New dock options wall or Mooring Poles

[lipets]

I'm taking to dock builders in the Tampa Fl area to build a dock off the edge of a canal.

They want about 30K to build a bulkhead or seawall

the other option is build a fixed dock 4'-6' wide 16' long with three poles on each side (6). and a short ramp to the land about 11K

It's hard to place fenders on those with the tides.

I'm waiting on a price for a floating dock with 6 poles, says he don't have much call for them???

Any opinions

 

[DavidM]

SW Florida doesn’t have many floating docks perhaps because of low tide variation.

But another option is pole sliders, SlideMoor, etc. The poles need to be placed just right- near a heavy cleat on your boat. You tie the slider to the cleat and it will rise and fall on the slider track with the tide. Your dock can be fixed. The pole and slider track can be as tall as you want.

David

 

[C lectric]

In any place where there is much tide my opinion is a floating dock held in place by pilings is better that the other two. The dock will ride up and down on the pilings meaning the boat can be tied with shorter, not short, lines without worrying about adequate length to allow for the tidal changes.

Just be sure the pilings will have the height to hold the dock in any expected higher than normal water levels.

Now my opinion is formed in an area where 15-16' tides are not uncommon. When I travel up the coast those tides can get bigger.

 

[O C Diver]

Another option would be to drive 4 pilings in a row. Between the two middle pilings run stringers on both inside and outside. Deck the tops of the stringers. Run your boarding platform from land to the deck between the 2 pilings. Then run boards 3 × 10 or larger from the first piling to the 4th piling facing the boat. It will probably take 3 or so rows with a couple of inches between rows.

What you will end up with is a wall on the front of the pilings that faces the boat and allows you to place fenders that will accommodate average tidal changes. You can run the wall higher and lower, but I would want the boards out of the water at low tide. You could also build the walkway between all the pilings to facilitate boat washing. You could also build the dock as you described originally, and just add the face wall for fendering.

Lots to consider.

Ted

 

[lipets]

The tidal range isn't much perhaps 2.5-3'

But it's near the Gulf and in storm the wind can get down the canal i'm told,

but no wave action

 

[Pete Meisinger]

The floating dock must be secured to post driven to some sort of harder ground. Maybe five feet into sand or whatever the sea bottom . These are often treated poles. A ballpark guestimate is about $2,000 per pole.You will probably need six or eight of them, plus the cost of the actual dock. Permits might be expensive also.

Price will probably be cheaper than a bulkhead but not by a lot.

pete

 

[lipets]

SW Florida doesn’t have many floating docks perhaps because of low tide variation.

But another option is pole sliders, SlideMoor, etc. The poles need to be placed just right- near a heavy cleat on your boat. You tie the slider to the cleat and it will rise and fall on the slider track with the tide. Your dock can be fixed. The pole and slider track can be as tall as you want.

David

Very interesting system, cost about $2K for a pair

Tanks for the lead

 

[Cold Duck]

Can't remember seeing a floating dock in Fl. I would recon all the docks in the area. There's something about experience that is worth noting. Mine in Ca. are floating. I wouldn't put fixed in Ca, and I wouldn't put floaters in Fl, just my experience.

 

[Comodave]

I would take a cruise around the area and see what most people have. If most people have one type then it probably works well in that area.

 

[lipets]

I'm going to do that next week if the weather is nice, also want to check the depth to see how far off the edge of the land I need to be out.

One of the neighbors agreed to take me out, he believes the water is plenty deep, has a good depth sounder, I'll bring a line with a weight to double check.

So far it looks like the options are
install about three poles and use the SlideMoor
should cost about $5K
can add a small float dock on opposite side of the poles and ramp to shore
Another $1500

three poles with floating dock about $6500

Fixed dock about $11K

 

[Comodave]

You will probably find something that will work out for you.

 

[DavidM]

Be aware that you need good sized poles driven deep to work with the SlideMoor system, given that they will be stand alone and not part of a dock structure.

If you want your boat to survive the tide surge of a hurricane, I would make them a good 10’ above MWL. Maybe set up a couple of eyes on land that you could tie back to the pole in a hurricane.

David

 

[lipets]

Been looking at several Utube on floating dock in storms and one in a hurricane.

They did pretty good

Next week there's a boat show nearby and several dock vendors will be there including slidemor

THe thing with slidemore is my boat widest point isn't where that system would be next to is 30" lower to large rub rail.

I found another system Tide slide

see video https://youtu.be/htXkKdD5gm8?t=3

 

[timb7734]

We are in SW Florida on a floating dock that took the 12 foot flood surge of Ian without damage. My boat topped two fixed dock pilings on the side opposite the floating dock and had some scratches in the paint. Only other damage was the “top down bottom up” shades in the salon stopped going up. Fixed dock marinas in the area were destroyed.

 

[rgano]

One of our family boats is a Grand Banks 42 moored alongside the non-bulkheaded lot in a narrow canal. The photo is of my former GB42 moored there, and I am not sure why I did not place the boat more evenly on the pier, but the pilings are proud of the face of the pier, and the GB42 moored there now rides safely up and down with its rub rail against them. When hurricanes threaten, anchors can be run across to the vacant lollipop island you see (end of the canal allowing turn around), and the boat is pulled a foot or two off the piling faces. Had there been room, placing a couple of pilings outboard to form a real slip would have been ideal, but there is no sort of wave action in there at all, ever.