM replied

Thanks for the link roadjoker...they look great....benches are sweet!

roadjoker, what kind of fish you raising?

Thanks Dracor, right now in my pond im raising a whole of Ice and Water! lol. Dug the pond in August and it didnt fill up until the week of Thanksgiving. But this spring I am going to stock with RES, BG, HBG, CC, Albino CC, and a LMB.
I seen now there ofering free shipping on those brakets. here is a link to the company who makes them 2x4 basics wich was bought out by Blitz.
http://www.2x4basics.com/dekmate-products.asp
There nice but kinda pricey at 15$ each, but that does include all your screws bolts and hardware. and good directions

very nice work, RJ22

Also RJ22 leave the HBG out if the equation.. Atleast do your research. And if you really wanna do things right you'll raise your forage fish well before you stick predators..

Thanks Brettski.

BGK whats the reason for no Hybrid Blue Gill?

Just start a thread on what to correctly stock.. Before you do anything.. You can ruin your pond by incorrectly stocking and that would suck when youve came this far..

Dindt get as much as i had planned to but the weather was nasty and took sonme time looking over a new 2 wheeled toy. Decided to buy a 2008 DR650 enduro off the neigbor to add to my collection of Bikes. But here are some pictures of the rope I put up around the dock. Also spent time building my aeration system and compressor/dock box indoors at the cabin. hope to get more done Friday.

What size is your pond?

Nice looking dock, I like it!

Bossone, the pond is around 3/4 acre and average depth of 10 to 12 feet with the deepest spot being 15.

Thanks JHAP its coming together but not as planned. had weatehr in the 70's fridat and my frozen ground is now a mud bog! didnt get much work done on it this weekend, but did managed to ge the lights wired and mounted!

RJ,
Picked up my barrels yesterday, Its amazing the price difference between Menards and Home Depot almost $250 cheaper at Menards. Those deck boards are where they get you..

my barrels were filled with vanilla flavoring, and the others where filled with a coagulant aluminum something, I sprayed them off and the water turned to gel on top. I gotta get them cleaned pretty good and sealed up real tight. The vanilla smells good though lol

BGK, I know what your saying on those deck boards! I buy almost all my lumber from Menards. I still call around for prices, and menards always blows home depot and lowes out of the water on prices and the quality of the lumber. Ya and about those my buddy works at a dairy and he gave me about 5 barrels that were full of vannilla flavoring. smelled real good! A 3/4 pipe thread PVC plug works great for the center of those bung plugs. I also used silicone on the threads. probaly over kill but didnt want thise leaking. The plugs were cheap. like 4 for a buck.

Road thanks for the follow up. I have a half acre pond and I would like to have a dock as well. As N8ly told me not having a dock is like having a peanut and jelly sandwich without the jelly.

How far out the water do you think the barrels will keep your dock? Some I've seen really puts them up high, depending on the weight I guess.

Bossone that sounds about right. lol. The dock was actully already floating in the water and it sat up out of the water im guessing 18 to 20 inches. we had some rain and the water coming of the hillside that feeds my pond melted the ice and the dock was floating. I was sitting on the end with my muck boots in and the water was above my ankles.

Mine also came from a dairy. I have a couple that dont have the caps, but my barrels are wierd one side is fine thread the other is coarse, so it could be real fun finding caps.. I planned to silicone mine also.. My holes are alot bigger than 3/4 maybe 1 1/2 will work on the coarse one.. Thanks for the tip.. Did you say you got 15 barrels under your dock?

BGK, I have the same barrels. the inside of those caps are threaded for hose hook ups or valves if you look close the centerof the plastic plugs are very thin and some times at the dairy up here they pop tiny holse in them to vent the barrel so the liquid flows out easier. a 3/4 PVC pipe lug fits in there great. I am not sure why they make the barrel threads coarse on one side and fine on the other but mine are the same way. I need 6 of the plugs myself lol (3 fine 3 coarse). Curently there is 15 under my dock but im going to put 27 under it for more stabilty. it works out to be 3 rows of 9. might be overkill but I want it to be as stable as possible and 27 barrels is the most that will fit under there.

The guy i got them from said his buddy built his dock with them and filled the barrels with expanding foam, would even need lids then and more bouyant..

Also i think im framing mine in 2x12 to hide the barrels a little better.. Do you have any pics of yours floating. I wanna make sure the weight of the 2x12 that ill still be plenty out of the water, or i might be getting somemore barrels also..

Hey BGK, where can you get that expanding foam and whats the price on it? also here is a link for the weights of boards I used to figure out the weight of my dock. unfortunatly i didnt have any pics of it floating should woulda coulda and didnt. http://www.brownlumberservice.com/PDF/lumberweight.pdf

2x8x12= 53 pounds
2x8x16= 70 pounds

2x12x12= 79 pounds
2x12x16= 106 pounds
246 pounds with the 2x8 frame and 370 pounds with a 2x12 frame. 124 pounds aint nothin

The foam is expensive.. His buddy had a company that installed it.. You can get kits from insulation companies though if your still interested.. Thanks for that info..

Well if my calculations are right my dock should be able to support 6750lbs minus the weight of the barrels.. I cant get that link to open to see how much weight i will have in lumber on it.. My dock is going to be 12x16 i was thinking 3 rows of five, but i dont even see how that will fit under mine. I just have to get it laid out to find everything out..

PRESSURE TREATED LUMBER WEIGHT PER BOARD
8' 10' 12' 16' 20'

2 X 4 17 21 26 34 43
2 X 6 26 32 38 51 64
2 X 8 35 44 53 70 88
2 X 10 44 55 66 88 110
2 X 12 53 66 79 106 132
4 X 4 38 48 58 77 96
4 X 6 56 70 84 112 140
4 X 8 75 93 112 149 187
4 X 10 93 117 140 187 233
4 X 12 112 140 168 224 280

it goes in order 2x4x8= 17 pounds 2x4x10=21 and so on. i had it all spaced out right but when i submit it the forum puts it the way it wants it lol.

That link works ok on this end but,thats what the link looked like but in excell form. My dock is 12'x16' i need to go back and fix that typo. 15 drums fits under there with ease. right now i have one outside row of 9 and the middle and other side has 5 each. the side with 9 barrels fit fine. still waiting on the rest of the barrels to lift it agian to slide the other barrels under the middle and the other side

Guys, just remember that a barrel will have roughly 8.3 pounds of bouyancy for every gallon that it will hold. BUT, that's with the WHOLE barrel just barely submerged, minus the weight of the barrel. Figure out how far down the barrel your dock boards will come; if the barrel is 24" dia., and I was using 2x12's for outside "stringers", then I'd only figure on each barrel having a floatation capacity of 220 pounds (half the barrel total flotation capacity, minus 8# for the weight of the barrel.

Make sure you have something strapping the barrels to the underside of the pier. If a barrel pops out it's a bear to get them back in.

Well ive been studying around online. It seems like some of the best built barrel docks have the barrels mainly wrapping the edge then just using a couple to hold the middle up, Which makes sense..

essup that makes sense being that using the 2x12 framing it will be closer to the water, o using the 220 punds per barrel should be a good estimate inorder to keep that framing out of the water under load.

BGK your deck 12x16 with out any post just framed and deck will way roughly 1400 lbs and the barels will be 120lbs. I figured it out using that weight sheet. that is just a 12x16 platform. I figured out mine with the 4x4's and the benches and brackets weighed about 2600lbs and it floated fine with 500 pounds of humans and a 1200 pound polaris ranger on it. so 15 barrels were holding 26000 pounds of wood and 1700 pounds of weight on top. and my frame was about 10 to 12 inches out of the water.

RJ, Do you have your sitting in the water now on 15 barrels? IF so could you take a measurement from the water to the bottom of your outter framing?? also and see what the difference or drop is if you stand directly on the corner..? Could you feel it actually sink any when you sat in the bench's? I think i might be starting to overthink this but i really dont wanna put 2x12 if there gonna be sitting in the water everytime me and a couple of people are on there.. Im thinking i might just ad 5 more for the even 20..

BGK my dock is sitting on shore right now, but whem it was in the water it definatly sank down when my dad and I were in the corner. didnt sink down to the frame, but sank down enoguh that i want to add more barrells just to make it as steady as possible. Im positive my dock would be fine with 15 barrels but i figured if the barrells are free im going to add the extra ones under it.

Yeah I'm gonna do 3 rows of 7. Final answer lol

BGK that should work great, PS harbpr freight has 20'and 25' ratchet straps for holding the barrells in place for like 4$ each. Im gona run 2 for each row. just so i dont have to fight with loosing the barrells

Yeah i havent even begun to think of how im gonna attach them.. But ratchet strap would wear out rather fast i would think.. I got some really thick aluminum wire i might use to tie them up some how. Its the same wire they use to anchor power poles..

Ya im not planning on leaving the ratchets straps on just using them to get the dock in out of the water. If those drums pop out from underneath that dock while its sitting on the pond. I either got hit by a tornado, or got drunk and brought home 25 fat girls to dance out on it! either way i dont think any kind of tethering system is going to work for thos situations lol! i would be amazed if thos drums poped out with the weight of that deck on there

If enough people stand on one corner of the dock, the opposite corner might lift off of the water and a drum might float out. Stranger things have happened!!

Haha.. Them drunk big girls know how to tare some stuff up.. I would definately attach them permanently some how. If you do lose one it will be impossible to get back under it..

I wouldn't say impossible. Difficult maybe. Unscrew a bung, fill it with enough water so you can get it under the pier. Orientate it so the open bung is at 6 o'clock. Run an airline to it and fill it up with air, displacing the water. Screw on bung and you're done.

The bung ain't flush with the bottom. You'd I've to pump it out

I know, you wouldn't get all the water out, but it'd be better than having the drum sitting outside of the pier!

Or

Get all the hefty ladies back on the corner and shove it back under when it lifts up off the water again.

The second idea I think is our smartest yet lol

If a drum does pop out this dock isnt hard to move. i built it this way so it could be removed from the water to be stained and worked on. All you do is hook it up to the the truck and drag it out it rolls good already had to do it lol. Im just not convinced these drums will pop out. lol im gona have to find out the hard way. BGK with you using 2x12's there is no way that drums coming out. But on the other hand what the heck is a little more work securing them in the long run. I might end up changing my mind lol.

Oh yes this would definatly work! as long as there is beer and a video camera for YouTube! LOL

Picked up some good 3M sealant for my barrels today. Also got the local Lumber company to match menards sale price and deliver for free
about $375 in lumber, I should be able to do this for around $600.. Im also building my own bench brackets which will only cost me about $100 for 12..

Rain, Rain, go away and come back after i get my dock built and its in the water!! Mother nature can be a real pain in the butt some times. Tryed working on the dock for the last 3 weekends nothin but rain and mud. whate a joke!

Looks like its gonna be center stage for many a parties!

Well done. I like it.

That is a job well done. Like the livewell.

Nice! After a long cold winter, the green sure does look good.

Here are the videos of shoving the dock in with the dozer.had to use the dozer because the truck got buried trying to push it in! It has been a muddy mess the last month but the docks in the water and floats. going to set the walk way post this weeknd. PS: BGK the barreles are held in place by stainless steel cable incase the fat girls show up un annouced!
The yard is the next project, i belive one dozer and a semi trailer full of grass seed should do the trick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UV8xIesJt4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv1DJr9UKaw

I almost forgot about the first boat on Millers Pond
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy-qortZC0s

First off unannounced and invited are to different things my friend second the dock looks great.. How much spacing did you do on your bench brackets?

Ya it all depends on if its a weekday or weekend day. Along night at cross-roads tavern could lead to UNWANTED invites of large unwanted sun-bathers lol. I ran the bench brackets 12" on center in the corners then 16 on center on the front and sides. this is what they recomended in the instructions. the corners just come together with nothing under them so that why they want you to run 12" in the corners. also put a cleat where the angle meets in the corner so it didnt pinch any ones rear end.

I'm definatley gonna be pushing the spacing on mine, I'm kinds worried about the boards sagging over time.. Back will be at 24" centers sides will be close to 32"

I might end up with 2x6 benches just too be safe

Where'd you get your stainless cable..?

The benches on my dock are 2x6 with 2x4 back board and a 5/4 board for the hand rail. the stainless cable i picked up at a local hardware store here in ohio. they were cheaper then the big box stores some how. but lowes, TSC, Menards or Home depot should have it in the hardware section. I also used 2 eye bolts on the dock and a threaded turn buckle it has 2 eye bolts and a threaded block between them and you tigthen it to draws the wire tight. I need to post the pics of my walk way it turned out good. I used farm gate hinges for the conectors to conect the dock to the walk way and the walk way to the 4x6's that aare cemented on the shore

The dock is in the water, electric up and running, walkway is attached to the dock and my walk way posts are in the grond, cemented and drying.here are some pics

Sweet! Are you going to have the gangway on any type of hinge in the unlikely event of a drastic change in water level, due to a drought, flooding, or a need to drain your pond? Any future plans for a light right above the water to attract fish for night fishing? Looks like a place where many cherished memories will be made. Very nice.

Thanks Roadwarrior. Yes the dock and the gangway are hinged. also the dock can be taking off the gang way in about 5 minutes so it can sit on the bottom or be pulled out if i ever drain the pond. also the ganway can be taking off both the dock and support poles and pulled up on shore. I did this so I can pull the dock and gang way up on shore and do maintencae to thethem,such as staining/water proofing/ replacing barrels. Definatly will be a a great place to hang out in the summer. about the lighting you cant see it in the pics i have posted but i have (2) 500 watt halogens pointing down into the water on the out side of the 4x4 on the end of the dock. when my wallet recovers a little bit i would like to get one of those underwater green lights.

Very nice dock and thank you for posting all the pictures, very nice. I was interested in hearing how easily or difficult this bugger would roll on them barrels? This has given me a great deal to think about with my own dock design. I can see how I could assemble mine on land and roll it into the pond once built, would simplify my construction and allow me to work on it over the summer.

Also, where did you find free barrels??

Thanks JoeG, My freind works at a dairy here in ohio and they have to pay to get rid of them so he brought me all that I wanted. his boss was very happy! I could have pushed the dock in with my tractor but it was to muddy couldnt get any traction

Hey roadjoker, did you frame your dock up so your barrels are suspended below and not touching the deckboards? My neighbor seen me out building mine and stopped by he told me whatever I do keep the barrels off the deckboards the deckboards will bow and pop through the screw heads..

I built small rectangle frames out of 2x4 for my barrels to sit in. These frames sit perpendicular to the joust. You could also position the joust closer together so that the barrels sit on two joust instead of going inbetween them and hitting the deck boards. I'd think that the entire dock would sit too low in the water if the barrels were against the deck boards. You're gonna want the dock to sit off the water to allow for it to be loaded down when people are on it.

I built mine with the barrels 1" below the deck boards. I had me, my buddy both my kids and girlfriend on it and it was still out of the water (I wasnt expecting it to stay out of the water under a heavy load)

BGK yes I built them so the drums were about 1 inch under the deck boards so that it dint pop up my decking. had 11 people on mine and she hardly moved. very happy with the stabilty of the dock' its finaly done. i have LED solar lights all the way around it and it looks like a runway at night on the pond lol.

Good call.. I was gonna do lights, but i know when I nightgown off the boat I have to keep lights to a minimum because bugs become unbearable.. Also I only ended up using 21 barrels.. And 2 where the pier meets the dock and I have to say it's pretty damn sturdy, so I imagine yours is like a solid mount dock..

Have you considered a Bo-Jo Light. It will provide light but also knock the bugs into the water. You should be able to google it and find some videos on it.
http://lakework.com/cart/index.php?p=product&id=12&parent=2

Oh yeah... I plan on building one.. Using rechargeable weedeater motor and solar. Just need to figure out how to contain and hide it all in a lamp fixture.. (next winter project)

Finaly got a chance to post some Pics of the finished dock. got it mounted and the electric trenched and hooked up. here are the finished pics of the dock that we started building on the Ice lol and finished in the yard! thanks to all couldnt have done it thith out you guys. Now its time to startr working on grading the yard oyut and putting in grass seed

Neat place

Very nice, joker! Thanks for the pics.

Nice job ! Water looks good too.

Thanks Guys.