by Extreme How-To, Chad Gillikin
The Gillikin family’s boat dock had seen better days. Last winter’s heavy rains had caused the water at Logan Martin Lake in Alabama to rise to abnormal levels. As the water rose, so did the dock, all the way above the tops of the dock piles. A monster storm shifted the dock over the top of one of the posts, where it snagged beneath the corner of the docks’ rim joist. Then, when the water receded, the corner of the dock was stuck on the end of the pile so the structure couldn’t float down evenly with the water. Three corners went down with the water, but one corner didn’t, and the heavy weight of the lumber caused the entire dock to deform into a potato-chip shape that destroyed its construction. The old deck had to go, and the EHT crew built a new one. Here’s how our staff teamed up for weekend project that gave us a new place to kick back, relax and drop a fishing line in the water.
Our plans were for a 10-by-10-foot dock at our lake house to serve primarily as a swim platform throughout summer until the old boat dock could be demolished and rebuilt. A dock is much like a deck, but it floats, and the state’s lake authority regulates the design and material used to build any structure on the water. In years past, large Styrofoam pontoons could be used as flotation, but the regulations for Alabama waterway structures now requires the flotation devices to be completely encapsulated to prevent artificial debris from littering up the natural beauty of the state’s lakes.
See full article with plans and materials here.
Posted by Scott Freerksen “The Lake Guy”