Installing an Aluminum Dock Soon

Looking Forward to a New Aluminum Dock Going in this Spring

By Mark J. Donovan

Last year we purchased a new lake home that had a large and ancient U-shaped wood dock associated with it. The neighbors have told us the dock was at least 30 years old. So this fall I took the old wooden dock out of the water for its very last time. I then carted it all off to the local town dump. Now we are in the process of having an aluminum framed dock being fabricated. The aluminum dock will be the same size as the original dock. As a matter of fact it will have the exact footprint as the old wooden dock so that there are no permitting issues with installing it. The new dock is constructed out of about a dozen 2x4 aluminum 4’x8’ frames. The aluminum dock frames will be attached to galvanized metal posts that will rest on foot pads on the floor of the lake. Cross bracing will be installed between the leg posts to prevent it from racking and keeping it rock stable in the water. For the deck paneling we have chosen to go with cedar wood deck panels. The deck panels are designed to simply drop into place and can be easily removed in the fall.

The newly installed aluminum dock should last us decades. It will also be much easier to install and remove from the lake every spring and fall due to the fact that it will be so much lighter than the old pressure treated wooden dock. If all goes as planned the new dock should be installed 2 weeks after ice out this spring. I anticipate we will be walking on our new dock by late April. I will upload pictures of the newly installed aluminum dock when it is in.