Docks, Piers, Boathouses and Lifts. Whats your setup?
 

I own part of a construction company with my family that does mainly industrial construction. I started building piers as a sideline company about ten years ago. I have built tons of docks and boathouses over the years and finally built one for myself last year. Mostly finished but I'm still tweaking certain aspects of the pier and boathouse and lift. I've included pictures. Please post pictures of your piers and slips. As a builder I'm interested in different ideas. If you don't live on a lake I'd be interested to know what your dream setup would be.

wow

John you have my dream set up

This thing has me all worked up. When we having a WW reunion at your place? No I am serious!

very VERY nice setup indeed.

you win

/thread

Thats an awesome set up. We can't build stuff like that in the north as everything has to be able to be removed in the winter.

That is really nice, seriously impressive. I'd be interested in seeing more shots of the interior, both the boat area and what appears to be a lounging area....

I would be happy with that as my house let alone a boat house.

Yes, more pics!! What lake is that on?

Damn you....just damn you.

Wowzer!!!!!!! That i think is every mans dream to have at the lake

Yep. You win. Hands down


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I will take more pics this week and post. Thanks for the compliments. It's built on Lake Chicot, Lake Village Arkansas, in my back yard. It has three slips with lifts. I built the main walkway 8' wide so I can use my golf cart to ferry gear and people between the house and dock. The lake has a soft bottom and I drove the 6" x6" treated posts into the ground with a mini excavator I have on three barges we built. It's a work in progress. I plan to add a 16' x 24' air conditioned room before summer as well as an outdoor bar. I have been a lake person my whole life but never lived on the lake. I always dreamed of living on the lake and being able to drop the boat in for a quick set. I've built a lot of piers for others and so I had a pretty good Idea of what I wanted. The best thing about it is the location....right across the lake from the glass we've always ridden. WW party bring it!

Here's a few more pictures and one of the lounge area. Hard to capture the inside of the boat house. It's 21' x 40' with an 11' x 32' slip. Has a remote controlled garage door and two 6' x7' sliding barn doors on the side walls. The blue boat in theses pictures is for sale if anyones interested. The lift is a 6000# Doozie Inboard Lift I bought from The Boat Lift Store. Louis Fields, Adam Fields dad owns the company.

Awesome! That is a dream setup. I love these types of threads. I hope others post as well.

Ok, how do you get a pier like this made for a hard freeze lake... like those in MN?

Not sure how possible it is in the North. In South Arkansas all lakes are soft bottomed. No rock. Best bet would be to look for local contractors that know what's possible in your area. Most piers are either supported by legs that rest on the lake bottom (not very sturdy and not suitable for a large structure) , Pilings driven into the lake bottom (the way this dock was built) or floating.

How much does the water level fluctuate on that lake? I'm guess it has to be fairly constant.

Pretty constant. It may drop a couple of feet in the heat of the summer. Water flows into it from a Bayou and flows out through another bayou. Water can also be let in from the Mississippi river through a dam. Lake Chicot is the largest natural oxbox lake in the US and was formed by the MS river. It's about a mile across at the widest point, 17 miles long and about 30' deep at its deepest point.

I am soooooo jealous.

That is awesome! Not only am I jealous of the boathouse, but the water too! Here are some recent ones of my build I've got going on.

Middle of backyard

Looks awesome.!

I appreciate it. Obviously a long ways out still, but talk about great inspiration from yours! Does your lake have a square footage restriction? Here, I am only allowed to build maximum of 150ft long and a 1,500 sq ft pad, which is what mine is.

Here's my dock on Lake Travis since we are showing off.

Attachment 34364

No size limits on our lake or bldg permits required I guess there are perks to living in the boonies. Are you putting a lift in your boat house. The Lake Travis dock is awesome. That's all floating? I love the color. Where is Travis?


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What lake are you bldg. on Brett?


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S&G= Good people! Nice "dock"!

Rick Stuckey, Brandon Lackey, they are awesome Not Sure. You from Arkansas?


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Is this shot before or after drought?

John- That's funny, I live in the sticks too. Not out far enough I guess. I'm on Lake Tawakoni in Texas. Yes, planning on a lift with a cradle like yours. I see you've got a Doozie. How's that working out for you? Any suggestions?

Lake Travis is in Austin, Texas Dave. I forget the stain color of the cedar, but its a semi-transparent behr outdoor stain.

MB, the pic was recent, this picture shows the lake at around 36% of pool or 64% empty. I have 25' of water under the walkway and 40' at the back of the dock, so I consider myself lucky.

^^^ I would say you have prime lake location. We goto ROT every year and take at least one lake trip down there every year. Last few have been to LBJ.

Beautiful setup you have there!

Only change i could possible think of would be a sliding floor covering to close off the lake from the rest of the house. For cleanliness and safety reasons

Sorry, forgot to mention what an awesome set up. If you ever need property sitter I'll do it for free! Again crazy awesome.

Yeah, I'd say both of you are lucky! I'm 80' off the dock before the water starts...

John- I'm considering a roll up style door as well, any feedback?

Dude just saw this thread, that is a pimp setup, awesome. If u do the enclosed room with ac will be just icing on the cake. Awesome for entertaining too so u can keep people out of ur main house.

Ya they are! I'm not "from" Arkansas, but I've been stationed here for 4.5 years. I live 3 miles from the Sherwood shop so I've been in there a lot. I'd like to get some wake lessons from Brandon sometime, dudes a beast on the water!

I appreciate all the compliments and pier sitting offers. Brett the doozie 6000lb inboard is awesome! If you have a problem picking one up or want know more about themI'm a dealer. As far as a way to seal off underneath the boat....I've been working on some ideas. I keep thinking along the lines of a retractable truck bed cover. Mike your on the money with the air conditioned room and keeping the party on the pier. Sometimes you need to get in out of the heat and Mosquitos. I also just put a mosquito mist system on the dock


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Brett I bought my door from rollupdoorsdirect.com I believe. The remote control option was not that much more. I bought a 10' wide and my slip is 11' wide. Their website will give you headroom and side room requirements for the door. have installed overhead garage doors on boathouses before but it's tricky with an overhead center beam lift.


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Not sure. Brandon is a beast on the water. They just opened a shop in Hot Springs and he's running it now. I've bought 4 boats from those guys over the years andRick Stuckey is a standup guy, started Arkansas INT, and runs a tight ship at S and G Extreme!


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I've driven by that lake a few times on the way from Dallas to Cleveland, MS to visit some friends. Always wondered if there were any wakeboarders on the lake, because it looked like a perfect riding spot!

Just fyi... Boat Hoist USA is in Tyler. You might save shipping. I've got their overhead lift (which is pretty standard). Their jetski (bh-360) lift my favorite design I've seen for fresh water.

Jack I was just going to mention Boat Hoist USA might be closer. They are a customer of ours. We vacuum form the Flat Plate Covers Front and Back along with the PWC Cover.

I like your set-up, Brett. The size limitations suck on Tawakoni but not as much as the low water levels. When do you think the lake will be back up? I'm looking for a spot on that lake right now.

Awesome dock!

We are currently looking around texas for land or an existing house on a decent lake. I'm new to the area so we are kind of exploring all the major ones.

Not entirely sure on the plans to build as I guess restrictions vary from place to place, but so far we have Eufaula, Hugo, Possum Kingdom, Palestine, Limestone and Caddo.

I walked away from an opportunity to buy lake property last august. This thread is making me regret that decision.


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Nice looking place. What kind of PWC dock is that?

Very nice setup. I'm in the process of building a boat house for my Mxz 22 and I'm trying to decide what width to make the cradle. 10' or 11'. I'd like to not have to mess with taking the boards off the rack every time. What's the width of yours?

1 went with a 9' cradle a 10' roll up door and an11' wide slip. I take the boards down each time. I can't go thru the 10' door opening with boards in the rack. The down side to going wider with the cradle and slip is that it makes it difficult to step over into the boat. With the 11' slip it's still a pretty good step from dock to platform. I've seen a folding dock step in overton's that would make boarding the boat easier. Or I may just custom build one. Hope this helps.


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Are there any ramps open on Travis right now? I assume your on the lower part of the lake since you have so much water.