Dock Question

[bobbymalone]

I have a small pond in my backyard.   It's sort of cigar shaped.  Its about 250-300 yards long and I live pretty much square in the middle of it.  It's about 60-75 yards across where I am at.  It's not the best pond ever, but it doesnt get covered with muck like most suburban ponds and it is kinda nice to paddle around in a kayak and watch the ducks and herons. 

 

I want to put a cheap dock in.   My question is, do I really need to take it out every fall?  There is a steep slope on all sides and it's nestled in the suburbs so it basically has no wind.  It's not a big enough pond  for there to be big ice flows in the spring or some sort of plate tectonics action when it's freezing over.   The steep slope down to the pond is kind of brutal as far as dock removal goes and I don't exactly have a good spot to store a dock on shore.   I've got a lot of trees.   

 

I have also considered a floating dock, which are reported to be fine to leave in during the winter.   I would just prefer to not go that route, as stationary docks are much more stable.  

 

 

[BIGFISH.JZ]

I live on the North side of a small 100 acre lake, I haven't removed my dock for several years. The ice melts away from shore on the North side first and is well beyond the dock by the time it starts getting pushed around by the wind. Last year the wind came from the south and I thought the ice was going to crush the dock. When I finally went down to the lake to look, I saw that the ice had deteriorated enough that it did no damage. So, I would like to think that you should be able to leave it in. If the ice moves when your poles are still frozen in, it might drag the dock 'out to sea' but that's probably the worst case scenario. Another idea is to have a levitating dock. You say you have a lot of trees, if you have a pair of large trees by the shoreline, you could run a heavy cable or chain from the trees to the dock and make it suspend above the water. Use poles to stabilize it in the warm months and pull them up in the fall. This worked for my dad for about 15 years until he moved. The pics show the cable he used as the backbone of the system.

[Wanderer]

Is the bottom content firm or soft?  If it’s firm and you’re feeling industrious enough, you could crib it.  Our dock in Ely rests on cribs and is in a slow part of the river.  Haven’t had a problem since we put it in about 8 years ago.  Haven’t even had to re-level it.

 

You’ll probably be fine with posts too if the bottom is softer but might have to mess with the leveling a little.  

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

Is the bottom content firm or soft?  If it’s firm and you’re feeling industrious enough, you could crib it.  Our dock in Ely rests on cribs and is in a slow part of the river.  Haven’t had a problem since we put it in about 8 years ago.  Haven’t even had to re-level it.

 

You’ll probably be fine with posts too if the bottom is softer but might have to mess with the leveling a little.  

 

I wonder if down here in the cities, if you would have to get a permit to put in a crib dock since it more of a permanent structure in a water way?  

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, leech~~ said:

 

I wonder if down here in the cities, if you would have to get a permit to put in a crib dock since it more of a permanent structure in a water way?  

 

It didn’t sound like his pond was much of a “waterway” but I get your point.  There are actual dock guidelines/rules published by the DNR that should be referenced.  I’m pretty confident he’d be OK.

[bobbymalone]

The crib idea is a bit more than I am looking for.  I just want a 4' x 8' dock section on a little pond.  Trying to keep this around $500.

 

It is a curious point though.  The pond doesn't even show up as water on some maps even though it's been there forever.  Aerial photographs from the 40s show it in the middle of a cornfield.  The county plat map shows it as water and it shows I own a slice of it across to the other side, as opposed to the normal deal where your property line ends at the water. 

 

Of course for property tax purposes, it's considered lakeshore.

 

 

[leech~~]

Is this any other folks with houses on the pond or do you have the whole thing?  Not sure if they would complain or not if there are?  

[bobbymalone]

There are other houses on the pond, nobody has a dock though.  I don't think my neighbors would care, I kinda ran it by the guy on one side.  Because the county plat map has the pond divvied up between 8 different properties on the street, I would think that technically taking a kayak around the pond would be trespassing.  Nobody has complained though and during the winter there were skaters and people running their dogs all over it and nobody asked me for permission.  Not that I care at all.

 

I don't need a Hatfield / McCoy problem with the neighbors, but at the same time it's my property.  If I had a McMansion on Crystal Lake in Bville nobody could or would complain about me putting a dock out.  

[leech~~]

How deep is it?  May be they would care if you drop a few bass and sunnies in it?  

[bobbymalone]

27 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

How deep is it?  May be they would care if you drop a few bass and sunnies in it?  

The steep sides on shore continue and drops off pretty fast.  A good peecentage of the pond is 8-10.  I saw one spot that was 11 foot.  

 

The neighbor says it has springs and it took a bit longer to get walkable ice than it should have considering the size.  I had been out on a couple smaller metro lakes last winter, figured it had to have been frozen pretty good.  Two steps on the pond and fell right through. It didn't seem to suffer from any winterkill last winter.  It doesn't get a lot of weeds.  

 

Still working on a fish survey.  I can confirm that there are big goldfish and bullheads.  I have seen some pretty good size swirls around dusk making me wonder if there aren't a few bass in there.

Edited July 23, 2019 by bobbymalone

[Wanderer]

Going off your description I think you’ll be fine leaving a small dock in over the winter.  Anything that would happen shouldn’t be a major disaster.  Keep the deck above the water line.

[delcecchi]

Even here on Vermilion folks in sheltered bays leave docks in over winter.  Old school used 6 inch posts driven into the bottom if not too deep.  Galvanized pipe style posts and brackets like Menard sells are good too, with feet on them or driven into bottom.

 

That would let it be a cheap diy thing

[bobbymalone]

1 hour ago, delcecchi said:

That would let it be a cheap diy thing

Yeah the galvanized pipe thing is what I'm looking for.  It's just a little pond out in the burbs, I just want to have a nice little spot to sit in a lawn chair, especially since a good chunk of my backyard is steep slope.

 

Its a soft bottom.  I sink in a little past my ankles and then it firms up.

[delcecchi]

6 hours ago, bobbymalone said:

Yeah the galvanized pipe thing is what I'm looking for.  It's just a little pond out in the burbs, I just want to have a nice little spot to sit in a lawn chair, especially since a good chunk of my backyard is steep slope.

 

Its a soft bottom.  I sink in a little past my ankles and then it firms up.

One stop shopping at Menard's probably.  Some treated 2 by 6 or 8, some 1 1/4 decking or 2 by 6 , some brackets and feet, and appropriate legs.

My old dock used 2 inch cedar decking and was 4 feet wide with out anything down the middle and was quite solid.  Not sure what the span you could use for the 5/4 stuff is.

[leech~~]

Check C/List and FB MarketPlace for used sections. 

[bobbymalone]

Yeah, I've been looking at hsolist and piece by piece at Menards.  

 

I would like to go the hsolist route, but it's sometimes hard to find a section rather than a 60 footer.  Earlier in the year there were a lot more sections available.

[leech~~]

On C/list now.

 

 

NEW Dock Sections & Dock Hardware - $109 (Oakdale)

© hsolist - Map data © OpenStreetMap

5215 GERSHWIN AVE near 52nd

(google map)

condition: new 
length overall (LOA): 8 
make / manufacturer: Tommy Dock 
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Oakdale, MN 55128 
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Edited July 24, 2019 by leech~~

[bobbymalone]

Yeah, I saw that post in the spring and early summer then it disappeared.  I guess it's back up.  Thanks for pointing me towards it.