Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations pond piers

i have 3 piers (2 in one pond and 1 on another pond). posts are 3" galv steel pipe and runway is 2x6 treated lumber. no rails. we have 18 grandkids. we are afraid a grandchild will get on one of the piers unnoticed and fall in the water. any ideas, plans or pictures ,etc of how to build a gate on each pier to lock out little grandkids?

thanks,
darrell stringer

Darrell,
My wife went to Sam's or Walmart and bought a floating swimsuit for each grandhuman. When they arrive at our place and will go anywhere near the ponds, they wear that foam filled swimsuit. That way, if one of the little guys slips away, he will float. And, the kids wear the device when they are swimming. It's a neat deal.
A direct answer to your question is to use a normal chain link fence gate. They are easy to find, easy to install, and you can place it at the beginning of your dock.
I'd still make the little sweethearts wear some type of pfd.

I agree with Bob. Like no shoes, no shirt, no service? No PFD (personal floatation device), no pond. The pier is one thing, but even a steep side slope can be a liability/cause of sorrow. That reminds me. I need to go to Walmart for a few more! (-:

The morning after I finish my pier I had to put up a gate/fence to prevent the cows from going out on it again (without PFD's)

Bob, thanks for the suggestion. I will do both the chain link fence and the pfd.

Thanks,
Darrell Stringer

will,

I'm turning you in to PETA for letting those cows go without pfd's.

Darrell,

See the link below for pictures of gates for security and grandchildren protection....works for me.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001860

meadowlark, i really want to see the pictures of the "pier gates" in your link. but i can't get the pictures? i clicked on the little X,how do i get them?

darrell stringer

ML, Darrell:

I just tried the link ML gave two posts above and couldn't se anything.

Of course, when this thread started I was gonna link to ML's gate pics, and couldn't get them to show up then, either.

ditto here. must be a security settings issue on our puters.

Actually, I'm guessing that the site has pulled the pictures....since I'm having fire wall problems myself right now, I e-mailed the pictures to Darrell today and asked him to re-post...if he can't re-post, Theo has volunteered to re-post them.

Kinda odd. I remember seeing the pictures when they were first posted. Now I'm getting the boxes.