# Cheap floating dock -- how to build?



## wsprague (Jan 1, 2013)

Has anyone ever built a cheap floating dock? A favorite youtube video? Tales from personal experience?

I am part of a dinghy racing group and we need to expand. We have lots of volunteers with pickup trucks and power tools, and a budget of $500.00 (plus could probably raise more). We are thinking some encapsulated polystyrene and some scrounged lumber and firehoses. We want it to be safe and environmentally friendly, but it doesn't have to last forever.

Thanks!


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

wsprague said:


> Has anyone ever built a cheap floating dock? A favorite youtube video? Tales from personal experience?
> 
> I am part of a dinghy racing group and we need to expand. We have lots of volunteers with pickup trucks and power tools, and a budget of $500.00 (plus could probably raise more). We are thinking some encapsulated polystyrene and some scrounged lumber and firehoses. We want it to be safe and environmentally friendly, but it doesn't have to last forever.
> 
> Thanks!


What I do when I need replacements is to find a marina that is upgrading, they are usually happy to get rid of one for $100 or so rather than cut it up. Building your own gets pricey real quick with galvanized hardware and PT lumber.


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## Capt.aaron (Dec 14, 2011)

I use plastic drums, 2x4's and plywood.


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## ftldiver (Sep 9, 2002)

try northern tool. they ship their trailers with blocks of stryofoam. free for the asking.

-put them in the plastic drums. -those drums will leak and sink... eventually.


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## JoeDiver (Feb 2, 2011)

I built a 12x12 swim dock when I was 14. Used treated 2x6 for the frame and treated 1x6 deck planks. Dad found 4 plastic barrels for me from somewhere; used galvanized strapping to attach to dock. Screwed in a big eye to the center of the bottom, attached 15' of poly line and 5' of chain wrapped around a scrap VW motor. Swam it out to the middle of the lake, dropped motor over where it sank 3' into the soft silty mud. (36 acre private property lake)

That dock stayed out there for 15 years, through all sorts of weather and got LOTS of use. We even slept overnight on it a few times. Used to take chicks out there....and it was party central for night time, um, experimental, things....shot off a ton of fireworks for the 4th.....

Oh yeah...forgot....bought a cheapo pool ladder from Gibson's...the kind made for the above ground pools....and bolted it to the dock so it was half in, half out of the water.

We got alot of use out of that dock......


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## rockDAWG (Sep 6, 2006)

Capt.aaron said:


> I use plastic drums, 2x4's and plywood.


X10. It is bit a "red Neck" style, but it works well for years. Many 50 Gal plastic drums, pressure treated lumber 2x4 or 2x6, plywood or use deck board.


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## mad_machine (Dec 16, 2012)

Capt.aaron said:


> I use plastic drums, 2x4's and plywood.


Sometimes you can get those drums pretty cheap (free)

Personally, I wonder how the plastic lumber would work on the non-decking areas. Granted, most docks I have seen that rotted away seem to start with the deck, but it is an idea to build an all plastic dock


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## Boasun (Feb 10, 2007)

They have Patio Decking planks that are plastic


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

Boasun said:


> They have Patio Decking planks that are plastic


$$$$$ a single 2X is about $50 here. Used construction lumber would be the cheapest option - set the kids to work pulling the nails. 

I sometimes see those foam filled tire floats very cheap on CL. I would monitor your local CL closely - there is an amazing amount and variety of stuff very cheap there - lots of surplus construction material.

The plastic drums are probably the cheapest option but filling them with foam wouldn't be. Can the lids be "welded" on to seal them permanently?


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Our club has build hundreds of feet of floats always using treated lumber on frames supported by those 6 or 8 ft foam billets.. they are not horribly expensive, and while bulky are not heavy. Lay the billets on the ground, build up a braced non-twisting frame. We used nylon strapping to attach the billets to the frame, then plank the float, add bullrails and cleats. Add extra foam to support ramp weights, power boxes, etc as required.


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## Capt.aaron (Dec 14, 2011)

SloopJonB said:


> $$$$$ a single 2X is about $50 here. Used construction lumber would be the cheapest option - set the kids to work pulling the nails.
> 
> I sometimes see those foam filled tire floats very cheap on CL. I would monitor your local CL closely - there is an amazing amount and variety of stuff very cheap there - lots of surplus construction material.
> 
> The plastic drums are probably the cheapest option but filling them with foam wouldn't be. Can the lids be "welded" on to seal them permanently?


50 dollars?! No seriously, how much is a 2x4? I'm talking about the wood kind. But scrap lumber is the way to go.


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

The new PT is kind of a problem due to its horrible interaction with fasteners 

The preservatives formerly used to pressure treat wood for non-commercial applications are chromium, copper and arsenic, which are classified as pesticides. Wood treated with these pesticides is sometimes referred to as CCA treated wood, and is commonly used for decks, walkways, fences, gazebos, boat docks and playground equipment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has registered a number of alternate wood preservatives that do not contain arsenic. Wood treated with these preservatives is now available in the marketplace. 


reatment Options (Chemicals Used to Treat Lumber)

Although there are numerous treatment options available most modern construction projects call for one of the following three waterborne pressure treatment chemicals:

CCA (Chromated Copper Arsenate) � used mostly in commercial, industrial, & marine projects
ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quat) � used mostly for consumer & commercial projects
MCQ (Micronized Copper Quat) � used mostly for consumer & commercial projects

Each of the options is effective for protecting wood against wood boring insects, fungus, and bacteria but each chemical has its unique set of pros and cons. For instance, ACQ can be noticeably corrosive to hardware and fasteners while CCA & MCQ cause little to no corrosion. 


Pressure treated wood will still be available for certain commercial applications, such as wharves and bridges, where little human contact would occur.

Most of the dock builders can still get the real stuff


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

Capt.aaron said:


> 50 dollars?! No seriously, how much is a 2x4? I'm talking about the wood kind. But scrap lumber is the way to go.


I was referring to the plastic lumber & decking - TREX and the like.


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

Food for thought...
Up her in RI styrofoam is not allowed for new docks. New installations have to have the PVC barrel float under the docks according to CRMC regulations. They extended the deadline for the smaller marinas to switch due to cost but they are making them change all of their floaters out.


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## mad_machine (Dec 16, 2012)

that's interesting about not being able to use foam. I know the docks around here are done with foam.. but not the closed cell type. It is an open cell encapsulated in a thin layer of plastic or resin. Seems to work well. The best part is.. no little annoying "pebbles" of Styrofoam to break off


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## CorvetteGuy (Jun 4, 2011)

We built a barge for raising our morings and checking them. It's made from 45 gallon plastic drums and a 2 by 6 lumber. this holds a 500 lb steel a frame and will lift a 600lb concrete filled drum, only had to replace a few plastic drums over 20 years and it is in the water for 6 months each season. $15 for a plastic drum 200 for lumber and some old line to lash it all together, can easily be done for under $500.


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## blutoyz (Oct 28, 2012)

mad_machine said:


> that's interesting about not being able to use foam. I know the docks around here are done with foam.. but not the closed cell type. It is an open cell encapsulated in a thin layer of plastic or resin. Seems to work well. The best part is.. no little annoying "pebbles" of Styrofoam to break off


If you knew RI you would understand....
Someone sees some old styro along the shore and thinks that there should be a regulation, too many state workers at Coastal trying to justify their existence love to make new regulations, the new regulation means someone has something to do until they think of another regulation to enforce...

sad really


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## downeast450 (Jan 16, 2008)

That is a tight budget. You certainly want your invested time to be well spent. How many floats do you have? How many additional berths do you need? Could you build longer "bridges" between existing floats and pick up added space that way? $500.00 isn't going to buy much hardware, let alone floats and lumber.

Down


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## crstophr (Feb 15, 2012)

Depending on how long you need it to last you may want to check out what the folks are doing at the ephemerisle event. One floating platform design I've seen is to take 4x8' sheets of pressure treated plywood, screw heavy duty container bins to the bottom, and apply sealant around the edges.

They're very modular and the materials pack down really well for transport. They assemble one at a time and can be man handled by two into the water where they're joined to others. They'll support a lot of distributed weight.

I don't know how well they'll stand up over time. I suspect not any worse than other cobbled together solutions.

Ephemerisle

--Chris


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

crstophr said:


> Depending on how long you need it to last you may want to check out what the folks are doing at the ephemerisle event. One floating platform design I've seen is to take 4x8' sheets of pressure treated plywood, screw heavy duty container bins to the bottom, and apply sealant around the edges.
> 
> They're very modular and the materials pack down really well for transport. They assemble one at a time and can be man handled by two into the water where they're joined to others. They'll support a lot of distributed weight.
> 
> ...


We used to own a condo that had a dock system much like that - big fiberglass bins, empty and open at the top. The decking was fastened across the open tops. They all sank eventually. The manager of the complex took some when they were replaced and tried to use them but suffered the same problem until he filled them with foam.


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## dacap06 (Feb 2, 2008)

ftldiver said:


> try northern tool. they ship their trailers with blocks of stryofoam. free for the asking.
> 
> -put them in the plastic drums. -those drums will leak and sink... eventually.


Given the cost of outdoor wood, I'm at all convinced you'll save much by making your own. The tale I'll tell below could probably be scaled down for your purposes. I can't tell from your posts where you are, but I'd recommend this method only in fresh water in a protected area.

My uncle built his own docks years ago on the Lake of the Ozarks, and frankly, his construction technique was suitable only for an inland lake. Every winter, he pulled the docks out and drained the barrels.

His docks were sectional and were made of outdoor wood. Dock sections were attached with some pretty serious hinges.

His drums were oriented horizontally so that the curved sides were down. His trick with drums was to mount the drum with the bung hole down. Even so, he must have had some way to seal the bunghole better than the seal it came with, which was just cork or rubber. He placed the drums side by side (which made the docks much more stable), so the dock must be at least 4 feet wide. There was about a foot between the bottom of one drum and the top of the next in a section and his sections contained three and four pairs of drums. Since 55 (US) gallon drums are a little less than three feet tall, I'd wag his dock sections were 12 and 16 feet long.

I don't know how he actually attached the barrels to the dock sections. I wasn't there when he built them. I do remember he said it was very important not to pierce the barrels (well, duh!), so I presume he used some straps of some sort.

His dock was shaped like a tuning fork, and he actually built a semi-enclosed garage at the end to cover his runabout. It was not completely weatherproof but it had a roof and sides. There was no garage door and it had an opening at the dock you simply walked through. It was attached at the outside of the side docks, so the walkways on either side of the boat were enclosed and could be used to board the boat. The walls were just outdoor plywood, but they provided handy spots to hang life jackets, unused lines, fishing rods, nets, water skis and other stuff. The boathouse had electricity. It had outlets and interior lights, and had a something like a streetlight at the end you could see from a long way out of the cove and navigate toward at night.

He had a few pilings driven at the end to hold the dock in place. I recall four, one located at the end of each arm of the garage and two (on on each side) at the point where the main dock branched to the arms that supported the boathouse. I don't recall how the pilings were "connected" to the dock so it would not wander back and forth but could move up and down. If I were to do it today, I'd choose to make an U shape out of something like re-bar, heat the ends with a torch and flatten them, and drill holes through which I could put bolts into dock sections. I would place it around the piling and bolt it to the dock.

Anyway, that's how one man did it in the '60s. Hope this helps!

Tom


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