Permanent Dock Blog

I started the permanent dock today.
Pic 1 New driver bit that I had a welder fabricate
Pic 2 Scaffolding set up to drive the first post
Pic 3 New bit broke with first post 1/2 driven
Pic 4 First post driven in 4.5 feet

I really didn’t know if it would work or not. After getting the first column driven in, I am confident it will work. I will have to get the driver re-inforced by having them put a weld on both sides of every seam.
It took about 15 minutes to drive the post. Flying solo wasn’t that fun as I had quite a few trips up and down the scaffold with leveling and all. 2 people would work much better but I’m quite use to working alone on projects.
I wanted to get at least 2 columns with a cross piece this weekend but what the heck, I’ll be able to get more fishing in instead.

PS – go ahead and put a plumb stick on the post. Feakin perfect!!!

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Ok, call me stupid but…. you are using a jack hammer to drive it down right? Where did the weld on the bit fail? I’m assuming you are driving through a muck / sand bottom? You driving through frozen ground?

Oh sorry,
Yes I had them attach the driver onto a modified jack hammer bit. Then I used an electric jackhammer. The bottom is pretty much sand/gravel.
If the bit didn’t break I was planning on getting one set of uprights installed to show the structure a bit better.
4 x 6’s with a 4 x 6 crossmember and 2 x 12 on both sides of the upright to tie it together.
4 x 6 joist with 2 x 10 decking installed at a 45 degree angle for stiffness.
I’m hoping to have it completed before ice out.

Oh forgot the most important component. The water mover. I’ll post a pic of that when it arrives, I didn’t want to purchase that until I was confident everything would work.

So are you drilling out the ice and then hammering into the frozen bottom? Or are you still on the beach with no frozen water?

Yes, auger a hole. Then there is about 12″ of ice then 2 to 4″ of water.
I may have actually hit bottom with the Jiffy.

Ok, I was going to say if you are doing frozen dirt with no water place a bag of charcoal on the dirt and light it up. It will thaw the dirt, but that doesn’t sound like you need that.
Keep posting the progress it sounds interesting.

How much ice on upper Roosey?

Mike J wrote:

How much ice on upper Roosey?

Rock solid 11″ across from loon Island

Damnit epg. There are rules. Looks like the scaffold is supposed to be tied off. And if you wanna ditch that bosch I have a hilti 3000 you can loan

Bearcat89 wrote:

Damnit epg. There are rules. Looks like the scaffold is supposed to be tied off. And if you wanna ditch that bosch I have a hilti 3000 you can loan

You are correct Sir. I did not have it tied off and I was the responsible person. Good thing the OSHA nazi didn’t catch me.

On the bit failure, Looks like they didn’t chamfer the edges of the plates where the welds are. Definitely get those chamfered before it gets welded again, will be much stronger. And the top plate should probably be about twice the thickness. With every strike the top plate flexes and weakens around the weld. Maybe even put 3 or 4 1/4″ 45deg gussets around where the shaft meets the top plate. Should stiffen it up quite a bit.

Munchy,
Thanks for the advice, I will pass it on to the fabricators.
I also said the plate should be thicker. I suggested 1″ they said 1/2″ should be fine. I’m hoping they can get it figured in a day because I want to come back up over New Years and drive a couple more columns.
I’m feeling more confident that this may work and will be a Dock game changer for us and may become a Biz for me when I retire up here.

Retire……….long ways to haul that lawn chair for the parade.

You are correct Sir. I did not have it tied off and I was the responsible person. Good thing the OSHA nazi didn’t catch me.
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The osha nazi got me the other day. I cut a block dry. Can you believe that.

The osha nazi got me the other day. I cut a block dry. Can you believe that.
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You cut a block dry and you didn’t die immediately from silica poisoning?
WOW, you must be the first survivor ever!

The EPA and OSHA at one time were needed in the workplace, not so much in today’s world.
I once asked an OSHA inspector if there was a workplace in the USA where he couldn’t find a violation. He looked at me, smiled and said “no”. I said “well then, something is terribly wrong” He starred at me with a funny look in his eye realizing that OSHA rules are way overreaching.

I see the electric cord wasnt properly grounded to shore either.
nor did the jack hammer have a life vest.
so many violations,for another bottle of crown mesquite I will make sure you dont get fined,and,you can pay for my gas there and back also.
oh,and that Adirondack chair wannabee has to go.
guess while I am there I could help you finish the dock.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Munchy,
Thanks for the advice, I will pass it on to the fabricators.
I also said the plate should be thicker. I suggested 1″ they said 1/2″ should be fine. I’m hoping they can get it figured in a day because I want to come back up over New Years and drive a couple more columns.
I’m feeling more confident that this may work and will be a Dock game changer for us and may become a Biz for me when I retire up here.

I would advise a difderent weld process with that thick steel and high vibration. Absolutely beveling will be necissary. That mig weld looks far too cold for that project.

Why 4.5 ft depth in an area that most likely will not freeze that deep? Code? 42 inches should suffice. Its not like your driving post for a sports court using 4-inch pipe. If a lake bed freezes I think there will be more worries at hand than your dock.

That scaffolding looks scary. best to tie your safety harness to the post your driving.
You need an F450 pulling an air compressor with 200ft of hose with a bulldog post pounder to drive those suckers in short time. I think a handheld post pounder be faster than a jackhammer if you’re up to the task. Its only sand and gravel for peets sake, what 2 inch pipe?

Done my fair share installing fencing and security gates and sport courts. Water has its issues but its not that much different when one makes common sense decisions.

Something of that sort should be welded on both inside and out. I would think.

Did the satin sealer really help you finish in one hour?

Thanks for the welding suggestions because I have no idea when it comes to metal and welding (i’m a nail bender)

P of Perch LOL, that was to show the size of the driver. Gallon not Qt.

Sinker, great Q’s and comments. Here’s my take – first of all I had no idea of how this will work other than my experience as a carpenter. I’m thinking a lake bed doesn’t freeze because of the water. I rekon the depth of the columns have nothing to do with frost and have everything to do with lateral strength. I had no idea of how far I could drive the columns and I could have driven the first one a bit farther but I ran out of height, I want to set decking 24″ off of top of water but I want to have approx. 36″ above decking to tie boats off of. Going forward I will add 2″ to each column. I thought about and looked into pipe for post’s but the cost for pipe and connections was very spendy.
I’m thinking this will work, I hope to get the driver repaired and drive some more columns over News Years weekend.

Took it to the welder and an old timer was working. First thing he says is it shoulda been chamfered and welded both sides. I picked it up this morning and he apologized about the first time around and said “you won’t break this one”.

Sooo, back in biz! Hopefully I won’t have to shovel 2 feet of snow of the ice.

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Those welds are pretty dang far from sexy…but they look like they may hold…still needs more heat IMO!

If the cabin wasn’t so far away, I would offer to help run posts.

Give a shout when you are going to do it. If you brought your parade lawn chair up there I may come up and watch.

This project is obviously lacking in management, but just your luck I am available to come tell you what you are doing wrong and the way to do it right, without actually doing anything. All of that for the low low price of a few corona’s! I’ll even bring both our chairs from the parade route.

Dutchboy wrote:

Give a shout when you are going to do it. If you brought your parade lawn chair up there I may come up and watch.

What!?! And risk losing his spot???

Are you guys teasing me?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

When I finish I’ll have a perm dock capping off party.
Lawn chairs and Coronas on me!

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Are you guys teasing me?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

When I finish I’ll have a perm dock capping off party.
Lawn chairs and Coronas on me!

Awww c’mon, with such management experience, what could go wrong?

HRG

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