Dock Posts In Water....

TheFishGuy

We've got a project coming up involving a dock. Normally we stay away from docks and decks but this is a very good customer and he won't let anyone else on his property.

Question is how do you go about setting the posts in three feet of water? We've got a few ideas but would like to hear more. The last ya whoo that did it did something wrong because when the lake froze the dock heaved... We can't let that happen.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

TFG

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troubleseeker

Having had fishing camps my entire life, I was ready to offer several suggestions for dock building, until I saw the ice heaving problem. Obviously in south Louisiana, I don't have a lot (read that as 0.0.0.0.0) amount of experience with ice. Now I will just read the answers and learn.

Teetorbilt

Same as troubleseeker, diong well until I hit the 'ice' part. Not much of a problem here.

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John Hyatt

Dont even get into the water, place piers in the ground, use reverse joist hangers,I have a steel guy make these up for me, set them in the piers. Using steel or cca beams Cantilever the dock. J

TheFishGuy

There's no room for a cantilever. I'd like to show you a drawing but I've got to post 10 more times before the site will let me... I'll be back

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TheFishGuy

Ok, here it is, the situation... Use the handrail for scale to see how much of a pain in the arse this is going to be for some tiny little deck/dock

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John Hyatt

Seems like you have all sorts of room for a cantilever I have gone out 9' with .60 10x10 ' cca beams I get them from Texas, yes they still treat with cca around the water is one of the places thats best for it. The idea is fish cant stand the copper in acq.

With the lower area us a flooting dock. J

TheFishGuy

I'll suggest it but I know it'll get poo poo'd

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lgoode

I live in Maine... I think there is really nothing that will hold up in the application you have - the force of ice is just too much. The surprising reason, in my experience, is wind - when the wind blows hard, it moves the ice. That generates enough force that anything I've tried is just toast. All my docks and floats (and I think a float is the best idea) have to come out in the winter. Every spring we reset the (2" galvanized pipe) posts and put them back.
Have you looked at a Raise-a-dock type design?

RYANINMICHIGAN

I lived on a lake here for 6 years. And docks have to come out in the winter. Everyone brought their docks out. ice is a strong force. Can't fight it.

TheFishGuy

Well, after being on site I convinced the boss to cantilever the deck and docks by setting the posts for the headers on the footer of the break wall. Here's what I came up with:



The squares represent one foot. The section on the bottom left of the drawing is 30" lower then the main deck. The red lines are the headers, the grey is the footer for the break wall and the dots are the post locations.

The plan is to run the joists over the header then to the posts 8' back and fasten there. Funny thing is the boss is going on vacation and I'll be doing this whole project myself... lol

The homeowner and the board members were impressed with my idea of using the footer and removing all posts from being in the water. Now they want us to re-build all of the becks in the entire complex... all 60 of them..... I deserve a raise....

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Teetorbilt

Don't they use a lot of floats up north? It's been many years but I remember floating docks even for the big boats. This was in the Great Lakes region. I believe that they were hauled out during the winter months.

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RYANINMICHIGAN

Yes in big water they do. But everything comes out in the winter