I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott


I've seen those docks/floats on oil drums and they seem to float too high
unless partially filled with water or sand.
Most around here seem to use blocks of a styrofoam material.

On 11 May 2007 06:31:03 -0700, wrote:

I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

You could float a freakin' ship with 20 55 gallon barrels.

Don mentioned a couple of the problems like they tend to float high
without some counter weight. One problem you may have is that some
DEP/DEM agencies don't allow steel drums as floats for a variety of
reasons. You lake assotiation might not allow them. And if they do
allow them to be used, some require the the tops be cut off, the
barrels washed and cleaned (with all the appropriate hazardous
materials handling precautions) which can make it expensive. You need
to check on that because the fines can be hefty.

Securing them to a dock structure is pretty easy - you can use strips
of steel and make bands of just enlose them in place with wood. There
are any number of ways to do it - just requires a little back yard
mechanicin'

Don White wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott


I've seen those docks/floats on oil drums and they seem to float too high
unless partially filled with water or sand.
Most around here seem to use blocks of a styrofoam material.



Styrofoam blocks has been outlawed in my state, you need to use a hard
plastic floats, which can be filled with foam. The beads of Styrofoam
are hell on the environment.

Some lakes will not allow them. I know on our lake, Kerr, the army corp
only allows the heavy black plastic foam filled floats now. I presume you
are talking about the plastic ones. Just enclose them under the dock. They
do not need to be attached unless you think you will have "heavy" seas in
your lake :-) A several hundred pound dock will hold them down. Try to get
them up into your dock frame rather than completely under it as it will
float too high otherwise. If you want you can get expanding foam
http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html if you want it to be truly unsinkable.
Otherwise accidents and water animals might sink your dock. The fact that
they are not foam filled is one reason that some lakes outlaw them. The
plastic is also not usually uv pretected but under a deck it will take along
while for that to be a problem.

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

On Fri, 11 May 2007 19:59:34 GMT, "jamesgangnc"
wrote:

Some lakes will not allow them. I know on our lake, Kerr, the army corp
only allows the heavy black plastic foam filled floats now. I presume you
are talking about the plastic ones. Just enclose them under the dock. They
do not need to be attached unless you think you will have "heavy" seas in
your lake :-) A several hundred pound dock will hold them down. Try to get
them up into your dock frame rather than completely under it as it will
float too high otherwise. If you want you can get expanding foam
http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html if you want it to be truly unsinkable.
Otherwise accidents and water animals might sink your dock. The fact that
they are not foam filled is one reason that some lakes outlaw them. The
plastic is also not usually uv pretected but under a deck it will take along
while for that to be a problem.

My family have used the plastic drums for our docks on the Ohio River
for years. Even with high fast water pushing all kinds of logs and
crap, I have never seen one punctured. We do strap them in under the
docks using cheap aluminum straping. 20 barrels would float a heck of
a pond dock ;-). Mostly ours use 6 on a 5' by 12' dock made of 2x4
framing and 5/4" decking.

Dave Hall

wrote in message
roups.com...
I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott

"Dave Hall" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 May 2007 19:59:34 GMT, "jamesgangnc"
wrote:

Some lakes will not allow them. I know on our lake, Kerr, the army corp
only allows the heavy black plastic foam filled floats now. I presume you
are talking about the plastic ones. Just enclose them under the dock.
They
do not need to be attached unless you think you will have "heavy" seas in
your lake :-) A several hundred pound dock will hold them down. Try to
get
them up into your dock frame rather than completely under it as it will
float too high otherwise. If you want you can get expanding foam
http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html if you want it to be truly
unsinkable.
Otherwise accidents and water animals might sink your dock. The fact that
they are not foam filled is one reason that some lakes outlaw them. The
plastic is also not usually uv pretected but under a deck it will take
along
while for that to be a problem.

My family have used the plastic drums for our docks on the Ohio River
for years. Even with high fast water pushing all kinds of logs and
crap, I have never seen one punctured. We do strap them in under the
docks using cheap aluminum straping. 20 barrels would float a heck of
a pond dock ;-). Mostly ours use 6 on a 5' by 12' dock made of 2x4
framing and 5/4" decking.

Dave Hall

wrote in message
groups.com...
I have about 20 - 55 gallon barrels that I will seal up good and I
want to make a dock for a pond. I want a square dock that will sit
out in the middle of the pond. I would like to find directions on how
to build a dock over these drums and what would be a good way to have
a solid built dock. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Scott



Everyone seems to be missing one key word the original poster used.......it
is a *pond*, not a lake or a river. ;-)