I have been noodling ideas of my future dock plans and could use some flexible creative ideas.

I have an initial need to feed my future fish and that is where a One barrel wide by 8 or 10 foot floating gangway or pier would come in handy to get the feed out from the bank. I don't know if I'll want any more dock than that long term, BUT...

1.) I don't know exactly where I want it which leads me to not install it in a permanent location just yet.

2.) It would be very cool if I could use my trolling motor to move it around on the pond (I think the nieces and nephews would get a big kick out of that). I could also temporarily anchor it in the middle for swimming too.

3.) The pond renovation is new and who knows where full pool will really be so allowing the pier to float allows for the full length to extend into the water.

I have read enough to be able to build an affordable floating pier, but I am looking for ideas on how to anchor it to the shore that would allow the anchors to be moved to a different side if need be, allow the dock to be untethered and floated around the pond, and allow for changing water levels.

My mind keeps coming back to 2 five gallon buckets filled with concrete (about 100 pounds each) and an eyebolt out the top of each for ropes/chains/cables. These would work like land anchors. I would imagine hand digging two holes so that the buckets would be about halfway in the ground for levelness and stability. The pier ropes could be pulled tighter for higher water levels and loosened for lower levels as the pier is pushed out to be entirely in the water. Maybe the first barrel is a foot or two out past the leading edge so that the frame would overhang dry land for ease of access.

This project is on a strict budget as I really don't need it, but it sounds to fun to pass up.

I have attached a quick sketch to help describe my ideas. I think this setup would have some periodic adjustments that would have to be made to keep it situated in the water just right as water levels change, but I am hoping the effort would be worth the flexibility it gains me.

All thoughts are welcome.

You would be hard pressed to walk the length of a one-barrel-wide dock as depicted in your drawing, but it sure would be entertaining to watch. I think you'd be better off finding a small derelict pontoon boat, 16 or 18' for a bargain basement price. Strip off everything above the chassis, refloor it with plywood or decking, attach your trolling motor and you're golden. Rather than concrete filled buckets, Harbor Freight has 18" earth anchors, they can be screwed in to ground level so you can mow over them if needed.

Walking a one barrel wide walkway would be like trying to walk the length of a canoe.

Just to clear something up. One barrel wide means the pier would be 36" wide, the barrels would be perpendicular to the length of the pier. With that said, I guess 3 feet wide would still be pretty unstable. How about five feet wide by 10 feet long like my new attachment shows? It might want another pair of barrels in the middle too?

2O2S, I like the idea of the screw in anchors, however, the area around my pond is VERY rocky. The pontoon idea has some good merit, I'll see what pops up for sale around here. I would what to keep the size down to keep from overwhelming the small pond, but at that point anchoring it to the shore could still be challenging.

Barrels (55gl) in that configuration result in a tippy unstable platform. Consider using more barrels end to end similar to the flotation & size of a pontoon boat (4-5 barrels each side). Have you read through the posts on Docks in the Archives Section?

Around here you can buy someones old discarded 15-16 ft bass boat for couple hundred bucks. Screw a deck over the top and away you go. If you get the trailer or motor with it you could sell it to cover your costs. Little redneck but would work and easy to move or moar to the bank. Wider the better for stability. Might think about a extra wide flat bottom boat also.

Look at dock floats, they are way more stable.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=431675&page=5

I still have mine gangways setting on concrete blocks and tied to ground anchors. I can use one to set out trees with a small trolling motor. Each 12x12 has 5500# capacity and very stable, it's like a small barge. I can also configure it in many different shapes but so far I haven't.

In a 1/4 acre, a 4x12 gangway and maybe a 8x8 would work great.

For anchors in water I used old tires filled with concrete with eye bolt in the center to attach chain. They were 160# each, but easy to roll to where I wanted to place them. Left anchor was attached to the right side of the dock, and right anchor to the left side. Crossed underneath, so don't have to worry about someone jumping on the chain.

QA

Here is my dock I built a couple of years ago, I've since added another stationary 16' section leading to the gang way and added benches. The dock is 12' x 16' and I have had a couple of people tell me it felt "wobbly", one of whom has spent his whole life on boats. That surprised me because it feels fine to me. I live near Lake Lanier and not too far from Lake Hartwell, Georgia's two largest lakes, and old pontoon boats are plentiful. I think this would be a great solution for very little money.

Thanks Brian for chiming in. I like the floats idea. Menards has some that are 4'x3' for about 100$ a piece. If I could pull the budget up I could use three of those to make a 4'x10'(or 12') floating pier. Flat floats and the wider girth would add to it's stability. AND the tire/concrete anchors will come I handy if it ever gets permanently installed.

I have also thought about putting two legs on the shore end that could act as stabilizers. I haven't thoroughly thought this out yet, but maybe a slip tube mounted to the shore side corners of the pier and a pipe that can be driven down into the bank with set screw style clamps to secure the pipe to the slip tube once it's in place. This would likely be uplifted in the event of high waters and have to rely on the land anchors to keep the pier from wondering too far, but actually beats one end of the pier being submerged as my pond, on occasion, use the 3 foot of freeboard in heavy rain events.

I guess what I am trying to do is build a Tom Sawyer raft that can be docked on shore (here or there) with some reliability. It will be a stationary pier 90% of the time and on occasion a motorized raft that will make for some good family videos.

2O2S - Fantastic looking rig you have there. If I ever get to converting my floating pier into a permanent "gangway and platform"...I want it to look that good. For right now, it would be nice to have a decent access for feeding fish and if the motorized function is a bit wobbly, the kids will enjoy it even more. You know how it goes..."Crazy Uncle Noel looses a nephew in the pond...nephew cries until he gets to shore, BUT has to do it again!"

Flame - I check my area for pontoons for sale and found some potential pieces, but 21 foot long was the smallest and that's too big for my tastes.

Bill, I have read plenty on conventional dock building. I find myself nonconventional all too often. I have done the internet searches on "Pond Boss etc etc" but I don't know how to get to the archives here directly.

Thanks for all the input - you guys know how to make a man think. Keep it coming!

If you build a "T" shaped floating dock, and have the very end detachable from the walkway with 2 pins or bolts, you can use the very end as a motorized "boat".

Having a narrow walkway (even 4' wide) without having it attached to something much wider is like trying to walk on a floating log.

I recommend having a "T" shaped end that is 3x as wide as the walkway.

Also, the side force that wind can put on a floating dock is substantial. It's a long lever arm.

Take a 8 or 10 pound sledge hammer. Grab it right under the head and hold your arm straight out in front of your body. Now hold your upper arm along your torso and just extend your forearm. Same relative forces on a floating pier.

Ask RC51 about making a floating dock that was long and narrow. Ask him how stable it was when he walked on it....

I would use 4 floats and go much wider. At least 8', but a you could get by with a 10x10, 8x10, 8x12. With four 3'x4'x18" floats you should have about 3800# total capacity, and 1900# useful capacity and be much more stable being wider.

Since it is a float, you can always "add" more sections or gangways.

QA,

The method you mentioned for anchoring it to the shore sound like what I did. Once you have your measurements HD or Lowes can cut and thread your pipe, I used 1/2" black pipe.

Dock and Walkway

Quarter Acre this is something you might look at doing. The hinge is either 7/8" or 1" round bar with a flange welded on the end.

That's impressive.

My goodness, there are some fantastic rigs out there! Very cool with all the steel work J...wig. I was thinking more like the attached...Well, maybe not quite like the photo, but the basic function.

My grandson who was 18 at the time, and I, build a 16x20 floating pier, using 9-55 gal drums, and has worked pretty good for the past 2.5 yrs. With a trolling motor, I can move it around the pond for different reasons, swimming, taking large cedar trees out to be sunk, along with other things. It's not perfect but is pretty stable. When at the shoreline, I use 2- 1" steel pipes driven into the ground and rope to anchor at each corner along with two 5 gal buckets of cement anchors at the lake side corners of the pier. Not perfect but I works pretty good. Hay, I am no carpenter nor am I a great wielder but I was still proud of what he and I accomplished.

For my fish feeders, I just built a few mini docks around the shore using old fence posts and hardware. Dirt cheap and they work great -- easy to fill the feeders!

I like that. I think I will build my feeder it's own dock so I won't have to mow around it. Great Idea.

Nice Dan! I'll put that in my memory bank as a good option as the small floating pier, with its less than likely success, must be put on hold for budget reasons (for now). I could scrounge up enough good stuff to put one of those together.