Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Anybody ever built a boardwalk?

Just contemplating. Since my wife is in a wheelchair, she can only get to a few spots around our pond. I am considering making a boardwalk so that she can enjoy more of the pond. It will also give me fishing access to areas that are flooded 6 months out of the year. It only needs to be about 1' high to be above the water. I am thinking of milling some osage 4"x4" 1' in the ground and 1' up for the posts, and PT pine for the rest (maybe some borate sprayed post oak since I have the sawmill).

I think that is a wonderful idea Jeffrey3 and given the obvious (deck is above the highest water level) that it would work out fine. I don't know about the post treatment but one of the experts will weigh in on that.

I've thought about it more than once, but always nix'd it for more important projects. In your case, it is a priority. I'll be interested to see the flow of ideas.
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Since it such a shallow area, is the thought of a tri-axle load of gravel a consideration? If you used a skid steer to build away from solid ground (one bucket at a time), could you create a stone pathway and dress it with fines?

JHAP, I doubt osage orange/bois d'arc/hedgeapple posts would need any treatment, unless you wanted them to last a second hundred years.

I have old hedge fence posts here that were axe cut (now THERE was one tough SOB!) nearly 120 years ago, to the best of my knowledge and ring counting ability. The heartwood is still hard and solid.

My wife uses a manual chair and has a scooter we won for the occassional off road trip through the woods on our trail(which needs some leveling work). Neither handle gravel well, but handle mown grass/dirt/leaves fairly well.

Jeff, IF you can cut that bois d'arc, it should last forever. I used to make knife handles out of it and a carborundum grinding stone didn't impress it a bit. I had to use a rasp.

The only problem I've ever heard of is that it can last a long time and then, for some reason, split. Of course, even split, I doubt that it would ever fail.

Maybe you could use some of the Tommy Dock parts and accessories along with your own decking and simplify the installation by using the TD footpads on real short pipes. Using the pole brackets on the homemade decking frame, you can adjust the height if the footpads sink in over time and from use.

There are a couple parks I visit often that have board walks. One is at Great Falls on the Potomac River and the other at Black Moshannon Lake and runs out over the boggy/marshy area. Both are very cool... My fiancee's mother is wheelchair bound, and she really likes the access they provide. Keep us updated on your progress with this plan...

Great idea, I have only seen a few and they where very short acting as small bridges,

The osage -horse apple-- tree sure last for ever.

Mike, I just had to edit your spelling of horse/hores.

A Yale Law man never mispells.

He may occasionally leave intentional errors as an exercise for the Mods.

Thanks Dave

I have asked to have spell check put on this thing.
If I could spell I would not be running a dozer.

Thanks again.

I'd consider putting the post much deeper in the ground. Perhaps ~3 foot. Other than that, it sounds like a plan.