A Saturday project to prep for Sunday sailing
Docks come in a range of styles and shapes, ready to port everything from small canoes to large sailboats. If you live on a lakefront and want the luxury of your own dock to make launching out into the water easier, look no further. This step-by-step guide will teach you how to build a dock on your own so you can fully enjoy the tranquility of your waterfront home.
For our DIY purposes, we’re going to focus only on floating docks as opposed to stationary docks that attach to the lake floor with posts. If you’re interested in building a more permanent structure, it’s best to hire a professional dock builder near you.
Before you start building, you’ll need to check the local city and state regulations around docks. Some of the rules may dictate how large of a dock you can build, the type of dock you can build, and the materials you can use. These rules are usually in place to protect the water and its visitors and inhabitants, from fish to water birds. It’s very likely that you’ll need a building permit to build your dock, so be sure to have those in place before beginning construction.
If you opt for a wooden dock, cedar boards are an excellent choice. Rot-resistant, they’re excellent in high-moisture situations. Other wood options include pressure-treated pine or spruce—or you could choose a less-expensive composite and skip the hardwood altogether.
If building a dock from scratch seems like too large of a project, there are prefabricated kits to make the process more plug-and-play.
Grab all of your supplies and get them as close to the dock’s planned location as possible so you don’t have to lug all that heavy assembled wood around. Be sure to bring a cooler of cold drinks, snacks, and a few towels. This job may get a little wet!
Screw the four 8-foot-by-2-foot planks together to form a perfect eight-foot square, using three-inch chemical-coated deck screws. Secure the square using L braces. You can of course create a larger dock than this; just measure accordingly.
Find the center of the square, and mark it with a pencil. Screw an 8-foot long 2-by-4 support in the center to provide extra strength to your frame; the extra support should delineate two four-foot squares.
Once your square has proper support beams, continue to screw the planks on one side of it until it is continuous wood, like a pallet. Leave five-eighth of an inch between each board to help keep the wood dry and prevent warping.
Check to ensure that all the plugs on the barrels are tightened. Apply a layer of silicone caulking around the plugs to prevent any leaking.
Place the four barrels into the four corners of the underside of the pallet. Mark where the inside edge of the barrel sits, and then place two more support beams on the inside edge of the barrel to keep them securely in place within the frame. There will be a gap between the two barrels on each end; securely screw in a top layer of two of your 8-foot long 2-by-4 perpendicular supports here, on each side.
Screw eye bolts into the bottom supports on either side of the barrels, four in total for each barrel. Tie the barrels down with rope, securing them with a knot tied to one of the screw eye bolts. Loop the rope diagonally across to the opposite eye hook, across again, and finally to the last eye hook. Tie a final knot in the last eye hook, then repeat for the remaining three barrels.
On the top, air-side of the dock, screw in the dock cleats using lag bolts. Make sure you have chosen cleats that are appropriate for the size of boat you have. The number of cleats you should install on your dock depends on your boat’s size, but at least three is a good number. Aim to match your dock cleats up with the location of your boat cleats, so your vessel will sit comfortably at the dock. In general, seven to 10 feet apart is a comfortable distance for dock cleats.
Screw two large eye bolts into the land-side of the dock, one on each side. Hook two galvanized steel cables to the bolts with a link. You can then connect the other end of the steel cable to a large tree or other object—a bucket filled with concrete, weighing at least 150 pounds, is a good option; when the concrete is poured but not set, you can stick a very large eye bolt into it and let the concrete set around it. You’ll need to wait 24 hours for the concrete to set, but when it’s done you can connect the landside steel cable to the anchor.
With your dock built and properly anchored to land, it’s time to put it to use! Slide your kayak out and enjoy the calming vibes of the lake.
Truth be told, it’s not easy to build a dock, even a simple floating one such as the one here. It takes a lot of skill with a drill, lumber, rope, and steel cable to get it right, as well as strength to lift it into the water. In addition, hiring a professional dock builder will allow for special customization and the addition of details that can boost your home’s value.
The average cost to build a dock is about $15,000 for a professionally-built permanent dock that measures about 500 square feet. But, if you DIY a floating dock, you’ll only spend about $1,000. There’s no doubt you’ll save a lot of money doing this project yourself, but in general the price of a dock varies greatly depending on style, material, and size.
Cedar wood is the best choice for a hardwood dock, as it is rot-resistant and does well in the water. Pressure-treated pine and spruce are two other solid options. Alternately, composite or waterproof plastic are materials commonly used for docks, and are frequently used in prefabricated kits.
When deciding how big of a dock you can build, you should check with your city and state for any restrictions. Some cities won’t allow docks larger than one-fourth of the width of a body of water, while others have no restrictions at all. Gather this information when you apply for your permits so you can plan the build accordingly.
If you don’t want to rely on an anchor on land, you can also build dock posts. You’ll need to rent a water jet to blow out sand and silt from the lake floor in order to place the posts; it’s a complicated task that is best left to a professional.
