Re-Docking the Cottage

In the Fall you read about the truckload of dock we took from the cottage…it had served us well for several decades, but it was time to go.  This past weekend, in one of the first signs of the Summer to come, Papa, my nephew Tim, and I spent time putting together and installing a new dock.

We laid all of the parts out first to make sure we had everything we needed and in the right locations.  Since we were putting together the below-water pieces as the initial step, we had all the pieces flipped over…and had to have the layout in  a mirror image.   As we rolled the pieces onto their sides (to make installing the wheels a little easier) there was a little head scratching involved… And soon we were wheeling the first pieces into place.  For the initial installation process we decided to do the work in sections, but in the future we will be able to wheel it in and out as a full piece.

Parts had arrived earlier in the week, along with some estimates from the man making the delivery that three men should be able to put this together in a few hours…when he heard that the crew involved a farmer, an engineer, and a psuedo-engineer he changed his estimate to over five hours. You can see that Tim was either explaining some of the intricacies of putting the pieces together…or rapping about the days evolutions…hip-hopper that he is… By all parties…

You can see the layout is similar to the old dock, but the the big difference is that the width is six feet and the landing area (the L-shape area at the end) is 8’ x 12’.  You can also see that two people were getting wet while one supervised…then the “Brain Trust” got together to check the alignment .

The cedar plank sections were then set into place…while rain started to come down (imagine that).  With that all of us got wet.

The new dock is in place and we are ready for Summer at the Cottage to start…and despite what the delivery man said, it only took us about two-and-a-half hours from laying out the pieces to putting in the last piece of cedar.

For a glimpse of the first use of the dock click on the picture of Tim below and when taken to the web album click on the picture again to start it.

From New Dock 2011

More Summer Adventures coming your way soon…