Towing a floating dock

[dvsone79]

Buying a used dock for our new lake house and need to get it moved from its current location to its new home. Anyone done it w/ their MC? If so, any advice? Local company wants $100 per mile to tow it, and it’s 25 miles or so by water, so rather than pay them an exorbitant amount, I figured I could just tow it myself. But wanted to weigh the pros and cons first.

[MC25]

How big is the dock?

[TN Skier]

I would agree with Aric - Size and worth might determine the risk vs. reward value of the equation. Just a first glance, if you have to ask - it's worth $100 per mile! Probably not a daily request, might be with a little haggling to get them down a bit.

If I talked my wife into it in the first place and then sank it, trying to save a few dollars - turns into worth $500 per mile for me!

Good luck!

[cmasty]

That friend that has the pontoon? Buy him a case of beer.

Your best bet would be to push it with something or get it strapped to the side of a boat. I wouldn't do it with my MC. Not that It won't do it, but I wouldn't risk tearing up my boat.

I think pulling it is going to be rife with issues and/or take forever.

[mdskier]

They push docks around with pontoon boats here all the time. Basically put the boat in the slip, tie it up and start pushing it to the destination. Towing is not something I would try. I might be inclined to use a MC to push it but a pontoon boat would be more ideal. Or anybody else's boat for that matter.

[John Johnson]

Yes, I agree with everyone else. Not worth towing a brick with your MC. It might work on glass, but once a wave hits it you have a problem. And it is a snails pace to do it. 25 miles? Hell no.

[Ironhorse]

Seen it done a few times. Its going to be a long day as you will have to travel very slow and you want to do it in calm water. It wont sink provided its a well built dock and you don't try to get to your destination quickly.

[Miss Rita]

.....

[2RLAKE]

seen many moved on our lake ... all pushed with a pontoon ... find a friend with a toon

[tchur1]

25 miles on water? I wouldnt mess with this on your boat unless you want to do it at some crazy hour when its still calm. This will take at least 3-4 hours minimum, so take into account how you value your time and it might be worth negotiating the rate as other have suggested and not worry about the liability if something goes wrong.

[dvsone79]

How big is the dock?

It’s a 10x24.

[John Johnson]

It’s a 10x24.

No please don't do that to your boat.

[waterskier360]

I've towed some boats ALLOT bigger than the one I was driving before , you need a proper bridle , thick line and it will pull you all over the place ,with the wind and current. it will tow YOU where it wants to go .
If it's calm it's no big deal.
Just be prepared to cut the line and lose it if you have to.

[73blue]

I once pushed an 18-slip covered dock ~30 miles in a day. We used 2 pontoons, one tied in a slip at each end, and pushed. It worked well with 2 because you could use them as twin engines to steer the dock. Had a runabout going back and forth bringing us fuel/food. Took about 10 hours.

For a dock that size, one boat would be fine. The biggest issue will be maneuverability. If you have many tight turns or narrows to navigate, it will be easier to control if you are tied tightly to it and you are pushing. Pulling would work, but you dont have much control that way. Just make sure the floats are attached to the dock well and you should be fine. Dont rush it.

[H2ORidr]

It’s a 10x24.

Pay a tow truck with a roll up flat bed to winch it on at the start location and dump it off close to the final destination. If the truck cannot back up close enough to unload directly into water then just winch it out into the water with a snatchblock anchored to a 67" ground anchor screwed into the bottom of the lake (tow truck will probably have a snatchblock). The truck winch can drag the dock out into the water across quite a bit of land. I know, I just helped a friend do it.

Here is the ground anchor we used and we stuck into the lake bottom and used it to hold the snatchblock. https://www.westechrigging.com/earth...RoCvTQQAvD_BwE