Dock on lake for small boat

DavidA · May 22, 2006

Does anyone have experience building a dock for a small boat? I want to build one on my lake shore where the water depth is 2 ft. or so and the bottom is muddy red clay. How do I sink or set the pilings? It is not an area that would be easy or very safe to access with my tractor so pushing the pilings in or pushing them down with the FEL is out of the question.
Any ideas or prior experiences will be appreciated. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

DavidA · May 22, 2006

Does anyone have experience building a dock for a small boat? I want to build one on my lake shore where the water depth is 2 ft. or so and the bottom is muddy red clay. How do I sink or set the pilings? It is not an area that would be easy or very safe to access with my tractor so pushing the pilings in or pushing them down with the FEL is out of the question.
Any ideas or prior experiences will be appreciated. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Dishpointer · May 22, 2006

When I helped my father do his dock, we set the pilings before the lake filled up. After it was completely full, we marked the water line and built the dock. My suggestion is to either hire someone to set your pilings or go with a floating dock that is anchored to the shore. If you don't get your pilings in far enough, the will eventually settle with the weight of the dock and people.

Dishpointer · May 22, 2006

When I helped my father do his dock, we set the pilings before the lake filled up. After it was completely full, we marked the water line and built the dock. My suggestion is to either hire someone to set your pilings or go with a floating dock that is anchored to the shore. If you don't get your pilings in far enough, the will eventually settle with the weight of the dock and people.

PineRidge · May 22, 2006

Another alternative to pilings is a floating dock. We purchased a set of 4 dock floats a year and a half ago reasonably $100. from a guy that was running an ad in the classifieds.

The beauty of a floating dock is you can easily move it and if you reside in a climate where the temperatures reach freezing temperatures you can pull the dock out of the water easily with the tractor, you do have a tractor don't you? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

PineRidge · May 22, 2006

Another alternative to pilings is a floating dock. We purchased a set of 4 dock floats a year and a half ago reasonably $100. from a guy that was running an ad in the classifieds.

The beauty of a floating dock is you can easily move it and if you reside in a climate where the temperatures reach freezing temperatures you can pull the dock out of the water easily with the tractor, you do have a tractor don't you? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

ronjhall · May 22, 2006

Many marina's on the Great Lake use a water pump hooked to a 3/4" pipe. The post is set in it's place. Then pipe with pump running is is moved around bottom of post. This forces the soil away from pole and it sinks deeper with continued movement of pipe. I do not know how this operation will work in clay.

ronjhall · May 22, 2006

Many marina's on the Great Lake use a water pump hooked to a 3/4" pipe. The post is set in it's place. Then pipe with pump running is is moved around bottom of post. This forces the soil away from pole and it sinks deeper with continued movement of pipe. I do not know how this operation will work in clay.

Captinjack · May 22, 2006

I used 20 ft. telephone poles for my dock. I sharpened the ends, braced them together solidly and floated them out into the water. I anchored them to the pilings at the edge of the pond with the sturdy dock railings and then pullen the poles up into place using a snatch block pully and a come along connected to my pickup.

I used the pickup to pull almost to plumb and then finished it off with the come along. I left the poles in position for a few months to settle and then put the decking on and established elevation a little above level to acomodate further settling.

This was done about 16 yrs. ago and all remains well with a really solid dock. I cut the telephone poles off so I could sit on them comfortably when fishing.

Captinjack · May 22, 2006

I used 20 ft. telephone poles for my dock. I sharpened the ends, braced them together solidly and floated them out into the water. I anchored them to the pilings at the edge of the pond with the sturdy dock railings and then pullen the poles up into place using a snatch block pully and a come along connected to my pickup.

I used the pickup to pull almost to plumb and then finished it off with the come along. I left the poles in position for a few months to settle and then put the decking on and established elevation a little above level to acomodate further settling.

This was done about 16 yrs. ago and all remains well with a really solid dock. I cut the telephone poles off so I could sit on them comfortably when fishing.