My wife and I purchased a cabin on the north shore of Mille Lacs and we are looking to get some opinions on the best type of dock to use up in the sand. Obviously, you can get quite a bit of large crashing waves, so wondering if steel is a better choice over aluminum or what would be the best??? Thanks much
check your new neighbors and see what they have would be a good place to look and get ideas.. just a thought..
They don’t put any docks in, that was obviously already my first thought
no docks!! I would have never thought that.. good luck on your adventure!!
They don’t put any docks in, that was obviously already my first thought
I’ve got friends with lake shore homes on the north side. They don’t have docks either. They get ripped up by the waves too much.
Also, it tends to be super shallow and you quite often need a very long one to reach adequate depths, especially if there’s a drought (which seems to happen frequently now).
I am in Wahkon Bay. We are pretty sheltered but I have seen docks north of Izatys on Otto’s point twisted up and rolled. I have a mix of different brands of aluminum. Each section bolts to the next and all are on wheels. I got tired of wrestling steel & the wood stuff from when I was a kid 60 yrs ago is long gone up in flames.
Are you going to be handling the install & fall removal your self? 2 son in laws & a 20 something grandson are my crew, Also relatives close by. Lots of guys around that do it. I could give you the name of the guy out of Isle.
Boat lifts, vertical only IMO, are another thing.
Can you pull you gear straight out with a truck or a tractor?
Drive along 18 & see what people have sitting in their yard.
Welcome to the lake!
Welcome to the lake. I have had a place on the lake for 38 years so I have seen my share of busted up docks. If your wide out in the open where you can get 4-5′ waves I would only suggest a steel dock that sits approx 3′ above the water. Pound in all of the corner posts and and bolt down all of your removable top sections.
If not you will be looking for your dock sections after every big wind.
Putting a boat on a lift might be tricky unless you can get it high enough out of the water so the waves don’t hit it.
I could build you a permanent dock and it would be flame resistant.
I could build you a permanent dock and it would be flame resistant.
The north end can be tricky for a dock. We have 3 sections that span over 30 yards, probably closer to 40 when it’s all said and done. Ours are aluminum, with a scissor lift over the wheels that can raise or lower it. We typically keep ours pretty high to avoid the said waves, but we’ve never had a problem. We have a plastic decking that goes out in 3 footish square sections. I’ve heard of people zip tieing the decking down, but only do it on one end so if the waves are large it’s lifting the decking, not your dock, but the decking stays there, if that makes sense. Where we’re at, think close to Barnacles, it doesn’t really matter how far out the dock goes. The sand has dunes that rise and fall all the way out to the break, but doesn’t really get deeper than 2 feet the whole way out. We just find the “low point” and that’s where the boat lift goes.
The last few years have been very shallow up there. One year we had to get our toon out in July. Another year I helped shove all the neigobr boats off of lifts because it was so shallow at the end of the year. Vertical lift is a must on that end. We found the lift that gets the lowest of all the brands, I believe ours is shoremaster. Having said that, if you have a pontoon, sealegs might be a better option.
We can’t get a truck back to our dock area, so a wheeler or side by side with a heavy winch comes in handy. Our neighbor uses a skid steer to push and pull his. He doesn’t even take his sections apart, basically drives it like a train. We have a steeper section to get to the water, so putting in is a cake, pulling them out without a winch is a 6 man job.
First time lake ownership, putting in docks, etc is a comedy of errors. Mistakes will happen. Just learn from them and enjoy your cabin.
Got our docks in over the weekend, the toon, however, will stay on shore. The bunks on our lift were sticking out of the water almost two feet. Going to look into sea legs a little more this year I think.
Curious if anyone up there uses those plastic floating docks? Seems like that would be a good option if they can withstand the waves.
Got our docks in over the weekend, the toon, however, will stay on shore. The bunks on our lift were sticking out of the water almost two feet. Going to look into sea legs a little more this year I think.
It’s that shallow huh? Not good for early Spring.
Yea we put the lift in the typical trough that we have mid dock, but it’s not going to be enough. It gets down to 8-9 inches deep at the end of the dock. A little out of the ordinary, but 10 feet out from our dock, where it’s usually knee deep, was mid thigh. So short answer is I need another dock section for this year, but that sand is always changing, that could be the shallow spot in another month.
Last year, in the same spot, the bunks were under water for most of May, June, and even most of July, then she started to shallow up by the time the docks came out. Just eyeballing it I’m guessing it was down by at least 18 inches. Hopefully Monday’s storms added a little back.
North end sand is a blessing and a curse. Beautiful sand for the kids to play in while the boat sits on the shore….
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
