New Lake - Need a Dock

[DavidJ]

<font color="blue"> I am trying to figure out how to anchor it to prevent it from blowing around. </font>

We used stabilizer arms attached to the dock and anchored to the bank to hold it in place. This allows it to rise and fall with the water and also hold it's place. You could use the walkway if you don't have enough change in elevation to prevent walking on it from highest water level to lowest.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Tom, no help here with the construction, but do consider if the lake freezes in the winter, what your plan for the dock might be. The first dock I built was destroyed by ice the first winter.

 

[SacandagaBrad]

We use wheeled docks on our slice of paradise, but that is because of the potential for 3' to 4' waves coming in and anchoring the necessary 120' of length to get the proper depth at the end. There are a number of ready made systems out there that are easy to move in and out, which is important on our lake due to it being a flood control reservoir that drops 10' over the summer and we freeze up for 4 months around mid-December. They also have "top side" adjustments to raise or lower a few feet without moving the dock out from shore. The wheeled systems are very stable.

The down side - the few I've looked at are quite expensive! But they are aluminum and plastic and should last a lifetime. I still don't have one, currently using an old wheeled wood system that has multiple connecting ramps.

Just something else to consider.

BTW - Beautiful spot you have there!!!!

Brad

 

[twabscs]

Yes, I've seen a few of those wheeled docks out here, but as you can imagine, there won't be any large waves in this small lake.

I've decided to go with float drums. They are easy to use and work well with 2x treated lumber. I've attached a picture of one. The only problem I have now is finding a local supplier as it will cost quite a bit to ship them. In fact, the shipping is more than half of the price of the floats.

Thanks for the comments, I really love the place already. I was up yesterday and will attach some additional pictures. I had the dealer do the 50-hour service so I didn't have to trailer the tractor from our old place. It came back from the dealer yesterday looking brand new and he didn't charge any transport fees as he wants to sell me a TS110. He says I need 90 HP for the new place. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[twabscs]

Yes, I'll have to do something about freezing. That will be for 2-3 months here. I've heard, though, that if you just unhook the dock sections and let them move with the ice, you would be okay. However, at this point, I'm just going to build the dock (inside) over the winter and put it out in March.

Attached is a picture of the dam area. As you can see, the water level is way down. We're behind 10" so far this year, and we only get 36" a year.

 

[twabscs]

Excellent idea with the plastic decking. I'll look into that.

Here's a picture looking east. You can see about 50 acres here. The old homestead is there to the left. This was a dairy operation until just a few years ago. Still a few operating dairy farms in the immediate area.

 

[jinman]

Check out this site. Click on Homeowner/prospective buyer. I think this is the plastic decking you want. It's about 3 times as expensive as treated lumber by my calculation.

Trex

 

[BXMMCC]

Did you check with Follansbee? I bought some from them a few years ago, shipping wasn't too bad.

Follansbee float drums

 

[twabscs]

Yeah, I did. You must be much closer than I am. The shipping cost for 8 of the larger, series 2 drums is $295.12, and the cost of the drums is $490.80. Shipping is 60% of the cost of the product. Ouch. We are talking about 240 lbs, though.

 

[TWINKLE_TOES]

Tom, I solved my problems by towing the dock out from shore and anchoring in deeper water for the winter. The damage occured when the ice pushed the dock up onto the rocks along the shore. Most other folks on the lake did the same.