Floating Dock Build?

[BlackoutATX]

Does anyone have experience building their own floating dock? Our lake property on Travis has its own boat ramp, which is great, but no dock. We will eventually build our family dream dock. But for now I'd really like to get something simple out there. Basically a day dock either with or without a slip. But no covering or anything else. Travis is not a constant level lake. So I would leave the anchoring and cable system to a professional. But the actual dock itself just doesn't seem all that difficult to build. Has anyone done this? Any recommendations or possible kits? Between my brother and law and myself, we have just about any tool we would need. I have looked online but nothing in the kit or DIY realm has really stood out to me.

[Shaver lake z3]

Tigerboatdocks.com

[BlackoutATX]

Tigerboatdocks.com

Wow, these guys look great. Do you have personal experience with them?

[lee]

http://www.ez-dock.com/

[retox1]

http://www.ez-dock.com/

X2

My parents bought a cabin last summer that came with an Ez-dock. Works great and is really easy to get in and out of the water. Easy to add on to if you want and should be easy to sell if you want to build something nicer in a few years.

[Shaver lake z3]

Yes great customer service and quality product. They ship the dock frames you add the decking easy install.

[Ruger761]

Tiger docks work great.

[BlackoutATX]

I spoke with Tiger Docks yesterday. They seem like they've really got their kit stuff down. We'll see what kind of quote comes back. I emailed EZ dock as well. I've heard mixed reviews about the EZ dock setup. But again, this will most likely only need to get us through one season, maybe two. I do like the ease and versatility of the EZ dock. We'll see what pricing looks like. Tiger docks said I'd be looking at 8 weeks for anything.

[bsreid]

Another option is to just purchase some floats from Home Depot and build up your own wooden frame, you don't really need some fancy kit to make a nice dock. I would highly recommend making two fingers as well to use as a slip to keep the boat protected from dock rash. Then you purchase a shelter logic tent and place it on top to keep the sun and rain out all for a decent price. IMG_2083.jpg

[lee]

I have had my EZ Dock for 15 years with no problems, my neighbor has had his 14 years.

[BlackoutATX]

Received both quotes back from both Tiger Docks and EZ Docks. Both were around the same price. With price being equal, I don't see any reason to not go with the more traditional dock from Tiger. That being said, both are still really expensive for what I was trying to do.

[LTWellman]

You may want to call Kyle Spillar @ Spillar boat docks, he may have something preowned or a fixer upper you could take on, I know I've seen a few over at his staging area past Pace Bend. You may check with other local builders as well. You may find something on the cheap.

[bsreid]

If you don't mind sharing, roughly what was the cost for how much dock? I never seem to Here the prices of the floating ones.

[IDBoating]

We built a replacement section for our dock. Found a guy with cedar trees on his property, paid him some cash, he felled and limbed them. We trailered them to our lake, dropped them in the water at the boat ramp, and my wife towed them to our house with our boat. From there it was simply some work with a chainsaw, some cedar 6x6's and 2x4's, some galvanized hardware, and topping it off with Trex decking (no splinters, no treating, no refinishing). Worked perfectly and was a great family project. My then-5YO son drove a lot of the screws with a drill motor and carried lots of cut cedar from the miter saw to the dock. This was almost 10 years ago and it's rock solid today.

We also have the cable and anchor system you mentioned. Just replaced the cable a few days ago. I'm an open water certified diver but a friend has a drysuit, so I had him handle swapping out the cable connection at the anchor while I did everything else. Absolutely painless. The old cable had frayed completely through and the dock was only being held in place by the plastic core in the cable {yikes}. We used 6x19 1/2in fiber core galvanized cable as the replacement, $0.67/foot, very reasonable.

Don't be afraid to do your own dock work. You don't even need "kits". It's just woodworking, and not even precision woodworking... you're not building a piano!

[bsreid]

As IDBoating said using the logs work well, just over time they get a little water logged. Just spent all day re decking and putting floats under it, not fun.