In most public Lakes these days, during new construction, you are required to encase styrofoam with something such as polyethylene tubs. This stops the foam beads from coming slowly apart and dispersing into the environment. It's a good regulation and makes sense financially too if you look at the increase in lifetime of the structure and decreased repairs needed. Here is something of interest to all you guys. If you are looking for a good looking top deck material that is sturdy and will to my knowledge NEVER need maintenance or require expensive coatings etc. during install, then try to locate a wood from Brasil called "IPE" (pronounced E-pay). This wood is unreal in it's strength and can be used untreated on even a SALTWATER deck . It is of course a bit pricey but if you are building or repairing your dream dock then check it out. A few things to remember, The wood is so dense - if you accidentally kick it over the dock while building, that piece of lumber sinks right to the bottom. Also...it is in some ways more like working with metal than wood in the way it will dull drill bits and saw blades etc. Always predrill pilot hole with the best bits you can afford before bolting...forget about trying to screwgun in deck screws. If you spring for this material you should go ahead and use only stainless steel hardware for the decking at least. We should be growing this wood here in the U.S. It probably requires warm climate, but there are areas where we could surely do that. Added bonus ...I have seen the Ipe trees while in Brasil. They have beautiful pink ,purple,and yellow flowers that grow up in the tops of the trees. Really pretty.
Now then, for info about where to aquire durn near anything needed to build or repair a boat dock or marina call or e-mail the following co.
Atlantic-Meeco corp.
McAlester, Oklahoma.
1-800-marina1.
http://atlantic-meeco.com/ These folks are the worlds largest manufacturer of marinas - docks - etc.
No...I don't work for them.
Be cool -Dave
