Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations pier building questions

One more reason to upgrade from 4"x4"s to 6"x6"s - since the 6"x6"s carry a heavier load, you won't need to dig as many holes in your difficult limestony soil.

For what it's worth, Eric, I think you can get away just fine with two posts in the pond and two at the edge of the bank. My own dock is constructed like this. It uses four 12 foot 2"x8"s to span from the shore posts to the pond posts. Width-wise, the posts are 6' center to center; the deck is made of 2"x6"s which stick out about 8" past the 2"x8" joists. It is very stable. I used 5" diameter treated fence post stubs for on shore and 6" diameter hedgeapple posts in the water.

If you want a little more margin of error, use 16 foot 2"x10"s for the joists; you should be able to cantilever the last 4' of these out past the pond posts (as you described above) without any problem.