The New Dock is Done!

Well the dock has been done since 4th of July weekend, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures.

The Old dock went 40 feet out into the river. Waaaay too long. The water depth drops to almost 3 feet at 14 feet out from shore, so there's just no reason to go out that far. The old dock was very poorly built out of 2x6's and aluminum decking with outdoor carpet on top (nasty--attracted ducks and geese--poop everywhere). And the last 10 feet of the dock had fallen and was completely submerged in the river.

So Frank, my super cool Father-in-law, drove up here from Vandalia, Ohio and he and i tore out the old dock, designed a new L-shaped dock, built it and installed it over the span of three weekends. (it didn't take that long just for the dock, we also had other projects that we worked on too).

This new dock goes 14 feet out from shore and the "L" runs 20 feet parallel. It breaks down into three sections (one 12 foot, and two 10 foot sections).

I should give props to Sarah, my little sister, because she helped us install the dock (see in the pics below she is wearing a pair of my waders--she was freaking out about get touched by fish, HA!)

We were able to salvage most of the auger posts from the old dock, and even some of the pressure treated 2x6 lumber. But we bought all new decking, a couple of new corner brackets, and galvanized deck screws. Oh, and we excavated a little of the shore to put in pavers with a gravel and sand base to serve as a permanent "pad" for the shore-end of the dock to rest on. I insisted that the dock should be level with the lawn--I didn't want people to have to step up or down from the shore. And the pavers worked perfectly. All together we spent about $300 on materials (which is about $2000 cheaper than buying a pre-fab dock kit).

So, anyway, here are some pics of the dock, the back of our house, Mom and Sarah on the boat, and Lauren enjoying Kristin's new hammock (a gift from Sarah and Mom).









Now that we've used the new dock for a few weeks, I'm pretty happy with the results. Our 17.5' Bayliner docks nicely to the 20' long section. And the water is deep enough for a second boat (like my father-in-law's Sea-Ark fishing boat) to dock straight in to shore along the 14' section (though we haven't actually tried that yet--so it's more of a theory for now).

The only drawback is that I'm really starting to see the benefits of a boat lift. I can't leave our boat moored to the dock for more than a day or two at a time because of the wear and tear on the hull and to the dock (even though i use bumper pads, it still gets pretty rough out there). And I don't have mooring covers for the boat, so without a lift and canopy, it is completely exposed to the elements. So, maybe next Summer I'll try to find a good deal on a used boat lift to complement the dock. But for now, I'm OK with trailering the boat to and from the public access ramp that's just down the road.