Marina Decking Advice

[mgernes]

We are in the process of replacing all of the surface boards in our marina, which are roughly 15 years old. The marina is on the St. Croix River, located in Bayport Minnesota. They are currently constructed with green treated wood and have reached the end of their life-span. Because the restrictions to the treatment to woods, we are going to havd to find an alternative to what is there now.

We have narrowed it down to a hard wood option(Braizilian or other), or steel. We have looked into the composite materials but because of the way that the underlayment of our docks are constructed we would have to add welded supports to every dock section and every finger in the marina. The cost alone for that is a show stopper. While we are replacing all of the boards we also plan to replace all of the electrical lines and water lines beneath the docking. Needless to say this will be a major undertaking.

I am looking for some feedback from anyone that has had experience with differnat woods that might be avialable, or if anyone has been involved in this type of undertaking and can give me some advice on pitfalls we should look out for. This may well be a 7+ figure investment since we have over 200 slips. We are planning to build out a couple of slips in the spring with a steel option and a wood option. Hands down the wood option will look better, but at what expense..

Thanks for any feedback.

Marcus
Beachhouse
73 53hat

 

[exsailor]

My first call would be to Flotation Docks of Cedarville, Michigan and find out what they use. They do all the docks for the Michigan State Harbors and claim they last 20 years. We have them in Duncan Bay Marina in Cheboygan.
ByronS

 

[krush]

Is there a state restriction on pressure treatment use? I build docks and drive piles and know that CCA is restricted, but not other stuff.

Here's where I get my lumber from and they have EPA info for ya:

Marine Lumber: http://www.woodpreservers.com/marineconstruction.php

Treated Lumber FAQ: http://www.woodpreservers.com/faq.php


For the price/life cycle, you will NOT beat quality treated wood (in my opinion). Modern treatment techniques are pretty stout.

 

[Trojan]

We have steel at the club and steel at the marina. Were in south east Michigan where we have ice to deal with. At a previous marina we had floating docks 60 ft long with wood decking and steel poles. That was great. You could tie to the floating dock with no worry of water level. For storms we would tie to the poles. The steel sucks and doesn't last much longer than wood and it's at a fixed height. some days you step up others you step down. With steel you can't remove them without a crane and the ice tears them up. Every year we re drive poles and weld docks and repaint and repaint. They are also noisy, oilcanning. The floating wood docks we would just pull out, make any repairs on shore. Fix any ice moved poles and placed the dock back in the water in the spring. Ether way you must repair the dock poles each year if you have ice. There are only so many ways you can repair steel docks before they start to look like crap. Wood is easy to repair and looks good. I don't think there is a perfect dock. I don't know anything about salt water docks. In Minnesota I don't think there is much salt though. We still use treated wood here. 2 X 6 on the deck topping. 2 x 12 for the runners and 1 X 3 steel steel hinged joints. Shore connection is a steel hinge each side to a 4 inch steel poles set in concrete.
BILL

 

[Brian Degulis]

EPE or E PAY Is very popular in FL It's extremely strong and heavy it sinks if you drop it in the water. It's stable and rot resistant and has a nice traditional look considered to last forever. It's dificult to work with because it's so hard it's about the same cost as the plastic composite. I love it not only did I build my dock deck with it but I use it to make all kinds off stuff for the boat. If you pick out the lighter colored boards when it's finished it's hard to tell it's not teak.

Brian

 

[Brian Degulis]

Is there a state restriction on pressure treatment use? I build docks and drive piles and know that CCA is restricted, but not other stuff.

Here's where I get my lumber from and they have EPA info for ya:

Marine Lumber: http://www.woodpreservers.com/marineconstruction.php

Treated Lumber FAQ: http://www.woodpreservers.com/faq.php


For the price/life cycle, you will NOT beat quality treated wood (in my opinion). Modern treatment techniques are pretty stout.

You build docks check this out pushboats-barges.com

Brian

 

[krush]

Brian, do you build those?

I just do small residential stuff as a side biz. I made a nice pushboat with lock in mechanism from an old pontoon boat. Those are WAY too big haha.

Floating docks are the way to go, I LOVE them.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Yeah but you would look really good running one of them!!!

Brian

 

[Trojan]

Floating docks are great, but they do cause boarding problems with our tall Hats. I required 5 steps and a landing to get on my boat. Plus with heavy weather you had to add lines to secure your boat.
BILL