Trying to build a dock can be a daunting task. There are many different products and construction methods; it can be confusing to know where to get started. At the Dock Shop, we strive to create an enjoyable experience for experienced or new builders. We acknowledge that we may not have everything you need to create the perfect dock for your environment, but we hope we can help along the way. 

Disclaimer: Please note that all of the below is meant to be general guidance, not specific instructions. As such, The Dock Shop holds no liability for any dock constructed using this guide. Each dock builder needs to carefully consider their dock's safety, buoyancy, local regulations, and more before beginning construction. Please see our full disclaimer at the bottom of this guide for additional detail. 

Planning

There are multiple types of docks, including stationary and floating, as well as many types of systems and materials including wood, aluminum, steel truss, and more. There are advantages and disadvantages for all these systems, and each deserves careful consideration and research.

However, wood dock systems are the preferred choice for most DIY projects. This is due both to the simplicity/availability of materials and cost effectiveness of pressure treated lumber. Aluminum and steel systems offer high quality and durability, however they are usually more expensive compared to most wood solutions - they will also tend to require more precision and offer fewer options for customization.

The remainder of this guide is written with a wooden dock system in mind, although much of the material can be adapted toward other docking systems as well.

There is more than one way to build a dock, but at The Dock Shop we recommend starting by figuring out how big of a dock you need. This can range from a small fishing platform to a full-size marina. Regardless of what you're building, the dock's size will drive all your building calculations, so determining the exact dimensions should be your first step. But keep in mind the scale of your dock will affect the cost!

Designing your dock as separate modules that can be joined together simplifies the overall project. A modularized floating dock has several benefits, including:

• Simplifies the overall project by breaking it into distinct parts
• Allowing for more adapability for changes in water level
• Greater flexibility in design and future changes to the dock system

For example, if your dock plan includes a 16’ walkway leading to a 12’ x 12’ swim dock, you can break this into “modules” of two 8’ walkway sections and one 12’ x 12’ section. Rather than having a shifting incline for the entirety of a single 16 foot walkway as water levels change, a modularized system will allow the shore-most section to manage the incline, while the remainder of the walkway will float level on the water.

The Walkway

Most docks will have a walkway or gangplank connecting the primary dock platform to the shoreline. It can be helpful to ask yourself a few questions:

• How much walkway will be required to span a secure anchoring spot on shore that will sit above the high water line?
• Does the water level change drastically? How steep would the walkway become at low water levels?
• Is the walkway long enough to be separated into distinct modules? For example, a 16x4 ft walkway might be better as 2 distinct 8x4 ft sections, one that is fully free floating, with the other anchored to the shoreline.

For our project, we opted for two 4'x8' walkway sections to create our 16' walkway. 

The Main Platform

While more complex docks may require multiple walkways and platforms, the average DIY project will consider a single large platform. Some key considerations for design:

• What will be the primary purpose of the dock? For how many persons? What equipment might be used? Will you have furniture, lighting, or other features that will add to your "live load" weight?
• What total square footage will be required to accommodate the variables considered above?
• Will a simple square, a rectangle, or a more complex shape be required to achieve the end goal?

For our project, we opted for a 12'x12' platform, large enough to comfortably accommodate 5-8 people.

Connecting The Sections

Once you have an idea about your materials, size, and configuration, begin planning how you will connect the various sections of your dock.  Dock sections can be connected using dedicated connection pieces or male/female corner pieces. Most dock designs will likely use a combination of the two, as we do in this guide. 

Stay Flexible:
Attach to any point on your dock for flexible shore anchoring or creative building

Bundle and Save:
Combining corner and connection hardware reduces build costs but may not be suitable for all connection needs

For this project, we have two 4'x8' walkway sections equipped with corner connectors.

We then use a single standard connector set, using half of it to connect the main platform to the walkway, and the other half to connect the walkway to our shoreline anchors.

Once you have your dock design, you'll want to make sure you account for all the hardware required by the system. Having an accurate total dock weight is crucial for selecting the right floats, so be sure to account for the weight of all included hardware.

• Each corner requires an inside and outside angle bracket, bolted together with 8 total carriage bolt sets.
• Each intersection of an internal joist with the external frame, or any connection point between the stringer and the joists or external frame requires one angle bracket and two backer plates, bolted together using a total of 4 carriage bolt sets.
• Floats should be attached to the framing with lag bolts and custom washers at as many points as possible to optimize security and stability of the dock, with a minimum of 4 attachment points (see Step 8 for more details) per dock float.

Once you have your dock designed and all hardware accounted for, the next step is figuring out the total weight of the dock system.

Make sure to factor the weight of the dock system including hardware, decking, and anything else you may put on the dock. In addition to this you need to account for the “live load” - the amount of weight the dock will hold that is not attached to the dock, including people, animals, dock accessories, boats, PWC, etc... 

Let's take our example above, assessing the total weight of the dock, broken up by distinct dock modules:

**Please note that this is an estimated weight for planning only - it is important to assess the actual weight of all materials when building your dock to ensure desired buoyancy and safe construction.

When you know the total weight of your dock, the next step is to figure out how much floatation you will need. There are three primary questions to ask when choosing the right floats:

• How much Float Freeboard do you want when the dock has no live load?
• How much Live Load do you want your dock to support?
• What floats dimensions will make most sense with your design?

How Much Float Freeboard?

Float Freeboard (or "freeboard" for the remainder of this guide) is the space between the waterline and the top of the dock float. Said another way, it is the amount of the dock float that is "showing" out of the water. The less freeboard you have, the less additional weight (live load) the dock can support. But too much freeboard can make the dock feel less stable.

Please note, other guides or resources may refer to "freeboard" as the distance from the top of a dock's decking to the waterline. Because this guide references dock float specifications of freeboard that are relative to the floats themselves, that is the frame of reference we have chosen to use instead of the top of the dock. 

Most DIY projects that anticipate active use of the dock will target 6-8" of freeboard without live load. For low traffic projects providing basic access to the water (1-2 person fishing dock, a simple entry/exit for a kayak, etc.) may opt for around 4" of freeboard.

For our project, we opted for about 6" of freeboard without live load.

How Much Live Load?

Live Load is the amount weight that you want to put on the dock, including decorations, accessories, and people. Please note - you should design your dock to have at least a few inches of freeboard even at your "target" live load. The 'Max Buoyancy' rating represents the weight at which the top of the float is level with the water, fully submerging the dock float. For adequate buoyancy and safety, plan for your total weight to come in UNDER the Max Buoyancy of your floats.

When assessing how much live load you want to support, try to think of the way the dock will be used:

• Is it a small 8'x 8' fishing dock designed to make space for a maximum of a 2-3 people and a couple of plastic chairs? Or are you building a 15' x 15' platform that is begging for some hanging lights, a firepit, and a 10 person get together?
• Plan for more weight rather than less if you're unsure; a little extra freeboard is more practical than having limited weight capacity.

For our project, we started our planning process anticipating a max of 6 people, and 500 lbs of equipment. We then assumed an average weight per person of around 180 lbs, resulting in a need to support around 1,580 lbs of live load (180 x 6 + 500). 

We wanted dock floats that would give us 6" of freeboard with no load, but allow up to 1,580 lbs of additional live load at an acceptable freeboard level

What Floats Dimensions?

There are multiple float dimensions that might provide the buoyancy you need for your dock's material weight + live load; how should you choose which to use? There is some degree of flexibility, but below are a few helpful tips:

• Choose floats that will allow you to attach to the dock at no less than 4 points for maximum stability.
• Floats should be symmetrically spaced to promote even distribution of weight and stability.
• Choose floats that will work well with your dock dimensions. This may mean they match the width of your dock section (like choosing a 4' long dock float for your walkway) or that they result in an easily symmetrical layout for a given dock dimension (as an example, using 5' long floats on a 12' x 12' dock platform would make symmetrical design arbitrarily difficult when compared to using 2', 3', or 4' dock floats). 
• If your dock will have uneven live load (a PWC port attachment, a heavy firepit, a permanent stage, etc...), consider using larger floats to support this area of your dock.
• It's often easiest to consider your ideal float depth for each module individually, especially your primary platform, as this section of the dock is most likely to have the greatest live load.

For our project, we opted for 3'x4' floats for the platform and 2'x4' floats for the walkways. As a reminder, always wait to cut your lumber, as dock float dimensions will shrink slightly during manufacture.

Putting it all together:

Once you have your preferred float lengths and widths, your desired freeboard, and your anticipated live load, now you can put it all together to decide what depth of float is required. Each of our float sizes comes with a easy-to-use buoyancy chart indicating how much weight each float depth/size can support to achieve the desired amount of freeboard.

For our project, we calculated our main platform would have a total weight of 822 lbs of lumber and 180 lbs of hardware, for a total weight of 902 lbs.

We planned for 5 3'x4' floats, one on each corner and one in the center. With 902 lbs of lumber and hardware distributed across 5 floats (902 ÷ 5 = 180 lbs / float), the buoyancy chart below helps us narrow down our depth.

Each float would need to support about 180 lbs of total weight. And since we were aiming for about 6" of freeboard, our sweet spot was the 3x4x12. The chart below shows that at a load of 150 lbs, this float will have 8" of freeboard while at 270 lbs it will have 6". Our load per float of 180 lbs falls somewhere in between these values, so we expect to see ~7" of freeboard on our dock with no live load. 

True, we were likely to end up with a bit more than our original target of 6" of freeboard, but (as previously stated) you'll rarely regret being able to support more live load with your dock.

Buoyancy charting can be found for all floats in our master sheet here, or each individual float product page also hosts a summarized chart like the one above.

Now, with five 3'x4'x12" floats for our dock, our 902 lbs would create around 7" of freeboard without any additional weight on the dock. But what about our Live Load?

According to the chart above, the max buoyancy for a 3'x4'x12" is 620 lbs, so a set of five floats can support a combined total weight of 3,100 lbs..

But will these floats sit high enough in the water when accounting for both the dock weight as well as our live load? Yes! The dock weight (902 lbs) + the live load (1,580) comes to 2,482 lbs. Distributed across 5 floats, that leads to 496 lbs of load per float. Looking at our buoyancy chart again, we can see that even at this weight our floats will still have 2" of freeboard. 

We now have the right size, count, and depth of float for our platform. We have designed a dock with ~7" of freeboard with no load and ~2" of freeboard at our anticipated live load. 

Repeat this process for your walkways as well to ensure you choose the appropriate float depth. However, walkways generally experience lower live loads than primary platforms, so they may not require the same buoyancy ratings.

Feeling confused? Just a reminder that we are happy to assist via phone, e-mail, or the chat feature on our website! Contact Us for help. 

Assembly

Building a dock requires hundreds of pieces, ranging from 2x6x12 boards to lag bolts and washers. Organization and careful planning will help prevent lost pieces or incorrect assembly. Some general tips on this are below:

• Now that you have your floats, you can cut your framing lumber to size. Floats can shrink up to 2% during the manufacturing process, or about an inch on a 48" long float. For example, the frame and joists for a 4'x8' dock section may end up slightly narrower than 4' due to float shrinkage, ensuring that your frame perfectly matches your float lengths.
• Once you've cut your lumber, "build" your dock sections, but without fasteners. This will help you conceptualize everything and ensure accuracy prior to drilling holes or driving nuts or bolts. 
• When you are laying out your dock, you may discover that you over or under ordered on certain parts or have questions about where various components go. This is a great time to doublecheck your overall plan and make any corrections that are needed. 
• Once you've verified that your layout comes together as intended, you're ready to begin assembly.

With the lumber and hardware laid out, assembly becomes a straightforward (if labor intensive!) process. Carefully place your hardware in the proper spot against the lumber and mark the locations for your pilot holes. Drill out the pilot holes and attach your hardware. Ensure all lumber is square, tightened securely, and that both edges are flush. IMPORTANT: If the top or bottom edges of your frames and joists are not flush, you may encounter difficulties attaching your floats and/or decking.

As a reminder, ensure that your joist placement does not interfere with planned connection points. Joists and connection points both have bulky backer plates - so ensure that where your joists connect to your frame is not the same spot you're planning to put a connection point. If this point is unclear now, it will make more sense once you're physically laying out your dock and planning your float connections.

With the frame and joists complete, it's time to attach the dock floats. Use carriage bolts and washers to secure the floats at multiple attachment points, with a minimum of four.

An important note: For smaller sections, it's possible to assemble the sections upside down and then flip them over when it's time to put them in the water. For larger sections (like the 12x12 section in this example), this is virtually impossible. This means you will need to elevate your entire frame by at least the height of the the dock floats you're using so you can position the dock floats under the frame for attachment. The dock floats themselves will likely work nicely for this. 

Said differently, smaller sections can be easily assembled upside down and carefully flipped over before sliding into the water, but larger sections need to be assembled right side up so it can be slid into the water without flipping over. These are merely options and ideas for ease of assembly, not requirements. Your available equipment and manpower may make one of these methods more appealing for your project. 

With the dock floats secured and the framing complete, the last thing your dock needs is decking. Note that decking will significantly increase the weight of your modules. If you are concerned about the difficulty of moving your section into the water (which we were!), decking can also be added after the dock section is floating in the water. 

By now, you should have your modules assembled, each of which likely weighs several hundred pounds. We'd recommend having 4-8 people assist with getting dock sections in the water. Try to avoid putting undue strain on the dock floats as the sections are slid into the water.

Once all the modules are floating in the water, it's time to connect them. You can do this as each module is placed in the water, or all at once after all modules are floating in their respective positions. 

Align the male and female connection points and slide the hitch pin through the aligned holes. NOTE: You may need to physically wade into the water at this point to help position the connection pieces precisely. Once the pin is securely placed, insert the small safety clip through the hole at the smaller end of the hitch pin to ensure the hitch pin will not slide out of the dock connection. It's normal to have a small amount of movement or 'play' after securing the connections together.

Pro Tip: The safety clip can be difficult to slide in - and that is on purpose. You wouldn't want that clip to slide out easily. If at first you don't succeed, try flipping the pin to the other side, or angling it very slightly. Eventually, it will slide through.

Once all connection points have been secured, you're ready to anchor your dock.

Once the dock is assembled and in the water, the final step is anchoring. You'll need to anchor both the platform to the bottom of the pond and the walkway to an anchor point on land.

The weight and number of anchor points required will depend on the environment, including water movement (wakes, currents, or tides), as well as crosswinds and seasonal storms. That said, most DIY docks on low-activity ponds or lakes will be safe with basic concrete block anchors for the platform and concrete-anchored posts on shore.

To minimize the effects of crosswinds, water currents, and drift, secure anchors at each corner of the main platform. Anchors can be as simple as a bucket of concrete or as robust as dedicated boat anchors. Drop these anchors into the water to firmly attach the dock to the bottom of the water body below.

Anchors should be dropped in a "criss-cross" fashion, attaching at one corner of the dock and crossing underneath the dock to the opposite corner.

A reliable method to anchor your dock to the shoreline is to secure 4x6 posts in concrete. Make sure the post hole depth is at least one-third of the post’s above-ground height for maximum stability.

Additionally, ensure that the posts are level and oriented in the desired direction for your dock. You will be installing connection points on these posts, so their orientation will completely determine the direction in which your dock comes out from the shore.

Once the posts are set, they will provide reliable anchor points to keep your dock securely connected to the shoreline.

For our project, we set two 4x6 posts in holes 24" deep and 18" across. Attaching the two male ends of the standard connector set to the post holes, we are then able to connect the female corner connectors on our walkway to the anchor posts.

Conclusion

We hope this guide has provided you with valuable information to start your dock building project. Each dock is different, and while these directions are meant to be a general guide, many of the principles will translate to a variety of dock sizes and  orientations. If you have specific questions or feedback on this guide, please Contact Us and we'd be happy to help. 

The Dock Shop takes no responsibility for the integrity or warranty of any docks built using this guide. 

Glossary of Terms

Live load - refers to the temporary or variable weight the dock must support, including people, equipment, and any movable objects. This load changes over time, unlike dead load, which is the weight of the dock’s permanent structure itself.

Float Freeboard - the distance in inches from the top of a dock float to the waterline. Freeboard should be calculated for both dead weight as well as live load to ensure the dock floats at the expected height in the water. 

Freeboard (alternative definition) - the distance in inches from the top of a deck or dock float to the waterline. Context or explicit phrasing will indicate if freeboard is for the deck or the dock float. Freeboard should be calculated for both dead weight as well as live load to ensure the surface in question sits at the expected height in the water. 

Max buoyancy - the weight in pounds a dock float can support. At this weight, the top of the dock will set level with the water. It is rarely safe or appropriate to load a dock float to its maximum buoyancy. 

Joist - the lumber spanning the middle of your dock and used to secure decking, attach floats and provide stability and strength to the dock. 

Stringer - a board placed perpendicularly to and flat along joists create greater rigidity and strength. These are especially helpful for larger platforms spanning wide gaps, where long joists may result in undesirable flexibility.

Disclaimer 

These instructions are provided without any warranties, guarantees, or representations of any kind, either express or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of these instructions for any particular purpose. It is the sole responsibility of the dock builder to ensure the proper and safe installation, use, and maintenance of the dock supplies. Users must comply with all local, state, and federal regulations, building codes, and safety standards. We strongly recommend consulting with a qualified professional or engineer for advice and assistance with the installation and use of dock supplies. The Dock Shop and by extension Ten Talents Trading LLC is not responsible for any actions taken based on these instructions with or without professional consultation. Ten Talents Trading LLC shall not be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, these instructions, including but not limited to, property damage, personal injury, or death. By using these instructions, you assume all risks associated with the installation and use of dock supplies. This includes, but is not limited to, the risks of improper installation, failure of materials, and environmental factors. Users agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Ten Talents Trading LLC from any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees) arising out of or related to the use of these instructions or the installation and use of the dock supplies.