Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Pole dock stable width

There are some great posts here about docks and building. Thanks for the ideas.

I have a question about a simple pole dock using the Menards like hardware. I'd like to build a small long and narrow dock in a 3/4 acre pond. I'm thinking 16 feet or maybe 24 in length. What's a reasonable width for stability?

4 feet seems a touch narrow -- 8 feet sounds great - but I'm not certain there is enough middle support

-------*--------*
| | | | | | | | |
-------*--------*

if the long boards are 2 x 10 or 12's and the cross supports are 2 x 8 on 16" centers... is 6' wide reasonable? (the stars are the poles in the water.) The 24 foot version would add an additional 8 feet and two more poles.

Thanks.

PS: I just came back from my local Menards -- all dock materials are on close out for the season half off or better. I missed out on the half price floats.

Did get hardware cheap though!

I'd put the posts about 6' center to center, the run the length-wise supports ("stringers") down each side of the posts. If you are spanning 8' between posts, 2"x8" (treated) stringers should be fine (I use these for a 12' span). You'd have four 2"x8"s running out from shore for each 8' span.

Then you can put on 8' decking (I used treated 2"x6"s) and let each side go out about a foot from the outside stringers. You can put a row of nails into each of the four stringers, so your deck boards are very stable and not prone to flexing.

A caveat that you may be able to take advantage of: I put one section of my dock in with fairly dry treated lumber in hot weather. This section looks good all year round. I put the second, in-shore section in with fresh (wet) treated decking during December. This section looks great in Winter when it's wet, and has a lot of warps when it is hot. The warped stuff is NOT nailed as I described above, the flat section is.

I own a landscaping business and we also build decks, piers, arbors, etc. As mentioned in the above post you can set your posts on 8' centers using 2x8's. I would also recommend using 5/4 deck board instead of 2x6's as your floor boards. The reason for it is wood when wet from rain acts as a sponge and it takes longer for 2x6's to dry since they are approx. 1.5" thick compared to 5/4 deck boards that are 1" thick. Also, the 5/4 boards have a nice rounded edge. The biggest thing to remember is the new treated wood today contains copper so you "have" to use "hot dipped galvanized" or "stainless steel" hardware instead of the regular zinc plated nails and bolts. Also, make sure you use bolts where the outside lower joists make contact with the posts. Nails are not enough.

Email me if you need any advice. Good luck!