Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction My Awesome Dock; design and pictures

Getting it from bank to water was the hardest part of my project.. It handled the ice last year.. Kids love it plus it's about 100 ft from my pond patio with tables and chairs firepit that's one of the reasons why I removed my side seats.. Pretty much everything that happens at my pond is centered around the dock and I'm sure you'll be in the same boat so you and your family and quest will be very happy with it.. It looks great!!

Just an FYI it is much easier to build one of these by building the frame and walkway frame and installing the barrels and floating it. Then simply deck it after it is already floating. Course if you got a backhoe on hand and plenty of help you have more options on the construction phases.

It looks great!

I agree Rocky, but i had warped boards that required lots of persuasion to become straight, and I really wanted to stain it on ground. Those were my two reasons.

Thanks!

Holy Mother of Floating Docks! Your dock is very nice. I had a big problem with my gangway stability until I added these barrels in an outrigger style frame. Maybe not the nicest thing to look at, but the gangway is very stable, plus they take some of the load off the dock barrels. Just an option for you.

I want to build something like this, maybe even just the walk way to get my feeder out away from the bank so cows can knock know it over.

Can you tell me about how many barrels you needed for this?

My dock is 12x12. I started with only 9 barrels, but ended up with 14. There is a third barrel in between the two on the outside of the gangway. My gangway is 36' long and is hinged in the middle. I have one barrel on the end near the dock, three in the middle, and two more at the beginning near the shore set up like the two in the picture.

Figure each barrel will float 225# when 50% submerged. (55 gallon barrels)

my dock is 16 by 16 and i have put 24 barrels under it. It floats me and 8 obese friends; and has plenty of floatation to spare!

drp

Dustin,
It should be plenty stable when you hook it up to the posts on shore. if not you can cable from each corner of the dock back to shore or back to the posts...

looks AWESOME!!!

roadwarrior,
You have what looks like a fence at the end of the gangway just before the dock. Can I ask what purpose that serves for you?

Thanks N8ly,


I have been awaiting your approval since i stole a lot of design from your handiwork! Thanks again for advice in building it.


DRP

Certainly. It is a gate that I built to overhang about 2.5' on each side of the gangway, pokey spikes on the top (not sharp). It is locked and designed to deter unwelcome people from using the dock. This river runs thru my neighbors property. Some of the other neighbors can't respect other peoples property so it was installed after damage to my (cheap) fish feeder and other items were discovered. I think it subtracts from the scenic beauty, but unfortunately, is a neccesary evil.

How long does the silver paint last on the barrels before it needs to be touched up? Was any prep work done to the barrels before painting?

Even with primer, the paint wears off pretty fast. It could use a touch-up up every couple of months or so. The paint on the dock barrels is just silver paint. The paint on the barrels supporting the gangway is supposed to be formulated specifically for plastic, but I can't tell a difference. It doesn't seem to hold up any better. I guess partial UV protection is better than none.

I am building a 12x12 dock with a 12ft landing 5ft wide, I would like to hing the landing so can have a floating platform to take out to middle of pond when we are swimming. how many 50 gallon drums do you think I will need to float platform and float landing. note plat form will have 2 4x4 post on land with 1 bolt in each side to allow up and down movement with diffrent water levels, so only one end will have to float at the attched floating platform

We have a 12x16 deck with 9 55 gal. plastic drums that is attached with landscaping fabric. It is free floating and does fine with the people that we have on it. Never over 6 people on it.

I can give you an answer if you can answer one question:

How much will it weigh with the maximum amount of people on it? (people and weight of floating platform and landing)

I have no idea I know it will be pretty heavy all treated wood and I have read a post saying each barrel should float about 225# at 50% but the formula I read says 17 drums. I find that a little hard to belive. I think 9 would be about the most but guessing I should try to get weight per foot on materials and do some math

Bingo.

Here's something that might help. I did the math on mine. Floating dock, using 55 gallon drums. Floating portion is "T" shaped. Bottom of "T" is 4' wide, 16' long. Top of "T" is 12' wide, 8' "tall". I used 22 55 gallon barrels and one 30 gallon barrel. I forget how many people I calculated for. I figured that the pier, with just the weight of the wood would submerge 50% of the barrels.