Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Finally got a new video out....

we have been doing a good job at taking cool footage the last 2 years, but a bad job at editing and doing anything with it....until now....

Dec 3rd
Water 40 degrees
Air Temps- Cold
The day before our first winter storm....
We promised our client we would jump off the dock to try it out...

Nate, you are on another level of crazy. I love it.

And, um, that dock is incredible. Problem would be, I could see myself never going back into the house.

Nate, cool vid, and I can't wait for the show.

Just waiting on one more hurdle with the network and if that gets all worked out we will be filming as soon as April with a series out at the end of the summer!! Otherwise things might get delayed to filming till end of summer...just a waiting game on our end at the moment...

That was great!

cool video, bet you were cool to. excuse the pun

Dream dock!!

Nate, On my Birthday and everything!! Cool, but who was screaming like a school girl?

What does a dock like that cost? Just a range, I'm not asking for specifics

Very very nice job guys.

I think there was about $35,000 worth of materials and 250 hrs labor @ $40 per hr.

So about a $45k dock.

WOW! Do you guys modularize your docks? Is everything marine grade? How do you guys determine the number of floats?

Sorry if this is a ancient family secret, I am just trying to figure out a dock for our big pond.

Thanks for the info.

Awesome dock. You guys looked like you dove into a vat of hot peanut oil! Hilarious...you can all swim pretty quickly when you need to. This was great!

That "structure" is cool, radical, and sick (no matter what generation a guy is from)!!!

What did you figure would be the total constructed weight and what wight was it rated to hold?

TJ, actually we can swim much faster, the cold water restricts movements tremendously...

I initially had dockbuilders help me engineer the right size dock floats needed,cause it was a simple hip roof.. but when the dock was being built our clients wife came out and started asking some questions and chit chatting. so then 2 hrs later Bob comes out and asks what it would take to change from a hip roof over the boat slips to a double decker with a second story...keep in mind this is just hours before the roof starts to go up...

I look at Bob, pause for a second and say no problem...so at that point we was on our own in figuring out how to calibrate it all and make it work properly... you know throw some stairs over here, throw some posts over there, pitch upper deck to drain the water, find waterproof decking, adjust the floatation, and take back all the original roof materials, and get er done before winter...

one tip for big floating docks is you can calibrate the flotation evenly by strategically adding 80lb bags of sakrete here and there before putting on the deckboards...

and Brian, i can easily help you design a dock for your lake with a complete material list, just shoot me an email to [email protected]. Also keep in mind that we would come to Texas in Dec, Jan, Feb, or early March to build docks or help you build a dock.....

I highly recommend the Herman Brothers...my dock is going strong! Thanks boys. Now we need to consider the upper level and a zip line when you arrive this Spring.

Nate, the fact that you can build docks like these doesn't amaze me as much as what you said above. The fact that you can re-engineer and reload on the fly like this example is very cool!

If I was 20 years younger and had a tad more scratch, I could see a dock with a trebuchet mounted. Shooting watermelons or pumpkins flying over my puddle would be a blast. PULL!

Al,
thats a great idea! good redneck fun!!

TJ, your dock only took like what, one morning to build?

Think bigger. I could see Nate making it big enough to give a person a ride.....

Nate, what'd ya use for anchors on the land side?

Scott I didn't go there. I'd be afraid it wouldn't have enough umph to get me off the deck. That pic would haunt me forever.

But, if the trebuchet could launch someone onto a blob, then throw the rider, that might be very entertaining. Pond management could become secondary at that point.

Yes Nate, half day to build my dock which ended up almost twice the size I originally thought I could afford. Using all those illegal German immigrant teenagers foreign exchange students paid slave wages will do that for you.

The looks on your faces prior to the jump are priceless...perfect definition of trepidation!

I now want this thing, too...that's a fancy-schmancy way to say catapult, right? I refuse to employ Fr3nch lexicon...even the word fr3ch is off limits, unlike my esteemed colleague, Al. What are you some kind of a unpatriotic wise guy show-off?

[I'll admit, I had to look it up in my thesaurus!]

Nate/TJ- I know you guys don't need an off his rocker mechanical engineer, but if you guys ever start brainstorming a dock mounted human catapult...I want in!!!!

I guarentee with myself and my list of misfit friends we would have enough test samples to get the design right before an actual product launch.

TJ, the only way I knew the word was from my son's 8th grade class when we built one to throw tennis balls for a class project. I thought it was some French pastry loaf before then. What the cool part was that I almost let my son help with the project.

First time we launched a tennis ball all the way across the street, we both looked at each other with our mouths hung open. It deteriorated rapidly into empty coke cans, rocks, full coke cans, and then fruit from the frig. We kept adding counter weight until we destroyed it. I kept it and still have it 15 years later, because it was one of the best father son experiences we ever had.

My son got an A.

I love this story, Monsieur!

Allen, you get an "A" as well, keeping it all these years gets you on the short list for father of the year.

I am in on a catapult on the dock!! We will need engineers to get it right, I do not want to hurt anyone, and rides are $5 a throw!!! I figure I'll have the dock paid for in a few days...