How did you build your floating dock?

[kc5dlo]

Yep, was planning on paying attention to the bungs. Several of the 55 gallon barrels still have the factory seal on one side. I was thinking of pulling the unsealed bungs and cleaning everything well then applying a liberal amount of a silicone sealant and reinstalling.

 

[MIkeWard]

I found this on the web 10 years ago and have built several at our lake house. Several others have built them there too! Great 16' x 16' dock

Floating Dock. How to build. Step 1.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I used plastic 35 gallon barrels, as the 55 gallon ones would make the dock ride too high for what I wanted. I frame the dock with 2x6's and deck boards. I fastened the barrels to the underside of the dock with plastic straps used in plumbing to hang pipes from the underside of floor joists. I built the dock pieces (4x8, 4x12, 8x8 and 3x6 bridge) in the garage and used my forks on the tractor and a heavy duty strap to move them down to the pond.

 

[mapper]

My nephew has a place on a nearby lake in Pierce county. He replaced a couple of sections of his floating dock this year. He used foam blocks that are sealed in fiberglass or something similar, they replaced foam blocks that were not covered and starting to deteriorate and get waterlogged. I was suprised that hs was not using pt lumber, he told me that it was not permitted because of the toxins that would leach into the lake. I don't know if this is a state or county ordinance.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I used plastic 35 gallon barrels, as the 55 gallon ones would make the dock ride too high for what I wanted. I frame the dock with 2x6's and deck boards. I fastened the barrels to the underside of the dock with plastic straps used in plumbing to hang pipes from the underside of floor joists. I built the dock pieces (4x8, 4x12, 8x8 and 3x6 bridge) in the garage and used my forks on the tractor and a heavy duty strap to move them down to the pond.

View attachment 581845

View attachment 581846

View attachment 581847

View attachment 581848

View attachment 581849

Looks nice. Do you find the 8x8 is tippy? I'm trying to decide on a size, the dilemma is the bigger the more stable it is, but the harder to move. I have to take my docks out in the fall.

 

[goeduck]

My nephew has a place on a nearby lake in Pierce county. He replaced a couple of sections of his floating dock this year. He used foam blocks that are sealed in fiberglass or something similar, they replaced foam blocks that were not covered and starting to deteriorate and get waterlogged. I was suprised that hs was not using pt lumber, he told me that it was not permitted because of the toxins that would leach into the lake. I don't know if this is a state or county ordinance.

They are very strict on what can be used. I have creosoted pilings that would never be allowed to be used again. Mine is on saltwater but lakes are probably the same. Down the beach one dock they had their creosoted pilings replaced with galvanized ones. Quite an operation, they tug boated a barge in a day in advance, nudged it up alongside the dock on high tide, waited for low tide so the barge would go dry and pulled out the creosote pilings and drove in the galvanized ones. The next high tide they tugged the barge away.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Looks nice. Do you find the 8x8 is tippy? I'm trying to decide on a size, the dilemma is the bigger the more stable it is, but the harder to move. I have to take my docks out in the fall.

The 8x8 gets a little unstable if you are right at the edge, but it has enough weight it won't tip enough to cause you to fall off. It also helps that the bridge is attached to one end, that stabilizes things as well.

I do not take my docks out at all during the winter, and have not had any damage or needed to make any repairs in the 3 years I have had the dock in the water. They freeze solid but come out unscathed in the spring.

The pieces are heavy. I bent my fork backplate about an inch out of line due to the stress of the strap when moving the 12' section. I should have used 2 straps attached to the outside edges of the backplate, not one strap in the middle.

My wife and I like to have lunch out on the 8x8 dock. We enjoy watching the mallards and wood ducks. I am trying to come up with a way to build a floating duck island. Was thinking of building a lighter version of the 8x8 dock and use 2 liter bottles to have it float just above the surface of the water.

 

[Zippo1]

On our plastic 55 gallon dock barrels I only sealed one bung - the other was left open. When building the dock I placed the sealed bung at the top. This allowed me to pump air into the barrel via the bottom open bung with a small air compressor. I could adjust the amount of freeboard and level the dock by adding or removing air in the barrels. Worked great.

 

[Deerherd]

I purchased my floats (24 x 48 $125 each) through Home Depot, best price by a long shot and included delivery right to my door. I used hardware from Dockhardware.com. I way over built it and it got so heavy I had to move it into the water before I could deck it. Each float supports 600 lbs, I used 9 for the main and 1 for the walkway.

 

[EddieWalker]

I purchased my floats (24 x 48 $125 each) through Home Depot, best price by a long shot and included delivery right to my door. I used hardware from Dockhardware.com. I way over built it and it got so heavy I had to move it into the water before I could deck it. Each float supports 600 lbs, I used 9 for the main and 1 for the walkway.

View attachment 582024

View attachment 582025

View attachment 582026

View attachment 582028

This is very similar to what I was wanting to do. It's hard to tell by your picture. What are the dimensions of your dock?

Does it settle very much when you have a bunch of people on it?

How did you anchor it to stay in place?

Would you do anything different if you built another one?