Pond dock construction

[ultrarunner]

I watched dock pilings going in at Lake Tahoe... they were jetted and it went very fast.

 

[sld]

I built a floating dock on the pond we used to have. It was easy and the benefit is it will go up or down with the water level.

 

[Joe Malovich]

plastic barrels will last forever. Our dock is on a river that freezes every year so we need to pull the dock out of the water on a pontoon boat trailer. Never had a problem with the barrels.

 

[countrybumpkin]

I’m in the process of building two docks , I’m using 4x4x8 posts, may last 2 years or 20. Mine are only going to be 10x14 docks. I’m planning on using 14’ joists with a cross support at 7’ then just 5/4 decking.

Post pics as you go, interesting to see what you come up with.

 

[rbtjr]

Have you thought about putting the dock on floats? We have a 12' x 16' aluminum dock in a pond that is on floats. A 20' x 4' walkway goes out to the dock. The walkway is anchored on the land. Each side of the dock is tethered by a strong galvanized steel cable to anchors on the land. We had this dock installed by a commercial provider but I see on the Internet lots of examples of DIY floating docks.

 

[Deere Dude]

I used 3" galvanized pipe for my little dock. Welded a car wheel on bottom of each for a foot. No rust, no rot.
Just bolt the joists to the right height.

 

[EddieWalker]

then just 5/4 decking.

Be sure to install the 5/4 right next to each other as tightly as you can. In a year you will have a quarter inch gap, and in two years the gap will be over half an inch. Nothing else comes close to shrinking as much as 5/4 decking!!!

 

[countrybumpkin]

Will do , thanks.

 

[bitternut]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Some would work pretty good but not for my situation. The bottom of my pond is hard shale with a thin layer of mucky clay on top. Driving posts by hand would be very difficult because of the shale and washing them in would be not an option for the same reason. Also it would be tough to do since my only water supply is my well that is non operational in the winter for obvious reasons. I could not find any black locust posts but I think I can obtain some larch posts from a local Amish sawmill. I might construct the whole pier from larch.
I ruled out a floating dock because they are unstabel for senior citizens ( not me ) but some of my buddies. My pond only drops about 6" in the dry times so fluctuating level has not been an issue. My spillway has no problem letting out any excess during extreme wet periods.

If what I do does not pan out at least I should end up with a good enough work platform so that I can make improvements in the summer. It would be nice to have a way out of the pond without having to hose off the muck from your feet when you exit. I will post pictures of what I end up with.

 

[rbtjr]

About ruling out the floating dock: In our experience, instability is absolutely not a problem. IMHO, stability would depend entirely on whether or not you had sufficient floatation under the dock.