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40 FOOT DOCK


Malibudoc

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I bought a fixer upper lake house and want about a 40 foot dock with an "L" shape and I live in NE South Dakota area. I wonder if anyone has suggestions as I live on a side with frequent bigger waves and an incline with large rock.

Comments on Wheels/vs not, section vs roll in, cedar vs plastic top, etc... I would love to hear opinions before making such a large purchase!! Any brands in particular?

Thanks so much!!!

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I assume you understand you will need to remove and install the dock each year as freezing will destroy it. I like the low maintenance of the PVC. It also stays cool in bright sun. also no slivers. Mine is 12 years old and looks nearly new. I vote for aluminum and pvc with ease of install and removal being key. If you are not in a hurry sometimes you will find good deals at the boat shows. I also feel that local dock manufactures seem to understand local needs.

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I bought a fixer upper lake house and want about a 40 foot dock with an "L" shape and I live in NE South Dakota area. I wonder if anyone has suggestions as I live on a side with frequent bigger waves and an incline with large rock.

Comments on Wheels/vs not, section vs roll in, cedar vs plastic top, etc... I would love to hear opinions before making such a large purchase!! Any brands in particular?

Thanks so much!!!

check out EZ Dock at EZ Dock
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I bought a fixer upper lake house and want about a 40 foot dock with an "L" shape and I live in NE South Dakota area. I wonder if anyone has suggestions as I live on a side with frequent bigger waves and an incline with large rock.

Comments on Wheels/vs not, section vs roll in, cedar vs plastic top, etc... I would love to hear opinions before making such a large purchase!! Any brands in particular?

Thanks so much!!!

check out EZ Dock at EZ Dock

The place we rent at Priest Lake has an EZ Dock, it is nice on bare feet, not too hot, ez to clean. It's a floating dock, so it moves a bit. I think they leave it in over the winter. I am not sure how often or much the lake freezes, but I know some winters it can be frozen over all around the edges. I would consider getting one if I needed a dock but don't know at all how pricing stacks up to other options.

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I assume you understand you will need to remove and install the dock each year as freezing will destroy it. I like the low maintenance of the PVC. It also stays cool in bright sun. also no slivers. Mine is 12 years old and looks nearly new. I vote for aluminum and pvc with ease of install and removal being key. If you are not in a hurry sometimes you will find good deals at the boat shows. I also feel that local dock manufactures seem to understand local needs.

the inlaws have a cabin in north central north dakota. it freezes.....H-A-R-D up der! north end of lake is 2 miles from canadian border...anyway, everyone leaves their docks out, and all the docks are fine....they've been fine the 10 years I've been frequenting. of couse, their docks aren't very nice...the lake doesn't have enough overall width and depth to have crushing ice movement in march/april. it's weird because around here if you did that, a snowmobile would certainly clip yer dock!

if i was buying/building a new 40' aluminum dock though, i'd certainly pull it out every winter. unless of course, you are in a very limited exposure area.

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I bought a fixer upper lake house and want about a 40 foot dock with an "L" shape and I live in NE South Dakota area. I wonder if anyone has suggestions as I live on a side with frequent bigger waves and an incline with large rock.

Comments on Wheels/vs not, section vs roll in, cedar vs plastic top, etc... I would love to hear opinions before making such a large purchase!! Any brands in particular?

Thanks so much!!!

Another thing to check out is your subsurface, is your spot in deep water, rocky bottom, a water run off spot. All these conditions will factor into your choice. My choice was easy because the dramatic annual water level change (5-6 ft.) ,and my location in the narrows between two larger oval sections. Wakes played a big concern. I have MC xstar's loaded with 4-5000lbs., 23-25 ft boats running in front of my dock. Most are within 10-15 ft. of my dock. EZ Dock is still very stable, it moves, but people have no problem walking around and leaving all are stuff on it with no problem. The best thing is no maintenance,and no matter the water level the dock is the same height from a parked boat. It is also a little more forgiving if your boat hits the side than metal or wood. Upfront costs are higher, but after 9 yrs. my dock looks the same. Most of my neighbors with wood docks are already on their second replacement wood, not to mention annual maintenance. We also wanted a low profile dock, didn't want to block are view of the lake.
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You didn't say how much of an incline you have, and how much land you have, but I have a Porta Dock, roll in aluminum dock. It comes out just before the ice comes in, and in the day the ice goes out. a car or 4wheeler with a winch can pull it out without getting wet, and 2 people can push it in in the spring. It stays together on the shoreline / lawn, so it's not tucked away neatly stacked in the corner. But I don't mind. Very easy leveling. I LOVE it.

But you do need the right shoreline and I am not sure how deep you can go. I know at least 6 - 8 but I am not sure if more.

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I think that leaving the dock in for the winter really depends on ice movement. On our lake there are quite a few areas that people leave everything in and have no problems. Where we are, you have to take it out or you don't have a dock or boat lift anymore. If your dock is frozen in the ice and the sheet moves, or heaves or another piles into it in the spring, the ice will win! Our neighbors left their boat tracks in one winter, pretty much 3/4 scale train track and it was bent into an S a good foot or more in each direction from the ice shifting. I've seen shorestations carried out to the deep areas and dropped in the thaw, piers turned into piles of splintered wood. On the same lake and just around the point from where we are, everyone leaves everything in and never has a problem.

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I have a dock by Candock (http://www.candock.com/) which we leave in the water year round. When it freezes it just pops up on the ice. I put a couple of pipes in to hold it in place and I take those out in the winter. All told it is about a 30 minute process to get it in and out.

If I remember from when we got it Candock was substantially less expensive than EZDock but it would still be pretty pricey for a 40 foot dock.

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I have about a 30 degree incline and pretty big rocks. It does get pretty wavy on my side of the lake with wind. Anyone not happy with a roll in vs sectional?

The sectional type looks a little cleaner and nicer as opposed to the thicker truss roll in type.

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