Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

[Warren Bee]

I have a dock with foam encapsulated in black Poly(something)... I have a storage building being built on the back of he dock, lumber frame and aluminum siding and roof. The building is heavier than I figured and now my dock is off flat. There is enough float to hold the building plenty high however I was wondering if I could put water into the floats on the front of the dock to reduce the buoyancy of that side of the dock?

 

[crackedglass]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

I would be more looking to ad buoyancy to the low side then trying to sink the other side.
Maybe adding some type of inflatable flotation to the low side?
If you added water to the dock floats it would gravitate to the low side and make your situation worse.
The right answer is to balance the load on the dock or to increase flotation on the heavy end.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

+1

redistribute the floats to properly support the load... IE space em further apart on the high end and closer together under the building...

Or MUCH better yet add more floats under the building n leave the rest alone...you don't want ur dock sinking too far when stepped on PLUS you ARE gonna put stuff in this storage building aren't you? it's gonna get heavier.


Is it too late to rethink the building construction? build it lighter?

 

[Warren Bee]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

I would be more looking to ad buoyancy to the low side then trying to sink the other side.
Maybe adding some type of inflatable flotation to the low side?
If you added water to the dock floats it would gravitate to the low side and make your situation worse.
The right answer is to balance the load on the dock or to increase flotation on the heavy end.

 

[Warren Bee]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

The dock is 27 x 40.. and the floats under are 4' x 4' x 24" ... the floats cover the entire dock. There seems to be no way to put more float under the dock anywhere and it already floats very high. Now there is about 1 1/2 feet space from water to dock top
The building is placed rear/ left .. the building is causing the dock to lean back about 6".
I was going to add Concrete benches to the front to help lower that area and help balance the load. I was thinking that if I put water in the floats that are toward the front of the dock also that would reduce the buoyancy in that area.
My main concern would the water in the floats cause problems with the floats.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

so just remove some floats from the lighter areas

 

[roscoe]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

Or add a second layer under the low end.
Make sure to show us the video if you do this.

 

[Warren Bee]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

Would you use air style floats so I would be able to get them low enough in the water?

It just seemed like a good idea to add water to the floats that are too high in the water!

 

[roscoe]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

If your current floats are filled with foam, you may not be able to add enough water to make a difference.

You could use barrels, or bladders, then fill them with air after they are secured under the dock.

But I wanted a video of you trying to force a layer of foam blocks under the existing blocks.

 

[rallyart]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

Just space the low end floats down another couple inches so more of the float is in the water. You can also add weight to the lighter end. Then the whole dock moves less.
They probably make a 4'X4'X16" or a 2'X4'X24" float you could use for some of the front floats. Barrels are awful.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

Barrels may be awful in some situations, but if you need an adjustable air chamber, they can work pretty well.
Add air until the rig floats level.
Also leaves room for adjustability in the future.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

Warren you were close with your first thought but instead of decreasing the buoyancy of the floats you need to decrease the NUMBER of the floats..... MANY docks have several feet between floats and yours are right against each other... space em out till things are level

 

[Warren Bee]

Re: Need to reduce the Buoyancy of floats

In the past I have used several other ideas to make things float better.. I had constructed a barge and after it was in the water I discovered what BUOYANCY was.. I needed more.. I couldn't get the floats under the barge while it was in the water. It needed to be removed from the water up on my dock and the floats added and then slid back into the water.. I don't want to even attempt to add floats under the dock while it is in the water (so you won't be getting any video of me doing that). I used 55 gal barrels under my boat house/storage because it was too low.. What a lot of work for almost no good..They really didn't do the job needed....

Just to add .. There are no roads to my dock..The property is boat access only.. There is no beach to work on, it's all covered with trees. So all the work I do is done on or in the water. The foam inside the floats is not solid but like little balls like "BB's". If I put water in they will come out and the float will loose some of it's buoyancy. They have a lift of 1799 lbs each.. so I could spread out and put some water in each, a few gallons. Keep in mind the dock has a lot of space from water to dock top. Is that call 'free board'? maybe 20".