Has anyone ever made dock benches using brackets like these ?

I like it, RobA....and at $15 per unit, the price is fair. Is S/H fairly priced?

I have used them a time or two. They work Awesome! I just use the ones from menards though, they only cost $9 each with no S/H.

Jeez those docs are beautiful.

OK, now ya got me thinkin....
and, you dropped my favorite buzz word: Menards

Is that price at the store? I looked online and Menards has them for $34.99 a pair.

http://shop.menards.com/shop/outdoor/ben...ack/p-58149.htm

Nate this is very close to what I want to build for a dock on my pond. Is this a floating pier? if so how is it anchored?

I'll bet Nate's answer is yes and it's anchored by those 2 posts where the pier is on shore. It looks like the Dockbuilders corner braces with hinges at that end....

That looks great Nate!

That is my thought also but just making sure I didn't miss a trick or two

I'll bet that I did, but I'm curious to see how close I got it.

esshup is exactly correct, brackets picked up at our local store, dockbuilders hardware, floats, and hinge kits, and the dock is firmly attached to the 6x6 posts which are 4 feet in the ground.

If you hinge and firmly attach a floating dock to shore than you typically cannot put poles on the dock out in the water if your water level fluctuates. If you would rather use poles than you cannot firmly attach the gangway to shore, you need to let the gangway slide a bit as the water goes up and down.

I very rarely use poles on a floating dock, because they add quite a bit of cost mainly. Just make the gangway 1/3 or more of the overall width of the dock and she will be rock solid.

Oh yeah, if your on a big lake with ice movement then you will need to use poles. This is just for ponds and small lake applications.

Also those deck bench brackets are so easy to use its not even funny. Just lag them onto the dock, space them 16 inches and screw deckboards right into them through the face. Directions call for using 2x4 or 2x6 material, but I just use deckboards and they look and work much better.

Nate:

For longivity, do you think using 2x6's for deck boards is worth the extra expense? Also, can you use a hidden fastner system with the standard deck boards or do you screw thru the top with a couple screws per stringer?

I very rarely use 2x6's for any kind of deckboards. typically I just use pressure treated 5/4 boards unless someone wants to use cedar, plastic, or weatherbest deckboards. I dont use composite boards very often, cause they dont hold up very well in a marine environment.

Nate

Thanks for the input. The plan is for on my pond so I plan on not doing the poles. Thanks for the hint on making the gangway at least 1/3 the width of the dock.

My dock is T-shaped (not a floating dock) and I was going to add benches around part of it. Similar to Nate's 3rd picture. It would be about a total of 24' of benches. At 16" on center that's 20 to 24 brackets depending how I handle the corners. I don't mind spending the money but at $25/pair that's up to $300. Seems expensive.

Saves lots of space on your dock though. I had one client buy one bench bracket and then just made a few replicas of the design out of wood that worked out pretty slick.

Just now getting around to collecting all the material to build the pier, and those brackets are now between $31 and $34 per pair at Menards.....

Nate, you said the walkway is minimum 1/3 width of the pier, but do you have a length that you wouldn't exceed for the floating part if the width of the "gangplank" was 48"?

I was hoping to have enough ice to build the pier on, but that ain't gonna happen this year. So, I'll build the framework on shore, attach the barrels and put the decking on while it's in the water. (at least that's the plan right now)

I remember some bit ago, a gentleman on this site made them out of metal (steel, I guess, or iron.) Anyway, they will be there forever.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=251643&page=1

Bluegillerkiller: Those are really awesome.

All you need is $100 with of strap steel, welder, vise.

And some talent.

Or one of these instead of a vise.

http://www.harborfreight.com/compact-bender-38470.html

I used mine to make a fireplace grate for a neighbor out of 5/8" and 1/2" solid square stock.

I have a really nice bender, all that would do is complicate things.. Basically I marked all my bends stick it in the vise 1/2" off the mark, put all your weight into and eyeball your angle and bend away.. 2 pieces (back and bench) then weld the 2 together.. Maybe 10-15 minutes apiece, waiting for the implement paint to dry took longer..