floating dock ideas

[greyrider]

i am in a unique situation - almost tidal

i have a campsite that is on a river that i have a small dock on - i want to extend the dock out into deeper water to accommodate the skis and my boat but do it cheap. currently i have a dock that is built on foam. how can i extend the dock out 16 feet without buying 4 more styro billets to support it

any suggestions are welcome

bobby

 

[seadoosnipe]

Dock?

I've been beating myself in the head with this one too. I got about 12 heavy plastic, 55 gallon drums that were used for shipping a chemical in. I want to build a floating dock too. But, I know to use the drums, I'll have to ballast a little water in them to make them stable. So now, I'm trying to figure out how to make a ramp for my ski and boat, where I can open a central valve that connects the drums by stainless tubing. The drums would then fill with water and drop the dock low enough to pull the boat and ski onto. Then, close the vent that allowed the water to flow in and use a compressor to pressure up and blow the water out. Kind of like the principle of a dry docks operation. But, I'm still in the planning stages. Oh, and my honey dew list for the wifey seems to get longer and longer. When thats done, I might be able to focus on it......:cheers:

 

[greyrider]

sounds interesting - keep me posted if you come up with a system like this.

i camp on a river where the level is adjusted at an upstream dam and changes almost daily - so the dock has to move constantly in and out as well as up and down like a tidal setup.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Tides...

That's my problem too, the tide. Water up and down by about 4 or 5 feet daily.

I have an old sailboat, about 26 feet long, that sank during Katrina. It's no good for anything, no rigging, not seaworthy. So for the moment, the sailboat is docked agains't the bulkhead and I tie up my Challenger and GTX along side the sailboat to keep from scuffing up my toys.

I have some basic designs drawn up for my dock, just not into action.

I'm not certain of what your looking for but if you already have a partial floating dock, do you have the idea of just extending it for walking and docking. If so, seems a couple 12 foot, 2X6's and a couple drums or strofoam blocks would allow you to extend it. But, you'd have to anchor the blocks or put down a piling to hold it from moving side to side......:cheers: