One thing I’ve learned through the years, living with Dave “Just-Frame-It-Up” King, is that much can be accomplished on one’s own with the right amount of research and planning, the right tools and materials, as long as you break it down into simple steps. The successful building of our dock on Memorial Day weekend was just one more example that has reenforced that lesson.
Day one:
We drove down Saturday morning, feeling pumped and ready to get to work, thankful that the weather was supposed to be warm and sunny all weekend. We stopped in Petersburg to pick up supplies at one of our most favorite stores- The Home Depot. I remember as a kid being dragged into Hechinger’s, which was my dad’s favorite home improvement store, and thinking there could be no place worse on earth to be. Unless, of course, it was the fabric store with my mom, but I digress. I find it ironic, now, that I can spend hours perusing the isles of Home Depot, thinking of all the projects that we may want to undertake, much like my dad did back in the day. (And yes, I do the same thing when I go to the fabric store these days.)
After loading the lumber into our van, we continued on down to Colemans Lake. We were a little bummed that the sky began to cloud up as we approached the lake, but no worries, we have learned that it is always breezy at the lake so had packed extra layers just in case it was a little chilly. And thank goodness, because, sure enough, when we pulled onto the property, it was completely overcast and a bit chilly. Knowing some of us were going to get wet, we were hoping for warmer temperatures, but we would continue on with our project even so.
We unpacked the van and operation build-the-dock began.
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- Max and Dave unload the lumber
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- Dave lays out the dock frame
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- and dock construction begins
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- Max helps Dave find the center point
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- just because….
Once the frame was built, we walked it over to the lake. The next step was to put 2 x 4s out into the water, to act as temporary supports for the frame, until we could get the posts in place.
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- Dave attaches smaller boards at the base of the 2 x 4s, that will rest on the lake floor
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- we walk the frame to water’s edge
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- Dave wades out into the chilly lake in order to put the frame in place
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- Max helps hold the frame along the shore
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- there was no talking Max into wading out to help Dave, so guess who gets to go out and lend a hand
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- and this is the point that the cold water hits my stomach…brrrrr
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- I hold the frame while Dave puts the 2 x 4 in place
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- Dave holds the frame in place while I place the first screws
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- on to the second support beam
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- now to check to see if it is level
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- just a slight readjustment is needed
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- frame in place – now we can drive the posts
Next, we took a ladder out into the lake so that Dave could use it to stand on while he drove the posts into the lake floor using a sledge hammer.
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- we attached smaller boards to the posts in order to be able to tell how far down into the lake floor to drive the posts
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- Dave carries over the posts..notice the sun is shining on that side of the lake
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- Max hands him the first post…still cloudy where we’re working
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- first post in!
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- placing the next post inside the frame
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- he then climbs up on the ladder and begins to pound it in
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- last corner post in place and he’s still smiling!
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- measuring where to attach the frame
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- yay, it’s level, we can remove the temporary supports
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- the cloud cover is moving off slowly and the sun is working it’s way toward us – hooray!
Corner posts in place, we were able to get out of the chilly water and work from dry land. Wouldn’t you know, at this point the clouds pushed off and sun finally made it’s way to where we were working.
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- we laid down a few boards so we could walk out and place the center posts
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- putting the last post in place
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- Dave and his right hand man, Max, after a full day’s work
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- the end of day one, we were quite pleased with our progress
We decided this was a good stopping place, so we packed the remaining supplies and tools into the shed, with plans to return the following morning and pick up where we left off. We were very pleased at the progress we’d made and extremely happy that it had all gone smoothly and according to plan!
Day 2:
After picking up more lumber at Home Depot, we returned Sunday morning to finish what we had started the previous day. We were happy to see that the dock frame was still standing when we arrived back at the lake. The plan for the day was to use the chainsaw to remove the top of the posts, making them level with the frame, in order to be able to lay down the floor boards. We also wanted to attach cross beams under the deck frame to create more stability and then, after placing the floor boards, stain the dock. Though still a bit breezy, the sun was shinning brightly so it was a perfect day to be working outside.
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- Dave works on placing the supporting cross beams
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- Max, ever ready to help out, hands Dave the screws
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- cross beams in place
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- Dave saws off the tops of the posts
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- on to the next one
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- t-i-m-b-e-r-r-r-r…
After the last post was topped off, Dave and Max carried the floor boards down to the lake and began attaching them to the dock frame.
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- Max and Dave bring down the floor boards
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- Max places the first screw
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- Dave supervises
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- I help push the boards in place
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- Max places the last screw
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- after the board are all in place, Dave saws off the overhanging boards to create an even edge
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- construction finished, Dave takes a well deserved beverage break
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- I join him
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- while Max tests out his handy work
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- woof…
After construction was complete, we stained the dock so it would be ready for us to put it to use on Memorial Day.
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- Max sweeps off the dirt to prepare the dock for staining
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- Dave and I roll on the stain
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- after finishing, we decided we didn’t really like the way the crossing support beams looked so decided to remove them
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- yes, much better – after the floor boards were placed they stabilized the structure enough that we didn’t really need the cross beams anyway
We wrapped everything up at that point and headed for home, looking forward to returning the next day to make good use of our newly constructed dock!
the coleman cabin 
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