"Stability" is in the minds of those on the dock.
My floating platform is 12'x12', with a 4'x12' "brow" (gang plank). It has fifteen 55-gallon "blue barrels" holding it up. The frame and joists are 2x12s and the decking boards are 2x6s. The 4-foot wide walkway is decked with 2x6s over a pair 2x10s attached to hinged 4" concrete bollards sunk 4' feet into the ground.
I consider it quite stable. But, some friends drove up the other day as I was getting ready to fill the feeder on this dock. One of them walked onto the platform just as I was hoisting the feed bag. The dock was moving. He very seriously panicked. I thought he'd be "seasick" before he got 15 feet back to terra-firma. This isn't the first time I've observed this.
Maybe I'm just hardened after growing up on the water, spending six years in the Navy, spending lots of time in small planes ...
Anyway, as our good friend Bill Cody always says -- "it all depends ..."
