Building a Pond Dock 101

TheOldOak

Active Member
Decided pond needed a dock. Used rail road ties for posts out in water, used a 6 inch treated post from tractor supply for the two pillars on shore. Solid white oak. Main beams are about 17 feet long. The first half of dock is 4.5 feet wide, second half is 6.5 feet. Pictures to follow...

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First step, sunk posts 2 feet to prevent settling later.
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How did you drive the posts in the water????? How deep is your pond? I bought some property 3 years ago with a pond on it and would love to have a dock, not sure if our cold winters would raise havoc with a dock, thinking about building a floating dock????

Strut
 
How did you drive the posts in the water????? How deep is your pond? I bought some property 3 years ago with a pond on it and would love to have a dock, not sure if our cold winters would raise havoc with a dock, thinking about building a floating dock????

Strut
The one at my folks place is floating. The biggest issue is you have to stay off of it once the water freezers as it will crack the plastic barrels that make it float. Once cracked they take on water and then slowly sink. They used the 55 gallon poly barrels you can get at many farm supply stores. I think they have 8 or 9 barrels sand the dock is 12' square I think. Just build a frame to contain the barrels out of treated 2X and put on some decking. The nice thing is you can move it around and even move it out some if the water level drops. The one my folks have needs replaced now, but it has lasted 25+ years. They just tie it in place with some marine grade rope. Sits nice an low to the water for landing fish or getting in and out of boats as well.
 
How did you drive the posts in the water????? How deep is your pond? I bought some property 3 years ago with a pond on it and would love to have a dock, not sure if our cold winters would raise havoc with a dock, thinking about building a floating dock????

Strut

we filled 5 gallon buckets with cement and the vertical 4x4.

I walked them out and placed them accordingly then secured the other end to the shore. I’ll look for a picture. We haven’t had any issues with the pond freezing and messing the dock up.

We have a larger dock at the other end with a slide and it’s set up the same way.
 

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How did you drive the posts in the water????? How deep is your pond? I bought some property 3 years ago with a pond on it and would love to have a dock, not sure if our cold winters would raise havoc with a dock, thinking about building a floating dock????

Strut
Pond is about 10 feet deep, only 4 feet where the pillars in the water stand. I sank the pillers in the ground 20 inches deep before the water level came up. If that isn't an option, you could build it one side at a time by anchoring the beam on dry ground first then connecting to the pillers standing in the water. I've built them both ways. They don't settle very much in my experience. Definitely a 2-3 man job though! Just make sure the pillars are level and brace them with an X. I prefer screws to nails on a project like this. I also used white oak. Will outlast me! Treated lumber would also work.
 
Can't have the dock without a stone path. Took twice the concrete I expected, about 700 lbs. Mixing in a wheelbarrow, be a while before I try that again, haha.
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Stones gathered from the hillside of property, I have plenty for the next project! Used leftover railroad ties for the edges, they blend in nicely and will last a long time. Some of the bigger stones weigh 80 lbs or so I'm sure. Kind of cool to use the resources you have lying around to improve the property. It took 700 lbs of concrete, twice what I expected. Good workout for sure.
 
I am going to try to do one with the support post and mud plates from home depot,you can also get floats or complete kits from them
 
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