Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Winterizing a Floating dock?

I'm near Columbus, Ohio and have a 1/4 acre pond in the woods. I want to put a floating dock in, and was looking at the Connect-a-Dock system.

Does anybody have any experience with these docks?

Would I need to take them out in the winter, or can I just leave them in with the ice?

I don't know anything about that particular dock system.

Do you have aeration at your pond? I know some of the members put a diffuser in shallow water by the dock. Helps the fish with oxygen during the winter and keeps strong ice away from the dock.

Does your dock system have a means of sliding up and down on posts as the water level changes? If so, another option would be to install the posts too long and lift the dock up such that the floats are above your expected winter water line and clamp it in place.

In Galena, you might get away with zero damages most winters. My cousins have a place way north of the border in Canada that has a fixed dock on a large lake. About every third year, the ice breaks up funny and their dock is still encased when the wind moves the big floes and their dock gets damaged. "Dock repair" is then one of the first jobs on the list the next spring.

In Ohio, if you just walk out on the dock with a big iron tamper bar and broke a circle of ice out around the dock during the spring thaw, that might be enough to avoid damage?

Lots of Ohio pond people on the forum. Hopefully some experts at about your latitude can give you some better advice.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I have an aerator that I pull to the pond edge in the fall so the deer don't drown. That will work perfectly.

I don't have a dock yet. I was looking at the Connect-a-Dock system today, and liked it.

IME here in Central Ohio you will see enough ice to be a possible problem about 1 out of 3 years.

You ever get pizza at Fracasso's? I love their pizza!

I don't know about Connect-A-Dock other than I like the looks of the "low profile" system. Looks nice and sleek. (I hate those huge, hulking, plastic docks.) I have a dealer near me. I may check them out.

Nope, never even heard of Fracasso's Pizza. But I've driven past it a few years back. Might have to give it a try!

I have a floating dock, and the pond is about 40 miles South of the Indiana/Michigan border. I have left it in the pond over winter, and it's been in there for 14 or so years.

I have no experience with the brand that you mentioned, but I do have a scratch-built floating dock on my pond.

I set a shallow diffuser near the dock for winter aeration. It keeps a nice hole open and prevents the ice from completely locking up the floating platform.