Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Roadwarrior's Floating Dock

Instead of jacking another thread, I figure I'd start my own.

Since I'm the newbie, I'll contribute some. Here is a video I made documenting building the dock. Its 12'x12'. I initially used 8 barrels, but the weight of the wooden gangway showed I needed more, at least on the corner where it attaches to the dock.

Photobucket.com

Finished product:



This is why I made it a floating dock. Our lake sees extreme water level changes. Not usually this bad. This was one of those seasonal storms!



I've also changed the design of the gangway to incorporate some barrels to support it in cases like this.

I incorporated a livewell into the dock. The galvanized wire lasted all of 6 months. The stainless steel should do the trick!




The Moultrie Game Feeder was a good addition. The catfish, carp, and red devils (midas cichlids) love it!



As you can see, the gangway weighted down the corner of the dock. I added 2 barrals to that area of the dock and one at the end of the gangway just before it attaches to the dock. I ended up making the gangway a 2 piece design as 38' long was just too heavy.

I love your live well idea.

I was wondering how slick that walkway was when it had a thin layer of frost on it....then I noticed you live in HI!

That livewell is too cool!!!

Well the gangway does get slick when its soaking wet. I ended up putting strips of 1/2"x2"(?) across every 5th board along with some aluminum expanded metal. That non-skid adhesive strips was just too expensive.

I have gotten good results with a good porch paint that was loaded up with anti-slip silica sand.

I love the livewell, I might have to steal that idea from you.. Also I would put a lid on it. I could just see my kid stepping through that..

I've got a livewell attached to a pier and plenty of mornings I see a GBH standing on it looking in....

I ended up putting a screened cover on it.

It definitely has a lid! After cutting the 2x4s from inbetween the joists, I screwed some 1x4s into them to make a "door" if you will. In the above pic, the door is folded all the way open. Some stainless steel hinges and a flush mount "D" ring to open it. If you look at the pic you can see the 1x4 holding the2x4s in place. When the lid is closed, you can barely tell there is a livewell there. Sorry I don't have a pic of the lid closed.

O.I.C duh..

RoadWarriorI wish you would have posted this before i got my dock done. The live well is sweet! Might have to borrow your idea and add this to my 8x8 barrel barge im making for a Pond boat/ swimming platform! Your dock looks good!

Thanks. If you have an area under your dock that doesn't have a barrel, you can add on the livewell. Mine was an after-thought also. Just cut out the deck 2x4s, add two 2x4s to your joinst to form a square, nail in a cage, make a door out of the 2x4s you cut out of the deck. I'll take some better pics later also showing my milk crate bucket that lifts the fish out of the live well for you!

Here is a pic of the livewell lid almost closed.




I took two milk crates, bolted them together with stainless hardware. I cut out the two walls that are butted up against each other, attached a rope. When I'm done catching fish, I just pull up the milk crate basket and it scoops up the fish as it rises.






Hope this helps someone.

Very slick idea.
I would have to make the well depth about 4 feet to account for pool fluctuation. I would also have to actually fish to use it correctly. Never mind...

You can see in the second pic at the start of this thread how high the water can get. Since the lake has been staying up for several months, the middle of the walkway has two 55 gallon barrrels to support about 45' of gangway. The middle of the walkway was sagging in the water so I decided more barrels were in order.

This was the basic plan, to add this frame to the middle of the walkway.



Here are all the materials that were needed to implement the new additional barrels.



I came up with an idea on how to temporarily raise up the gangway to help get the barrels under the frame, which was put under the gangway. I used 4x4s braced together. An eyelet near the top served as a hook point. I used my car ratchet straps on each side to lift the gangway out of the water.



I also used "L" brackets, galvanized straps, and hurricane straps to secure the barrel frame to the gangway. Standing comfortably in the crisp water just made sense after taking an involuntary swim while trying to get the barrel frame under the gangway.



I used smaller rachet straps to assist pulling the barrels under the frame. Getting everything wrapped up here.



The end result is just as I had hoped for!

great pics roadwarrior. what type of fish do you have there??

Thanks.
Too many! Seriously. Main ones are peacock bass, largemouth, smallies, channel cats, bluegills, shad, tilapia, cichlids, oscars, plecos, etc., etc.