I am looking at building a small inexpensive boat dock on a large pond. I have never done this before and would like to know if anyone has any info on how to do this or if someone knows where to look.
When I retired, and bought a place at the lake, there was a 4 foot by 30 foot stationary dock in place,with a 16'x12' "T" on the end. So I went and bought five pieces of styrofoam 1'x 2'x6', and built a 16x16 foot floating dock, and a 6'x12' connecting ramp. I built the floating dock and ramp on top of my pontoon trailer, on my boat ramp, and when finished just backed it into the water, floated it off the trailer, and over to my stationary dock, and connected it up.
helped my uncle build one about 3 years ago. used and old pontoon boat. strip every thing down to the pontoons. replaced the old decking, fixed some of the broken rails, added a hinged bridged and anchored it down with cables tied to numerous concrete blocks.
For a floating dock, barrels, old pontoon boat, or big styrofoam squares. Atach securely to your decking, and you have your dock.<br /><br />Piling can be a little tougher - got to get them set sturdy, which can be hard to do with all the mud or stone - depending on your lake bottom.
Barrels are a bad choice, and illegal in most, if not all instances, as they will rust through very rapidly, and fill with water and sink, and residue of what they previously contained could contaminate, and/or poison the water. Very bad bad bad.
How about checking with your local fish and game dept. and ask if they have any old ones, or ones they will be replacing?<br /><br />Quite a few in my area are being upgraded to that new plastic decking.<br /><br />H.
They use plastic barrels on CHEAT LAKE!!! In fact I am one of the only people (I have lake front) that has a "real" dock which has real floats. Plastic floats will work but you should find a way to strap them together, if the water drops all the way they can float away.
I built a 8'x12' floating dock and was surprised how much work/dollars was required. It cost about $1K for lumber, hardware, and floats. I recommend a book called the Dock Book. Got it at Amazon. The hardest part was the weight of the thing. All up, it weighed several hundred pounds which meant I had to dry fit it, take it apart and then reassemble it in the water. Really had to plan ahead. Used 2"x8" pressure treated wood and got the floats and hardware from a place online. There are several if you do a search. You may get by with lighter construction on a pond. This was for a tidal river creek off of Chesapeake Bay.
