I am building a 2.5-3 acre pond. They begin tomorrow. I am planning on building a dock for the boys to fish off of but also to swim off of. Should I build a floating or stationary dock? Water levels can fluctuate here in MO a few feet throughout the summer.

What would you prefer?

Thanks.

Bowfisher

Welcome to PBF

My pond is a year old and not full yet. I had a floating pier/dock built. I guess I would have to say that I like the floating dock idea, even though it will lean a little until the water level comes up more. I do like the idea of being close to the water no mater what level does. Mine still has to come up 5' more to be full just weigh both before doing it


Pat W

Here is a thread on docks where you might find some useful information.

Adding a dock

This is the specific post of that thread with pictures of my dock.
snrub's dock

It is a combination with a fixed dock, then a floating section on the end connected by an 8' ramp. We like it.

Wife and I battled that same question. We ended up putting in a fixed T-dock. Like you we were worried about the fluctuating water levels but ended up with the fixed b/c it is a lot harder to put in after full pool. Lot easier to add on with floating like snrub did.

I slightly prefer a fixed dock (stability), but to be honest I am running into a problem finding a professional dock builder to do it. I've spoken with two dock building companies and they both said the way they do a fixed dock is with a barge. One guy has a 37 foot barge and the other a 28 foot barge. And they don't think they can launch a barge that large into a 4 acre lake with no ramp. So I may have to go with a floating dock (like shown below), which wouldn't be the end of the world.

My vote is for a stationary dock. If fluctuating water levels become an issue, you can easily add a floating extension to the fixed dock.

I used my 19 yr old grandson to help me build a 12x16 floating dock. I used 55 gal drums for floating the pier. I set it up where I attach a hand control trolling motor to move the pier around the pond when needed. And it works like a working barge or platform when placing or adding structure around the pond. And it can be moved to the center of the pond for a place for the teenagers to swim or sunbath off of. U can't do any of the above with a fixed pier. And it is pretty stable, not perfect but I have little to no skills when trying to be a builder or mechanic. So all in all I'm good. I am thinking about building a floating walkway to extend the pier past the 16' of pier I have now.
Tracy

I think that's a great idea. Might do it myself!

May sound crazy but I purchased a used 28 ft. pontoon boat with a metal top and no motor to use as my dock. I will build a simple wood walkway from the bank about 16 ft. out to it and attached with a hinge bracket for water flucation. It also will be stabilized on each end to the shore with metal rods attached to posts buried in the ground.Electricity can easily be run out to the boat for house boat living if needed.

+1 on the combo boat/dock idea!

Great ideas! Thanks. I am leaning toward a permanent structure with an attached floating dock. They are digging as we type, so excited!

Bowfishersmith,

Just some food for thought....Considered making that floating section detachable with a mount for a motor? After reading this thread, it sure does sound handy to have a little barge you can move around should you ever need a work platform for spreading herbicide, placing structure, etc.

In a pond with fluctuating water levels (more than a foot or two) I like a floating dock. But, that depends on what you will be using your dock for. If it's just a sitting and swimming dock, a fixed dock will work with a ladder to get out of the water. If your pond doesn't freeze solid, it's difficult to put a fixed dock in "after the fact" without a lot of equipment and expense. If the pond freezes solid with enough ice to walk on, sink the posts and build at least the supporting framework during the winter on top of the ice.

Zep, talk to Brian about his dock.

I used barrels for my floating dock, and have a few that are taking on water, even with siliconing the bungs in place. This summer I'll be swapping out the barrels for purpose built floats.

A floating dock has to be anchored or tethered so it doesn't move side to side with heavy winds.

Thanks esshup. Al told me a bit about it.
Can't wait to see the finished project.
I called the installer name he provided,
and I think the number was disconnected.
I also e-mailed their home office and they
told me they could not provide any installers
name in north Texas.

bowfishersmith,
Here is what we did with our fixed dock. We initially started using Brettski's design but found stainless steel connectors to be quite expensive. Ended up extending the concrete piers above the water line and using ZMAX connectors to attach the beams. We used 80lb bags of 5000 psi Quikrete, an electric mixer, and a 5-gallon bucket. Kicked the sides of the tube as we were pouring to even out the mix which worked extremely well.



Used 8" sonotubes with rebar, holes were augered to depth of 4'


Rebar consisted of 3 verticals (1/2") wrapped with mesh to keep it in place



Beams attached to columns, consisted of 2 2"x8" glued and nailed/screwed




The entire job was very labor intensive but we have been quite happy with the results. Top of the dock will set about 15" off normal pool. Still need to add the decking but the barn has taken priority as it is quickly turning into a 5 year project.

I also set the poles before the water level rose. Now that the pond is full and frozen, I used the ice for scaffolding. I really like the idea of an temp. attached floating dock for a platform. I will build it this summer.

RAH you've always had a cool dock.
It's party central!
I bet the kids love it.

They are off at college and are at that stage when they are establishing their independent lives. Kind of tough for mom and dad, but we are happy to see their lives developing. It is pretty cold now, but we are anticipating spring! Snow is falling and the mercury is dropping fast... I guess that term dates me:) Life is good

We built this floating dock. Our water level can change about 3 feet through the year. We have in water weights that hang from a pulley system that takes all the jounce out of the dock.

She is 16X16 with a 16X5 foot gain way.

Cheers Don.

Don,

My wife saw the pics of your dock and loves it. Her only concern is without a railing, some of our typical guests may take an unplanned swim after a cocktail or two!

Bill

This thread has been added to the Common Q&A Archives thread: Pond Docks, Piers, Jetties and Decks

Bill we have had 11 full sized people on this dock with out anyone taking an un planed swim but with the kids there is always an impromptus nudge.

If I was to build this same dock again I would have filled these barrels with water 30%. The dock would sit lower and have more mass that would make it more stable.

A seat/railing could be added for sure. I really like the idea of nothing smaller than 16X16.

Cheers Don.

EDIT: forgot to mention that that lovely gazebo did not make it a full year before the wind folder her up like a cheap lawn chair. We really liked it but could not keep it from wind. Now I just came across this picture from this summer. I now have two 10 foot umbrellas that we open up when we want shade and close them up when we are not down at the dock. They can spin 360* so we can shade the dock as the sun moves across the sky.

Don please describe your water weights. My floating pier is pretty stable but would water weights help even more? and haw are the pulley's designed??
Thanks
Tracy

My water level doesn't fluctuate much but I put in a floating dock because I could do it myself. Mine is a 4x8 walkway mounted to the shoreline with 6x6 posts then a 12x12 platform. All using floats/hardware purchased from dockbuilders.com

Thanks for all of the information. This has been great.

That's what we did... We used a large pin to attach to the walkway.

Dock Build Thread

The weights are 5 gallon buckets. One is full of cement and the other is 3/2 full. All were pored with a hook in them in the center. They are hooked together with air craft cable that is stainless steel. The outer most corners of the dock have the pulley hanging from it from my 6X6 block. The pulley is just a cloth line pulley 8". The one bucket stays on the bottom while the other hangs halfway from the bottom. This was done on both outer most corners of the dock.

When the dock then moves quickly up or down side to side the two pails need to pull through the water for the dock to move. These act like big dampeners cutting the movement in the dock by 70% maybe even more. They act as anchors too.

If my barrels were partly full of water they too would have to move up or down for the dock to move. With all that mass in the barrels it would have stopped all the movement in the dock.

Below is a picture of my first idea. I simplified it greatly with four five gallon buckets.


Cheers Don.

Has anybody with a floating dock had to dig out the area right under the walkway out to the dock platform? If I go with a floating dock my shorelines doesn't drop off very quickly and I am not sure I want those black flotation floats just sitting against the bottom of the pond or in 6 inches of water. To get the walkway to actually "float" I may have to dig a trench?

Zep, for me I had to take out some stone rip rap but my bank gos from 4/12 to 10/12 after the first 6 feet. See picture.

I think if you have a long long slow slope you may have to dig a trench in there some how.

When my gang way is on the mud the barrel on the end of the gang way is in the mud bottom too. The dock then hinges down. This is if we have over 40"s of water loss. This is the case for about 2 weeks in the summer.

Cheers Don.

Is there a reason why you can not just move your floats a little farther out from the shore? Would this keep the floats off bottom? And if the walkway becomes less stable by moving the floats out, you could add outriggers to the walkway. Out riggers like some canoes have. It might give you a wide area on the walkway to store some stuff.
Tracy

I have a floating dock and although at the time I thought it was a good idea I will be redoing mine to a fixed dock. They make a lot of pole platforms these days that have real wide bottoms to them so you don't even have to put the poles into the ground. Fleet and Farm sells all kinds of cool dock stuff. They even have poles that you can ratchet up or down depending where you want your dock v.s. water level. Or if one side sinks a little farther than the other when it settles you can adjust it by a few clicks on the other side and your good to go. The weight of the dock itself holds the poles in place. Only thing is you have to make sure your water does not come up so far it tries to float the dock off. Of course you can always anchor end of dock to shore. Bottom line is I like to have sure footing on my dock and I cant get that with a floating dock. Course I conned into using 30 gallon barrels instead of 55 maybe that would have made a difference I don't know. But I am 220 pounds and my parents would like to get on the dock and all also so I just need a more stable setup.

RC

Thanks RC. That's exactly my concerns.

Mine is 8' X24' and it moves a small amount by is pretty stable. I have store bought flotation that is rectangular shape ( also good for FHMs to spawn on). And I built in overkill into the floats


The "T" is 8X24

Pat did you buy the blue colored floats? A buddy of mine builds docks on Olin Lake in Kentucky and that is what they use. The Army Corp of Engineers dictate the materials and construction for Olin. He said they are around $100 each and can support a huge amount of weight.

Bill

Will try to find out more info from the guy that built it, these units are black.