Docks and Lifts

Congrats on the new lake property! What kind of docks are allowed? What regs do you have? Does the water level vary a lot?
Where I am we can only have floating docks. I have a two bay covered dock with a sun deck on top. One bay has an ACE cradle lift for the SN. The other is open. The sky is the limit, unless the local gvt has their own limit!

Look at Floe for a lift. All the major brands are good but Floe had some features I really like. S.S hardware, 24v screwjack lift system. (quick, quiet) screwjack adjustable legs (easily leveling). Nice canopy.

As for docks, I like aluminum. Lightweight and stable.(especially if configired in a L or T, some have deck choices. (Shoremaster). Try to get s.s. fasteners. I am not a fan of floaters, and actually get hotter than a legged dock. ven those plastic floaters get real hot. The leg in the water acts like a spoon in a coffee cup helping to cool the deck. You can carpet an aluminum deck.

If you are going to horseshoe the dock around a lift make sure the docks are long enough going across the lift. (some docks come 10'and some lifts are wider) and get a lift with more capacity then you need as your next boat might be bigger.
The lift is on 5 seasons and those aluminum docks are going on 21 years and still like new. The little solar panel charges both batteries and one charge per seaon works for mine.

If you need to take your boat out of the water for a bad storm, take the canopy fabric off as well. In a strong wind a caonpied lift without a boat on it will move and even flip.

Also notice my bimini is up while on the lift with good clearance, howeber the fly high has to be removed but my canopy is at its lowest position, Get at least 24' canopy for a 20' boat.

Joel,
I get the print version of the news paper so I don't normally go to the on line version. They do have the classifieds there too. I however didn't see any adds for lifts. Maybe it's too early in the season?

Homemade piers have a tendency to be heavy as Mike referred too because typically you use treated and the cast corners for pipe legs. It's a strong pier but be prepared for needing several strong people for install/removal!! I let Randy install/remove the pier he built for me and he does it himself!!! My other pier on the lake accross the road is a second hand non Randy's cedar pier that my wife and I handle ourselves. 4' x 8' sections. BTW, the decking on it is nailed and every spring I need to drive the nails back in!! Of course you can always leave them and see if one of the girls gets her swim suit bottom hooked doing a sitting dock start!!!!

Purchased piers with aluminum or plastic/composite decking will be hot as mentioned. They are however very light but most with their removable deck sections do take more time to install/remove.

Permanent is the other way to go but now you're talking DNR permits and bigger money for the pile driver. Pilings can be jetted in by hand but they don't last with the winter ice unless you're in a relatively sheltered cove or bay.

Joel, you also didn't mention access to your waterfront. If you have to remove these items for winter and can do it right up your beach, great but if you need to traverse a seawall or need to float stuff over to an area to remove and transport back to your property for the winter, well that has to be taken into consideration.

I have a boat ramp right on my property and I have a between the tubes crankup pontoon trailer. I am able to get the trailer under my boatlift and easily pull it out. Then I raise the legs on my dock sections and float them up onto the trailer and haul them over to where they sit for winter. The whole process is time consuming but Myself and 8 year old Blake get it done in a couple hours. (no heavy lifting)

I like the idea of a non-heavy dock. The 2x6 treated docks at the ski club are total backbreakers to put in and remove every season. The cedar docks seem to be worth a look, for sure. Are the legs/supports cedar as well?

Joel, congrats on the waterfront purchase!

Cedar and aluminum sure do make for beautiful docks, but boy are they expensive! How you want to proceed will highly depend on your budget. We've built our own docks out of wood for a long time- its relatively cheap and easy to do, plus theyre light enough for 2 people to put in and take out. Theyre basically 8-10' sections framed with 2x6's and covered with 5/4 decking material. The supports are 4x4 posts framed together with 2x4's. Im sure you have a lot of options in WI for prebuilt stuff if you want to go that way (and maybe its not as pricey as it is here) but let me know if you want more info on how we've done ours.

For lifts, we've migrated towards 12V hydraulic lifts. Very fast raise/lower compared to electric- I actually prefer a manual lift over the 110vac my dad had for a while. We have Nyman/Basta but see what's readily available in your area for used. WI seems to be the boat lift capital of the world so you should have a lot of options! Sunstream builds a very nice product but $$$.

Cheap would be good. Plus, we're handy, so I'll take all the dock building details I can get. I'll shop around as well, but I like what I see with your homebrewed solution there Tim. I'm warming up to that red/khaki color combo, btw.

If your shorline is steeper you can use a deicer($550.00) and leave all your docks and lifts in place for the winter,they are inexpensive to run on a timer.Ihave left all three boat lifts in and docks all winter for six years now with no problems.My place is on the Eagle River chain in Eagle river.

I had problems with my cantilever lift for my 92SN,it was very fussy on water depth placement,when placed too shallow could not get on the lift,when placed deep enough the boat just barely comes out of the water,the newer lifts have cross members that are bent in the middle to accomodate inboards with tracking fins.

I never realized you guys have to remove your docks in the winter! Wow, I thought pressure washing mine in the spring was a pain! I have built several docks over the years, and I find screws are the only way to go. If you predrill the holes prior to screwing, it will keep the wood from cracking for a lot longer. Especially with the decking boards. Also, the new composite boards tend to get hotter (might be a good thing for you guys up North) and I have seen them warp when used as railing, if they arent well supported.

92ccc wrote: I am on the Eagle River up past Eagle River Marine(Heckels)I have seen the ice do damage on the lakes,from what I ahve seen it is the ice at the shore that heaves and damages docks and lifts,I have never seen the ice from the middle blow to shore and damage stuff,interesting!I have had a lake houise longer than six years,only the last six with boat lifts.My other place was on a lake not a channel,my dad has experienced this problem on the same lake when he left his dock in one year,but it was the ice that left the shore that caused the damage.

Tony,
Now I remember where you are. Sorry but I know we even talked about it before!! You are pretty well protected in that area but I would still pull docks and lifts but that's just me. I've just seen to much damage over the years - even "permanent" piers/boat houses.

Permanent pilings suffer from frost heave and it's the reason for the aeration. The shallower the piling the worse the heave because of the frost depth. When you aereate, you are preventing the bottom of the lake from freezing by keeping the warmer unfrozen water around the pilings. Charlie's (Brady) boat house that just went though a re piling last winter was constantly heaving towards the shore. It's a good example when areation isn't used. Besides moving the whole boat house back several feet through the years, the rear pilings needed to be cut every several years. some of those pilings where only 6' long down from the original 20'!!! BTW, the boat house is now aerated!

You do put up warning barriers around the open water don't you? There is a law about it. That's a PITA alone!

This was me trying to break my way to the end of the cove....I made it about 20 ft

Haha...don't let him get any ideas...remember this guy?

ice breaker!

Brady wrote: Joel Where did you buy?

Eagle River

M3Fan wrote: Brady wrote: Joel Where did you buy? Eagle River

Charlie,
It's not on the chain and of course I forgot what lake Joel bought on. Bass lake?? Joel??

Joel,
I know I asked my son if he had ever delivered a boat to the lake and he hadn't.

BTW, you're better off not being on the Eagle side of the chain!!! There are times when it's like boating the Fox chain!!