Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Driving in dock piers

Howdy ya'll. Im in the process of designing my dock and I've seen a few different ways to drive in the piers. The first was to drive in a 12 inch pvc pipe into the water, pump out the water, then auger or post hole the dirt away. Drop in a 6x6 and concrete to let it set. And build off of that. The second method was to use a strong water pump to jet the dirt and clay away from the bottom of the 6x6 to allow it to drop into the pond bottom several feet and be done with it.
The bottom is really tough clay so I was wondering which method ya'll have used before. I admit I much prefer option 2 versus 1 for the work and materials involved. Thanks

We used 2" galvanized pipes for the uprights and used a copper 3/4" dia pipe and a hose on the inside of the pipes to jet them in. Water and sand/dirt came out of the top of the 2" pipes. We stopped about a foot to two feet shy of final desired height and pounded them down the rest of the way. Used a 2 hp, 2" outlet irrigation pump necked down to a 3/4" garden hose for a water supply and pumped right out of the lake to do it. We put the pier in the lake.

It's been in the lake for 35 years so far.......

That was when you could get "Real" galvanized pipe!

Ahh, the good ol days

Thanks. That sounds much easier than a 6x6. How did you transfer the load from the rim joists to the pipe?

Trackhoe pounds them in pretty good

The pier is 66' long, heres a partial pic of it.


Here's the other half...


I'll take a picture of the brackets tomorrow. Basically it's a clamp that clamps to the vertical pipe, and has a horizontal hole thru it (offset) so you can slide a piece of 2" dia pipe thru it horizontally. We cut the horizontal pieces of pipe 1" narrower than the joists that run the length of the pier. Used 3 joists, the outer ones overhang the horiz piece of pipe by 1/2". We drilled a hole thru the bracket and the horiz. piece of pipe and put a 16d nail in it, to stop the pipe from walking to one side or the other. I have no idea where to get those brackets today, they are probably 50 years old.......

We used 20' long pieces of pipe to make the boat hoist. Washed them into the lake bottom, then slipped 3" pipe over the top of them to make what you see in the picture. Electric runs out to the end of the pier, and we made a electric hoist. Strong enough to keep the Mastercraft out of the water.

Actually a lot of those posts were "salvaged" from knocked over street signs in Chicago. The water at the seawall is only about 18" deep and it's about 5' deep at the end of the pier. We were able to use them for about half of the pier, and all the horizontal pieces.

That looks really nice. I would love to see those pictures. I hope I can reach a couple piers with my backhoe.

Here's a pic of the brackets. If the joists need to butted together, we used the double horizontal bracket. The single horizontal bracket was used everywhere else. Pier is 48" wide and about 65' long. Upright posts were sunk into the lake bottom about every 8 feet.