Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Floating or fixed dock in mucky river?

Hi
I'm a complete newbie. My wife and I own a house on a river in southeast Wisconsin. Large muck buildup over the past 7 years has resulted in a possible dredging project that may put our dock/pier up for redesign/relocation in order to reach a planned dredged channel.
My question is, with a bottom that has 2-3 feet of muck, if we replace the dock/pier should we be better off with "floating" or "fixed" type, given the amount of existing muck and the possibility more muck will eventually be added?

PS - winter ice poses almost no problems as we are on a bay and ice movement is minimal to non-existent. We have not removed our existing dock once in 7 years with no damage.

Any advice is welcome.

Thank you,
JRP

I can't say what's right for you, but we did ours on the ice and used augers on the pipes then screwed in a couple feet into solid earth.

Being on a river you'd need to take ice flow into consideration so a floater may be best for you.

I've had both fixed and floating and I prefer fixed if the water table changes aren't very severe. In my mind that's the #1 benefit to a floating dock...your dock floor to water surface ratio stays the same year round. A fixed dock is a great solution but if you have significant water height fluctuations you can find yourself either many feet from the water surface or inversely with a dock that is under water.

A floating dock with a pivoting ramp that can be moved based on the position of the water table is very versatile - but at least in my experience the maintenance costs are higher. But they have the added benefit of being fairly simple to install on an existing BOW - whereas a fixed support dock has numerous challenges if the BOW is already at full pool.