Odd time of the year, but shopping for new dock

People are starting to ice fish on the lake in front of my house and I am starting to think of a new dock.

Here is my dilemma, I have a 24 ft. steel sectional dock that came with the property when I bought it 15 years ago. The ceder decking is finally biting the dust (my best guess is they lasted about 30 years). The sections are 8 ft long, I could re-deck it but would really like a longer dock. Something in the 40 to 48 ft length with 8 x 12 platform on the end. I live here year round and in the winter I don’t want to look at the dock skeletons cluttering my view. I currently pull the decking and stack the sectional frames on my south property line out of my normal line of sight in the winter.

My dream would be to install a permanent pier and leave it in the lake year round, but that is prohibitively expensive (I had an estimate of about $100K).

I have looked at 40+ ft roll-ins but they do not lend themselves to moving them around and storing them out of sight. So, now I am back looking at sectional docks.

I am just over 70 and this will probably be the last dock I ever purchase. It would be nice if I could put it in and take it out for a few more years but having a dock service do the work is not out of the question.

So, now the questions:
What length sections, 5′-6″, 8″, 10″ (assuming aluminum – with two legs) thinking of weight.
Truss or Extruded Channel.
What type of decking, cedar, flow-through, aluminum (assuming removable) thinking of weight.
Brand recommendation.

What have you paid for yours….experience….recommendations

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What is the break up like there? We put a floater in the River thinking that we would have a problem with the spring break up, but thus far (knock on wood) no problems. We built the sections our selves and floated them in place and drove pipes into the river bed to hold it in place. Then a sleeve just lifts the sections up and down with the water level. In the winter we put orange cones on the pipes and screw a few to the decking to warn snowmobilers.

Working for us so far.

BTW, thats a nice gentle slope to the water you have!

With how gentle the slope is, no way to use a drive in one and move it to the side yard with vehicle or tractor? That is very easy on the body. Or leaving in a floater like Dutch said.

what river you on dutchboy ?

I’m going to be installing a permanent dock this winter. I’ve done some homework and think my design will work. A water mover will be a key component to the system. I’m on the east side of a narrow lake with a hill so I have that working in my favor.
If it works out it will be a great thing, if it turns into a catastrophic disaster I won’t have too much invested, mostly time.

My folks put in 128’ of dock with a nice platform a couple of years ago. The sections come apart easily and with your slope it would come in and out with a lawn tractor probably.

You could do 48’ and have three 16’ sections that would move and store easily. I’d recommend composite decking….you probably wouldn’t need to even take it off.

If that sounds like a possibility let me know and I’ll track down the mfg and place they bought it from.

I have two neighbor down the lake that have permanent piers, they are on the south east end of the lake that is very shallow (about 2 1/2 ft deep and weedy at the end of the pier) and the ice out typically occurs there first. They were built by the previous owner and after about 10 years they are starting to shows some signs of distress.

My next store neighbor left a old steel (tress style) 32 ft roll-in in the lake year round for 7 years about 10 years back until the ice went out in an odd direction and ripped the wheels off. His shore line is protected by a small point. He has not done it since.

I have talked to a manufacture of steel docks that sells what he calls a permanent dock, which is really a roll-in with sectional legs. When asked to see pictures of one install both summer and winter he had none to show me. The legs are not sunk into the lake bottom, and when asked about ice he just commented that if there is damage he would just fixes it.

Dutchboy – I have talked to a guy who sells fancy floating docks with one of their vendors that claims that you can leave them in year round. But the person I talked to said that you run the risk of ice damage and for what they cost he would pull his out.

So, I talked to a Floe dock vendor, they are pretty proud of their product (about $8 to $10K) for a 16ft sectional dock system with cedar decking. Maybe be it is sticker shock, but that is a lot of money for a dock.

I have also talked to a local sectional dock builder, Aluminum frames and removable cedar panels. His solution was 6 – 10ft sections and an 8ft ramp. About $5K. They could be stacked out of my sight line in the winter. He estimated that for about $300 a year I could get it put in and taken out.

ellpoutguy – I would be interested in looking at your plans, I created one that is similar in design one that are in my lake to talk to a local landscaper and based on his estimate for materials (he didn’t want to do the job)

I talked to a local sawmill guy and his material estimate was about $1.50 a board ft and for about 1700 board feet for the plan I created.

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I would give Fish Lake Dock a call. I have sent several folks from The Boat Center over to Tom at Fish Lake Dock and all of them have been happy with service. I think its worth a call.

Fish Lake Dock or just give them a call (651) 674-8581

Hi a few thoughts. What is your depth out to 48′ and lake bottom type? I am on ML and have 192′ of 16′ aluminum sections with plastic flow thru top. My shoreline slope looks very similar to yours. For me I am on sand and install/pull each 16′ section individually. Even on sand not a one person job. The wheels sink in, get washed in, etc. and need to be dug out. We pull in one section at at time, starting with the farthest out.
I think 48′ will be to much to pull together even if on a sand bottom and thus will need to pull in each section individually starting with the farthest out.

From your info appear to be from Cross Lake. I purchased from Weekend Extensions, great folks to deal with. Located on the corner of Highways 18 and 6.

http://www.weekendextensions.com/