I now make the planks out of extension ladders. Buy a medium grade extension ladder and slide the two sections apart. This will give you two planks if you cover the sections with half inch plywood. I use self tapping roofing screws to fasten the plywood onto the ladder sections. It makes nice light planks 24 inches... more

We built this dock this year, but had to drill a hole in the pipes under the dock and put a 2x4 and bolt through them because the pipes sink through the clay. Our dock floated away one very windy day and had a hell of a time pulling the pipes back out of the clay and getting the dock off shore again. I would build it... more

We have a cabin near Chase, BC. Had a fiberglass wharf and it was getting more difficult to halt it out of the lake in the fall. Found your plans on the internet , since we had no beach we built it partly on shore and continued to put it together on the water. It's been five years now , we leave it in the water all... more

Build this dock last summer. Very pleased. Used high grade hardware for the bolts and cedar for the top. Can't complain at all. Now I need to build the ramp to get out to the dock. Any thoughts on a ramp/gangplank design are appreciated.

Love your site and the info is much appreciated. Look forward to a fishing trip someday. I am going to build a dock (16x16)and have been on the Dock Builder's Supply site, where I guess I will buy the Dow billets. According to their chart the number of 10"X20"X8'billets needed is 10 for their reccomendation of 40%... more

I buit the dock from your design this spring. Installed at our cottage here in Newfoundland and its been great . Yesterday we were hit by Hurricane Igor. The dock withstood Winds of 147Km/Hr and 155mm of rain for 24 hours. The winds were pounding directly on the dock. No movement whatsoever. The lake rose 4 feet to... more

Hi I like this dock and it seems to be just what we need for our junior sailing club. Our location is the shoreline of a harbour and its quite tiday so Im wondering how far out in the water it should go...thinking about the tide and how to access it if its far off shore. Would you use some sort of walkway from the... more

Hi. Found your site on google and intrigued by the comments. I seem to be on a comments page, but would love to se the dock plan that everyone is buzzing about. We are about to work on a dock here, and some of the problems encountered by those commenting have been my frustrations as well. Esp. interested in anchoring... more

Love the design but do not want to leave the dock in the lake throughout the freezeup. I'm thinking along the lines of building two 16X8 sections then bolting them together once in the water. I would design the ajoining floor planks to flip up so to allow acess to the two sets of side supports. Put bolts with metal... more

Could someone recommend a USA distributor for Dow (or equivalent) foam billets? Even better - a distributor in the New England area? I’m striking out with the local hardware stores.

I am considering using this for a swimm platform that will be placed about 100 ft off shore. I live on a lake that is 15 km long by 3 km wide. This is in Saskatchewan and we get a lot of wind at times (40 to 60 km)which generates strong waves. Will the pole anchors hold the dock in place in these kind of winds and... more

Hi, Like the dock idea. Looking to build this spring. Just wondering how deep in the water the dock sinks. I have very shallow water - 1 to 2 feet deep that stays that way for about 30-40 feet out from shore. Would this thing sink down too much once I get a bunch of people on it?? Any ideas on dealing w/shallow water... more

Just wondering if it would be better to use cedar as it is very resistant to rot/decay? How long does pressure treated lumber last in water? and is it bad for the environment (leaching into the water and affecting the ecosystem and fish)? Should you be treating the wood with a water repellant stain?

Nice dock I built the same size 9 years ago and I regret putting styrofoam floaters I now haft to change them because they are water log.This will be quite a challenge. I am now looking into plastic Floats filled with foam more expensive but worth it.

The plans look fantastic. I can't wait to get started. How important is the connection to shore for this dock. Does it require some sort of a concrete block on shore to reinforce it? Or do the 4 pipes provide enough anchoring so that there is not too much torque on the shore connection? Thanks for the help! Patrick

A short note about your docks.. Will they with stand heavy winds ? maybe 1 to two foot seas. would it be better to place the dock with one corner pointed into the wind vs square to it ? as well, have you built one any bigger say 24 x 16. thanks for your time, Bill Bill, I don't know how theses docks would behave in... more

I built a floating dock using barrels that I have in the river where I live, the problem is when ever the river overflows the banks the dock get beat up and the posts get pulled from the bottom which makes the dock very looses and unstable. How can I secure the dock so when the river overflows the dock will remain in... more

I built a floatig 3x24 --2 sections 12 each-- I put cement in 5 galllon buckets with a post. I put 1 section in the water and it is not stable enough--- what can I do to make my dock stable, I am planning to tie the two docks together so I can tie my boatas to them.. It is very unstable---do I need more weight?? I... more

I was wondering if anyone has built this using small barrels (15-20 gal.)i think they are that size.i have about 20 at my property and wanted to use them.do I need to secure them wiyh straps?

Brad, we have never had trouble with critters chewing into the foam. We have lots of muskrats but they seem to leave this foam alone. As to water logging, the type of foam that's specified on the website does not water log. We have had one dock in the water 15 years and we checked the foam's condition when we replaced ... more