"MIKE" wrote in message

Hello , we have a dock that is not accessable during low tide (about 3
hours twice a day). because of difficult regulation and costs our
beach association can not dredge the sand bar anymore.
we also are prohibited from moving our current dock.

so we need to get people on and off our 18 foot boats during low tide.
we would like to not "beach" the boat since it a rocky bottom.

does anyone have an idea on how we can make a "low tide" dock that
will not upset the govt agencies ?

some crazy ideas that i do not know will work :

1. put "boulders" (with somewhat flat tops) out 10 feet from shore
with tires to protect boat and use a alum ladder to get from beach to
"rocks". this will only be useful during a few hours during low tide.
we can avoid govt regulation since "boulders" are natural.

2. put a "swimming" platform near the beach , guests can walk on
platform and
walk to boat. 10 feet should be long enough to get the boat in 2-3
feet water.
im not sure if this would work and how to anchor it.

3. use plastic "jet docks" , im not sure how to prevent the boat from
pushing them to shore. perhaps 2 45 degree anchors that keep the
boat 10 feet offshore. seems to be very tricky.

any out of the box ideas ? thanks.

this will be on long island sound , so there will be waves.

thanks very much

Not sure how big you need it, but our summer place (on a river that goes up
and down, and has silly rules about messing up the river bank) has a
floating dock on two poles anchored into the river bed, and a ramp from
shore (on wheels so the dock end can go up and down) for people to walk on
to the floating dock.