A New Dock for 1358 · · PAGE 15.

October 27, 2020:   The construction begins this morning for sure!  The two-man team starts to place parts of the dock together at all the right places in the water.

The metal pipe is getting water pressure from a pump on the shore.  The water pressure moves the soil on the bottom of the lake as the 6 x 6 inch pilings are pushed down below ground level at least 3 feet or more.  As each piling is put at the correct depth, they push some of displaced soil into the hole and tamp down on it with their boots.

The gasoline-powered pump sits by the beginning of the walkway to the dock.  The blue water line sends the water under pressure out to the tool.  The black tubing is the water inlet to the pump.

All the pilings get the same treatment to place them into the floor of the lake.

The tallest poll at the platform and walkway is 20 feet in length.  This one is sunk further into the floor of the lake as it will have more wind resistance in storm conditions.  A flood light will be attached to this pole.

This is the last photo for the first day of dock assembly.  All the boards on the walkway and the platform are just laying in place.  They will be properly spaced and secured tomorrow.  That extra pole is one of the original 4x4-inch dock pilings being re-used to mount one of my flood lamps about half way along the walkway.  It is not attached to the walkway.

October 28, 2020: Day TWO of the dock assembly begins with all the special nails that will secure all the planks.  The air gap between each plank and the next one is to allow for thermal expansion.

The guys are finishing up the platform work today.  One of the old dock 4x4-inch pilings was set near the center of the dock to hold a solar-powered night light

The extension cord stretched along the dock powers an air compressor that inserts the nails into the boards along the FOUR 2x8 trusses that support all the planks.

The skill saw is used to trim one board at the point where the walkway and platform come together.  When all the boards are secured, the skill saw is used to cut off the ends of the boards with the white labels seen below on the platform.  When all the boards are secured, I brought out a six-foot step ladder to select the height on the tall pole where a flood lamp will be mounted.  The top 18 inches of the tall pole were removed after I decided where I could work on the flood lamp.  I will have photos of both flood lamps tomorrow.  The pilings need to be "seated" in the floor of the lake overnight.

Here is the flood lamp on the tall pole at the platform.  The main part of lamp has the light sensor that turns on the lights during the night at a low-intensity setting.  I walked out after dark to check the full brightness of the lamp when I walked out in front of the post.  The entire platform was well-lighted.  That white circle is the sensor.  The solar power panel is on top with the blue letters mounted on the south-face of the pole for more sunlight.  The side LED panels face down the dock toward the shore and west to light up the northwest part of the platform.

I quickly determined I needed a piece of wood about 8 inches wide to mount the flood lamp on the 4x4-inch piling half-way along the walkway to the platform.  The outer two screws on the mount for the flood lamps were four inches apart and would not be secured on the 4x4 post.  I gathered a suitable piece of scrap wood and borrowed the drill they used to secure the boards to the dock trusses.  I mounted that scrap board to the 4x4 piling and mounted the flood light to that board.

When I was going out to test the lights that night after sunset, I stumbled while stepping up from the ground onto the end of the dock on shore.  I got a bruise on my left shin above the ankle and a scrape on the edge of my right hand.  I found out the next day that I had one drop of blood from my hand near the lamp at the half way point of the walkway.  I could see it in the light from the flood lamp that night.  I took the photo below showing the drop of blood the next day.  This reminded me of the many drops of blood that are in hidden places inside my airplane.

I noticed one of the side lights on the tall pole has pointed in a direction that I did not set up.  I found some strips with sharp points to discourage birds from landing on this pole.