I am looking to add a flat roof onto my existing dock. The dock is currently 16x16 with a 16 ft walk way out to it. It is on 5 floats. I have plenty of weight i can add to it and not worry about the floatation. What I am worried about is the wind catching it. I live in central missouri. We get some high winds sometime. Guess i am looking to see if anyone has anything similar to this and if they have any problems. As the pictures shows it is only anchored to the ground with the two post back at the beginning of the walk way. THanks
Do you want a "sun shade" roof, or a completely weather-tight roof?
I think some of those open-slatted roofs that they put on pergolas would be nice for people sitting on the dock, but would still let through a lot of wind gusts. If you did catch the edge of a tornado, it might just rip off part of the slats and mostly leave your posts and dock unscathed. That would probably be an acceptable rare financial loss.
If going for a real roof, then use the hurricane tie products.
Adding a roof is going to hugely increase the "sail area" of your dock. (As I think you realize.) If most of the storm winds will come from the same prevailing direction, you might add some anchor wires to the dock to resist those forces.
Thanks for the thoughts. I forgot to mention I would like to put a ceiling fan and some lights on it. so that would include me having a full roof. I like the idea of anchoring to help resist. Thanks again
You can do "outdoor" electrical connections and use outdoor light receptacles that do not require a full roof. I don't know about the ceiling fans. Perhaps they make rain-proof housings for some?
If you do run electricity, then you have even more options. You could even do a retractable awning style roof. Make the dock have nice amenities when people are using it, and then hide part of the structure so that storms have less to attack and destroy your dock.
Have fun on your designs. You have nearly endless choices for your project.
