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My wife and I are planning on building and 8x8 floating dock with plastic barrels for floats. Since the pond is a good ways from our house, we will be limited to our cordless drills for screwing it together. From the test holes I have drilled, I am not sure we will have enough power with the cordless drills. Could we use galvanized nails instead of screws to build the frame?

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You could, but the battery powered drill/screw gun that I have will run most of a day on one battery. Just bring extra batteries or a small generator.

Piers were built with nails before they were built with screws, so it'd still hold but screws are better long term.


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FWIW IMO if you absolutlely can't use screws, I would use a pole barn style nail.


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I would not use nails but a cordless drill will work using the larger rust resistant screws. If it takes a little longer to build then I am thinking it might last a little longer in the pond. What u think?

Tracy


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Thanks guys. Got the batteries charged up over night and am going to give it a goo this afternoon with my 3" decking screws. For the outside frame, how many screws do you think I need to use per corner?

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You could also get a small power inverter and charge the drill batteries from your vehicle.

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I too would only use screws. Make sure they are the kind made for the type of lumber you will be using. Different preservatives have different effects on the screw coatings.

JKB's solution is probably the easiest for keeping batteries charged in a remote location. My Toyota truck and my wife's Ford Escape have factory installed 150 watt 120 VAC 60 Hz inverters built into them.


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Good galvanized, ring-shank nails worked fine for me. The ring-shank nails don't pull out very easily. Just use nails that are sized right for the job. One advantage of nails over screws, is that they will often bend rather than sheering off under expansion and contraction stress.

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Originally Posted By: RAH
Good galvanized, ring-shank nails worked fine for me. The ring-shank nails don't pull out very easily. Just use nails that are sized right for the job. One advantage of nails over screws, is that they will often bend rather than sheering off under expansion and contraction stress.


I fully agree with this hands down. The new wire screws are junk now adays. If your lumber is wet the screw will not "just might", but will sheer off when the lumber drys. Even the ceramic coated green screws now are junk. A really good stainless screw in #10 or #12 is the best to run if you do not want to re screw everything again in two years.

If your going to use nails the hot dipped galvanized are the only way to fly.

Cheers Don.

EDIT: P.S. if you can get a good 18v impact driver you will never use a nail again.

Last edited by DonoBBD; 05/24/15 11:08 AM.

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We utilized screws only. The heavy duty stuff we used SPAX:

http://www.spax.us/

Specifically the hex washer head:
http://www.spax.us/en/power-lags/hex-washer-head.html#.VWKWpUajvB4

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I'd say invest in a small 1000-1200 watt portable generator. That's how I built my floating dock w/o permanent power. Use all your power tools, radio, lights, etc.

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My deck has loosened over time using nails. But only because I didn't seal it as well as I should have over time. The section that has an open gazebo protected floor is just fine.


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Originally Posted By: basslover
We utilized screws only. The heavy duty stuff we used SPAX:

http://www.spax.us/

Specifically the hex washer head:
http://www.spax.us/en/power-lags/hex-washer-head.html#.VWKWpUajvB4





Man you Americans with your Philips screw heads. Once you try a Robbie you will never run a Philips again. I have yet to find a Philips that you can put on and let go even with a magnetic tip.

I remember shipping some stairs to the US and we packaged the load with red robbie screws and they could not get the load apart because they couldn't find a driver to fit them. Just smashed the load apart with a hammer.


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7/8th of an acre, Perch only pond, Ontario, Canada.
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+1 on the SPAX. I use the Torx drive myself. A bit more expensive than other brands, but are a quality grade 5 fastener. Never had one break or work loose.

The Robertson (square drive) is popular here as well.

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I used #10 stainless steel screws with square drive heads on my pier.

I made steps for the back porch around 8-10 years ago. I used the coated torx deck screws. While they are holding tight and haven't loosened, they ARE rusting and have been rusty for the past few years. Not only are the screws that are in the treads rusty, the ones that are in the vertical risers are rusty too.


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You may have been a victim of the "new and improved" pressure-treated wood that corrodes fasteners. I think they fixed this now.

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Don't use a drill. Use an impact driver. Makes all the difference in the world.

Torx head are far superior to Phillips in my opinion.

You can get chargers for your cordless batteries that run off of a 12v car power source to recharge.

The large batteries work far better if doing a lot of screwing.

Examples of what I use. We have at least a dozen of these around the farm that employees use in the shop for mechanic work (with socket adapter) and I use to screw metal roof on and build docks and various projects. We also have a bunch of the half inch socket style impacts of the same brand. Not advertising this brand, its just what we use a lot of as an example. Lots of other brands good also.

Impact driver

Driver alone with specs - obviously not the way to buy one

In vehicle charger We have a half dozen of these - keep them in all the service vehicles

Big batteries a must if doing large projects

First time I used an impact driver was when we were putting concrete board on the side of our house so we could install slate as siding. Tried screwing it on with drills. Kept breaking screws and stripping Phillips heads. Bought an impact driver and screws went in as slick as greasy BB's. No comparison. Wonderful tools. Put a socket adapter and have an impact wrench with around a hundred ft/lbs torque. Great for up to about half inch or 5/8 bolts. Our mechanics use them all the time on small stuff.


Last edited by snrub; 05/25/15 11:44 AM.

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Originally Posted By: basslover
We utilized screws only. The heavy duty stuff we used SPAX:

http://www.spax.us/

Specifically the hex washer head:
http://www.spax.us/en/power-lags/hex-washer-head.html#.VWKWpUajvB4




Those Spax work great for timbers and heavier pieces of wood compared to lag screws. I'm old enough lag screws were all I knew. Drill hole, screw in, and if the hole drilled a little too small twist off the poor quality #2 grade screw. Saw these SPAX in at Home Depot and tried a few just recently. No pre drilling, impact driver screws them right in, no twisting off because good quality metal. Great product. Expensive, but well worth it if a persons time and frustration level is of any value. Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.

Last edited by snrub; 05/25/15 11:42 AM.

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I'm hooked on the Dewalts with brushless motors. Battery life is incredible.

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-drills-drilldrivers-dcd790d2.aspx


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Originally Posted By: Bill D.
I'm hooked on the Dewalts with brushless motors. Battery life is incredible.

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-drills-drilldrivers-dcd790d2.aspx


Ditto. Especially when you get the 5ah batteries. wink grin


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Is it time for the Ford Vs Chevy, Coke vs Pepsi debate again? grin

Just for the record, I'm the guy drinking a Pepsi while driving a Chevy to the store, so I can treat myself to a new MILWAUKEE power tool......


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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DeWalts are great tools, and if I were only buying for myself might well choose that brand. But I can catch the Ryobi on sale usually pre-Christmas and buy the sets really cheap. We have had really good service from them. Around the farm we have probably in excess of $15,000 of Ryobi cordless and corded tools. One Christmas bought all employees the 6 piece ulitmate cordless set for their Christmas present for their home use.

6 piece combo tool kit

Ryobi is owned by the same company as Rigid. According to their rep from our area, Ryobi gets the Rigid technology a couple of years behind. Rigid is their premium brand and Ryobi is the consumer brand. Out of dozens of tools, we have returned a half dozen or so for warrantee work over the last five or six years. Turn around time is very slow for repairs, but the tools are cheap enough (especially when bought on sale) we just keep extras on hand. The impact drivers really get used and the half inch cordless impact wrenches are also used almost daily in the shop. Reciprocating saws and drills get used a lot too.

Impact wrench I see it is a three speed now. Ours are all only single speed. My mechanics better not see this...............

Ryobi rep likes us well enough he sent us a whole box of Ryobi T-shirts for the whole crew, some driver/drill kits and other assorted goodies.

Last edited by snrub; 05/25/15 12:01 PM.

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Have both Dewalt and Milwaukee. I like them both, but Milwaukee, "in my opinion", is a better tool. Darn batteries are expensive tho!

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I think Dewalt, along with Porter-Cable, is Black and Decker's premium line.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Tony, you got a Ford motor in that Chevy? grin

I'm not hung up on brands, just whatever works. I just like to try and keep all the cordless tools using the same battery. The dang batteries are more expensive than the tools!!


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