4'x10' Aluminum Docks

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Made up a bunch of these. Sold a few but kept 3 for my family at the lake. They work out real slick. Much more stable than a lot of the over price extruded ones.
Reply:Installed at the lake
Reply:I know came up a board short. Damn lumber yard
Reply:Looks nice.  Since no flotation, obviously for a lake with a stable/hard bottom.  Regarding the third picture.  Why the unusually long open structure with no cross-brace?Jerry30+ yrs Army Infantry & Field Artillery, 25 yrs agoMiller 350LX Tig Runner TA 210, spool gunLincoln 250/250 IdealArcESAB PCM 500i PlasmaKazoo 30"  vert BSKazoo 9x16 horiz BSClausing 12x24 lathe20T Air Press
Reply:The cross brace is really just not needed. These style dock are used in the north because they have to be taken in and put back out of the water before and after winter. Installed many docks over the years of all kinds of brands. Most really don't have anymore bracing then what you see here. These are really a lot more stable than just about any of the others that I have helped put in. "Nice knowing a lot of people on the water always a place to swim but they always need help putting them in and taking them out. They suck a lot to take out in the snow by the way" If you did want to put a large boat you will see that there are a third set of points on each dock to add extra legs. The bottom of this lake is pretty hard bottom. I know with muddy bottom they usually put floats under them with guide poles that go into the mud.
Reply:I design and build medium to large marinas, mostly floating ones though. Yours look good as long as you don't go much bigger.  I assume the lake level stays the same most of the time? What are you fastening the boards down with? I find 2X6 trex will actually span the 2' even though it is rated at 20 inches or something. I attach them with 5/16 FloorTorx self tapping screws. Also I assume you are using 2" sch 40 stilts, do they have a footing or do they just go into the bed of the lake?  I have seen some use a water pump pumping water through or around the stilt as they press down with a tractor or something similar. When they stop pumping the silt settels back in and they are pretty sturdy.  To adjust the level, a empty drum slowly filled with air makes a good jack to slowly lift low sections for adjusting. For accessories I would call Merco Marine, they sell a lot of things for dock building.  Looks like a good design, good job.   What is the potential of a bad storm with a boat attached to the dock?  If you get huge wind gusts, you may want to rase it so the rocking and rolling boat dosen't star lifting and walking the stilts.
Reply:Looks like you used PT lumber. Keep in mind the newer ACQ treated lumber is VERY corrosive to aluminum. It goes thru flashing within a few months. Thicker alum will hold up longer, but you may have some issues when things start to corrode and the alum gets ugly looking. A lot of people aren't real happy when things like this happen and they spend a lot of money on something..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by blackbartI design and build medium to large marinas, mostly floating ones though. Yours look good as long as you don't go much bigger.  I assume the lake level stays the same most of the time? What are you fastening the boards down with? I find 2X6 trex will actually span the 2' even though it is rated at 20 inches or something. I attach them with 5/16 FloorTorx self tapping screws. Also I assume you are using 2" sch 40 stilts, do they have a footing or do they just go into the bed of the lake?  I have seen some use a water pump pumping water through or around the stilt as they press down with a tractor or something similar. When they stop pumping the silt settels back in and they are pretty sturdy.  To adjust the level, a empty drum slowly filled with air makes a good jack to slowly lift low sections for adjusting. For accessories I would call Merco Marine, they sell a lot of things for dock building.  Looks like a good design, good job.   What is the potential of a bad storm with a boat attached to the dock?  If you get huge wind gusts, you may want to rase it so the rocking and rolling boat dosen't star lifting and walking the stilts.
Reply:Looks good what you have done there. I'm sure it will get some good usage through the coming years. If you will be tieing up boats to it, you can make some tie off cleats to add to it for that purpose. Technically speaking though, what you have built here is actually a PIER. The DOCK is the area next to the pier, where the boat goes. The pier is the structure, and the dock is the area adjacent to it for the boat to occupy. Most landlubbers don't know the difference in the two terms and tend to use them interchangably or incorrectly. I spent my military time in the US Navy and they drum it into your head what the difference is between the two terms. If there are any other current or former sailors on here, they will probably attest to this fact also. Another way to think about it comes in the term "Dry Dock". It is an area in which a boat or ship is placed to do work on the outer part of the hull in the Dry. So a Dock is the area for the boat or ship to be placed, and the pier is the structure to which it is tied. Not trying to be nit picky about it, just trying to help people understand to difference in the two words and how they should be used. If you don't believe me, enlist in the Navy for a few years and then get back to me on it.Nice work on your new PIER though. Make a few tie off cleats for it, for when you need to dock a boat at the pier later on.
Reply:Bistineau,All hands heave out and trice up, eh?   What's next?  Set the Sea and Anchor detail and make all preparations for getting underway?  USN 1975-1981
Reply:Originally Posted by 4956Bistineau,All hands heave out and trice up, eh?   What's next?  Set the Sea and Anchor detail and make all preparations for getting underway?  USN 1975-1981
Reply:Bistineau,I think you're correct on the use of those terms.   And the act of "docking" a vessel means to secure it to a Pier (or Mole or Quay).  I spent quite a bit of time working on submarines that had been "dry docked" in the floating dry dock USS San Onofre (ARD-30).   Also spent a year aboard one of the Navy's deep salvage and rescue ships (USS Pigeon, ASR-21).   We regularly did precision mooring operations in deep water off shore.  My Sea and Anchor detail station while on board was Forward Capstan Operator.
Reply:I forgot about the corrosive problems with the new PT lumber. I suppose you could lay down rubber sealing tape before screwing the boards down.  Like I said I use trex, but many won't use it any more because it had a bad batch where they almost went bankrupt with warranties from it flaking.  The new stuff is good, but full 2"x6" is not common, so make sure whatever you use in the future can handle 24" span.  Any lumber can, 2"X6" Trex can.  You are in control of the quality, it will be your reputation if it fails no matter what the cost savings were at the time, those savings will be long forgotten.  All my Marinas are steel with rustoleum rusty metal primer, I don't have much corrosion issues, but many lakes are different. I make the gangways out of aluminum, then wet sandblast them for traction.    Last time some one told me to turn to "port", I yelled" Left Or Right?" We turned this small kayak thingy opposite way and capsized it when the wave hit.  I never heard the end of it. Still can't remember port or starboard, red right return etc.
Reply:An easy trick for remembering that "port" means "left" is that they both have 4 letters.   That "Red, Right, Returning phrase is an aid to remembering that when coming in to port you keep the red channel marker buoys on your starboard side.   That keeps you in the channel and from running a ground.Not quite sure what you're meaning by "gangway".
Reply:Gangway is the same/similar as used shipboard for access. I believe what Black Bart is building is the floating piers attached to pilings driven into the bottom, that float up and down in response to fluctuating water levels. The gangways are the walkways attached the the floating piers on one end and have rollers or something on the other end, landside, so they can move some in relation to the rise and fall of the floating portions. He makes them out of aluminum to save weight as they have no floatation under them for support like the floating piers do, only supported on each end.4956, I take it you were stationed at 32nd St. Naval Station in San Diego for your service time. That was my homeport,too. I did see the Pigeon while there. Would have liked to tour it to see the layout of the propulsion plant, as I hear it had the same type engines as the ship I was on, only 12 cylinder not 16. And only 4 engines instead of 6, like the LSTs.
Reply:Yep, right down at the very end of the Mole Pier by the LST's.   The USS Fresno was usually tied up next to us.  Before that I spent 9 months going thru C-1 Welding School down at the other end of the base.   Around the end of 1977 I got transferred to the USS Dixon over at the Point Loma sub base.What years were you there?
Reply:1979-1983 But we have hi-jacked this thread enough. Maybe we could carry on the convo in a PM instead.Last edited by Bistineau; 06-04-2014 at 05:32 PM.
Reply:No hi-hacking was done here. Lots of good info be it about the "pier "or not. Blackbart thanks for your input. My work is in the area of general fab and mostly repair but always try to turn out the best product possible so when someone who specializes in a area talks I listen. I should have asked you before what to spray the steel stilt mounts and feet in as they were mild steel. Again of the ones I sold I decked in cedar unless the customer chose to deck them theirselves. For ease of taking them I and out of the water those are complete panels that lift out and are only anchored on the corners. I still do have to come up with something for roping boats off to. It most likely won't have to many boats hooked to it. More for the kids to fish off. One thing I guess in this area is that there was a shortage of these type docks available so I put together a few to demo for them to see if there is any interest in large orders. The commercially made ones are just so cheaply made and flimsy but not cheap on the wallet. In the case that there was interest those would deffinatly be decked in trex. Believe me I'm on the same side in regards to the PT decking. In the case of these I left the decking to another family member and kinda got burned.  So Blackbart I may have to pick your brain a little more in the near future if you wouldn't mind of coarse. Thanks for everyone's time and comments.
Reply:Here some other ideas for those looking into building similar docks. They are floating on ACE Rotomold style floats from Merco Marine.  The two stilts are what hold it from shifting.  The reason for those is these docks have to be moved at least once a week with lake level fluctuation.  The stilts are wound up or down with a cordless drill.  They are basically a 80:1 worm drive speed reducer with a gear welded to it. The reason for the worm drive is they won't back spin, they self lock without a ratchet, going up or down. The gear,reducer,gear rack are from McMaster carr. The handle shown a transfer point for elderly or handicapped boaters. The state actually stole that idea for their ADA requirements on state run lakes.  I stole it from playground codes for transferring paraplegics to the play structures. So I'm OK with that, the elderly like it a lot. Although I have steel truss skids on these for pulling them up concrete, I have seen copies that drag them directly on the ground, depending on the shoreline. Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by Bistineau1979-1983 But we have hi-jacked this thread enough. Maybe we could carry on the convo in a PM instead.
Reply:One thing you have to consider if you use trex is that some plastic deck materials expand and shrink so much in the heat and cold they can snap the attaching bolts.  Trex and Evergrain and perhaps others mix their platic with sawdust.  Although their competitors use this against them, I believe it is what keeps  them from expanding and shrinking.  I also overhang the trex so it acts like it's own bumper.  Some customers complain because they don't see a vinyl bumper, but it actually works well.
Reply:My question is why put the boards between the rails rather than over? I ask because it means more work and expense for the support surface. I'm sure you have a reason, I just wonder what it is.Yeah, I know, but it'll be ok!Lincoln Square wave 255Miller Vintage mig30a spoolgunThermal Dynamics Pacmaster 100xl plasmaSmith mc torchEllis 1600 band saw
Reply:I run mine over so they serve as bumbers as well, although his stilts stick out to far for that.  Merco makes piling/stilt bumpers for that situation.
Reply:Originally Posted by welderjMy question is why put the boards between the rails rather than over? I ask because it means more work and expense for the support surface. I'm sure you have a reason, I just wonder what it is.
Reply:Originally Posted by blackbartI run mine over so they serve as bumbers as well, although his stilts stick out to far for that.  Merco makes piling/stilt bumpers for that situation.I'm glad I don't build where there is ice, I've seen the damge it causes!