Love Your Dock!
Owning a dock is such a joy. Perched out into a beautiful lake with unobstructed views from sunrise to sunset. The best of outdoor living. And all that use in the summer months and the tough storage through the winter creates wear & tear that, if dealt with seasonally, will help with the life and enjoyment of your extended living space.
Maintaining your dock is important for the aesthetics as well as for safety reasons. Seasonal heavy snow loads can lead to long-term problems like rotting wood, uneven flotation, and gradual disrepair. The good news is that if you keep up with your annual maintenance your dock will provide you with years of pleasure.
Here are some tips for floating wood docks.
- If possible, try to keep heavy snow off the dock.
- Inspect your dock every set-up & take-down season to catch any issues early.
- Install DockHinge to make your set-up & take-down easy & safe.
- Keep your dock high out of the water with your flotation.
- Properly setting your sway chains considering sideways torque.
- Stain or paint every 1-2 years.
- Know when it’s time to replace your dock for safety reason.
Clearing Heavy Snow
Heavy snow loads can cause a dock to collapse or submerges the dock which creates a water saturation issue.
If possible, clear the heavy snow loads off to avoid this damage.
Setting Sway Chains
Proper sway chain and anchor tension and angle is critical. If the chain or those connection points are too tight, then the chains may break during up & down movements. If those chains or connections are too loose and the lateral loads become too much for ramps and dock joins.
The angle is also important when you set sway lines. Check that the sway chains attached at the same height as the ramp to keep the geometry aligned, wherever possible.
If you notice excessive wear, then speak to a professional to properly set up your chain & anchoring system.
Installing DockHinge
When you have DockHinge installed on your docking system several areas become easier & safer.
The DockHinge is self-contained, so you will never drop a pin again.
It is self-supporting which means that heavy ramp of dock load rests easily on the hinge saving you the danger of holding that load when aligning the hinge for the pin.
The DockHinge also functions from above, so you are not in the water, and you don’t have your hands between the docks.
And it is self-aligning so when you tighten the bolt from above with 1 simple tool, the alignment happens saving the hard work of aligning both sides while in the water with hands between heavy docks holding those loads.
DockHinge also has a wide range-of-motion which is wonderful for lakes or rivers with variable water levels or at the end of the season when most lakes have dropped.
Final Thoughts
Your dock provides you with countless hours of pure enjoyment. It deserves a little TLC, and you deserve DockHinge.
Love you dock!