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Joined: Apr 2009
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I've attached a couple of pictures of the dock I'm getting ready to build. This will be my first dock, and I was hoping to get some pointers from an expert. It'll be 16 x 16, and I'd like it to place it in the middle of my lake by the dam, about 30 yards from the dam. We'll have to boat out to it, but when money allows I'm going to add a floating walkway. Our lake is surrounded by cattails, and I am trying to get far enough out in the water to fish all sides. It's a pretty deep lake, about 30 feet where this will be floating, so it'll make an excellent swimming platform as well.

It will be a floating dock, for which I have already gathered styrofoam blocks salvaged from the Lewisville Lake Marina. I also have a 20 foot piece of 6x6 angle iron 5/16 inch thick. I want to bolt all the corners of the dock to this to add stability, and I'll also be welding some half rings to it to attach some of those pvc porcupine things to. I was thinking suspending those underneath the dock will give fish a little bit of habitat. I'm also going to weld some posts to this to give us a place to tie our boats.

One suggestion I've had for the design is to put in some more wood underneath the deck boards that the styrofoam will go under, that way it won't push up my deck boards. I will be omitting the awning to start with, probably adding that later or figuring something else out to provide shade. I've also included a livewell, and will probably add another trap door for a fishing hole in the winter. I'll be adding a fish feeder to this to, but that will all come later.

I have everything but the lumber and the fasteners so far. I'll be picking that up next week, and starting on this project either over the weekend or in mid february. I'll be using treated 2x6 x 16 lumber, and I was thinking galvanized deck screws would be fine. For the steel plates I'll be using normal grade steel bolts nuts and washers.

If anyone has any suggestions to make my design better, please let me know. I can't wait to get this thing in! I foresee a lot of spring and summer days and nights on it... One last thing, it's 30 feet deep there, any ideas on how to anchor it? I could probably use some 1.5 inch drill stem and just pound it it, but maybe something cheap temporarily...

Thanks!

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16 x 16 dock with awning bottom side.jpg 16 x 16 dock with awning side.jpg 16 x 16 dock with awning under.jpg

J. Boles
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Design looks good to me. Umm it may be difficult with water in the pond to secure it like you want.

What did you use to draw the dock?

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Google Sketchup, it's a freeware program that is really neat. A bit of a learning curve, but pretty handy


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I would not span 4' between floor joists (drawing didnt show spacing between joists but 16x16 with the amount of joists shown would be 4')with 2x6 flooring.That span is too far apart and the flooring is going to bow up on some floor boards and down on others...treated lumber and the u.v. rays are your biggest enemy in regards to splitting checking and bowing. 24" on center would be max spacing with 16" even better...Spanning 2x6 floor joists 16' long will not be nearly enough..it will have deflection like a trampoline(depending on how close the floats are).2x8x16 floor joists are not big enough either..I would double 2x12 rim boards fastened together,triple 2x12 center beam fastened together in center to make your floor joist span 8'... then you can span 2x6x8 just fine for floorjoists. Fastners should be given proper consideration because the dock will only be as good as your life of fastners. I suggest at least Hot dipped galvanized bolts,nails and deck screws..not electro-galvanizing.The "Maze company" have great double hot dipped deck screws and you can easily find hot dipped galv. bolts(not zinc plated). Since the new generation pressure treated lumbers after c.c.a. treated was removed from residential applications, the chemicals now used are very corrosive to fastners depending on treatment method. Micro-treatments are relatively new and are less corrosive than first generation after c.c.a.Look at pressure treated manufactures recommended fastners.

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Very good suggestions, and thanks for the fastener lead. So what you're saying is around the perimeter, (rim boards are side boards?), fasten 2x12's together, essentially making a 4x12 side. In the center, triple them, making a 6x12 center joist. Then span 2x6x8 from the center to rim to make 24" span's between floor joists


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yes sir.

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What are you using to secure the dock to the bottom in 30 ft. of water? Is that the what the 1 1/2 inch stem if for? 30 plus feet to be bottom.


"I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far." � Neil Simon,
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We secured a full regulation sized water ski jump by using rope, eyebolts and cement anchors. It's hard to explain by typing, but I'll try. The 4 corners are RF, LF, RR, LR. Each corner had a big eyebolt attached to it on the bottom, under water. We used (I forget the weight, but they were BIG) cement blocks as anchors. The anchor for the RF corner was out to the left of the LF corner, the anchor for the LF corner was out to the right of the RF corner. Same way with the anchors for the rear corners. The lake never varied much in water depth, so it worked for us that way. The jump was in about 15' of water.

The ropes crossed each other, but didn't rub on each other. That way that it was anchored, it didn't twist with the wind or boat waves.

I've seen the same design used for BOW's that fluctuated in depth, but instead of an eyebolt, a pully was on each corner and there was a pretty substantial weight holding down on the end of the rope that wasn't attached to the cement block on the bottom. The swinging weight was positioned on the rope so that it stayed off of the bottom of the lake during normal water level fluctuation.

I realize that the rope method of anchoring isn't very friendly to fishing line, or fishing from the dock.

Using the drill stem, in 30' of water depth would, would allow the dock to sway side to side a good amount, plus you'd have to drive them a good ways into the pond bottom for stability. It'd be better if you could run some "X" braces between the drill stems under water, but that'd probably require a SCUBA diver and some specialized hardware. If you DO do the "X", make sure you tie the center of the "X" together. It will greatly add to the rigidity of the bracing.


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Bozilla,

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I built a floating dock and think it came out pretty well. I attached a picture so you could see but more to brag a little bit. My pond finally hit full pool and I was able to attach the gangway to the dock. I built mine with plastic barrels and let the barrels dictate the spacing of the joists. I didn't use any plans but made it a 10x10 and figured out how to best get 14 barrels under it. I purchased my hardware from dockbuilders.com and was very pleased with their service. Even if you didn't buy hardware from them there are lots of pics on their site and am sure it would give you some good ideas. I used 3" green deck screws for the frame and 2 1/4" for the decking along with the galvanized hardware.

Good luck and make sure you post some pics of the completed project.





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Last edited by toddtx797; 01/28/12 09:48 AM.
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Not much to add to the good suggestions above. If you don't buy the galvanized metal bracing and try to make you're own, like I did, I'd say go with aluminum and have it TIG welded or stainless steel and weld it yourself. I used mild steel, cause it was free, cleaned it really well, etc., and used a marine grade epoxy coating, but it still started rusting after a couple of years. Alum or SS and you'll never have to worry about it. I used the coated Deck Mate screws and they have stood the test of time quite well. To anchor it, you could toss in a couple of engine blocks (bare) and use SS cable to tie off to the dock's underside or side boards. Just make sure the cables are long enough so the dock doesn't get pulled under water during flood conditions. I made my own attacment points by welding old axle U-bolts to a metal 6"x6" plate, drilling holes at the 4 corners, and bolting it to the side board of the dock. Always use backing plates or at the minimum, huge fender washers on the backside.

Last edited by roadwarriorsvt; 01/28/12 03:01 PM.
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Mine has been pretty resiliant without metal bracing. Just used chain in a criss-cross pattern between the floating section and the fixed section to limit sway. All the structural wood is above water level, but I installed wooden guards to protect the floats from UV and physical damage.

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Looks godo too, RAH. With my small pond I'm sure the hardware was a bit excessive but it seemed worth it. I'm only 1/4 acre so don't expect alot of whitecaps coming across it so it probably would have held up fine without it. I'm just a fan of overkill.

Thanks again for all the advice on building it roadwarrior.

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No problem Todd. Floating docks are about the only area I can contribute to on this site so I'm glad to. Yours turned out great.

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We used an old potoon boat as the base for our dock.

Here is the link:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=269335#Post269335

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Cannot use aluminum hardware with treated lumber, the copper in the treated lumber will eat aluminum for breakfast!

Lots of good ideas everyone. I have a bunch of sizable concrete whatevers I made while the pond was empty in the bottom of my pond, but no heart to drain it just to hook up some wood. I know darned well if I drain the pond to put in the dock we will have the longest drought on record. I will just need to learn to swim with a wrench and hammer.

I may just give in and convert to a floating dock.


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