Ice Out Dock lost

winterh · 04-19-2017, 06:24 PM

I don't think your loss of power would have made much difference. It is my understanding that the ice can attack your dock in two ways and a bubbler only protects it from one. When the ice freezes solid around your fixed posts it can move them up, down sideways...with the movement of the ice. A bubbler keeps the ice from forming and moving your posts.
The second cause of damage is wind driven icebergs moving in the spring. These can be huge and weigh thousands of tons. There is pretty much nothing that can stop them and your dock is at the mercy of the wind direction. By the looks and timing of your damage it looks like it got hit by a sheet of ice. Even if your bubbler was going 24/7 it would not have made much difference.
I ran my bubbler all winter a few years back. I thought I was in the clear when an ice flow took out my dock just days before ice out. it was painful to watch this sheet of ice come out of nowhere and destroy everything in its path.

SAB1 · 04-19-2017, 08:28 PM

Correct the way to hold those sheets back is to have a couple clusters of driven pilings out in front of the dock to catch the moving ice flows and hold them back.

Barney Bear · 04-19-2017, 11:13 PM

We had pilings at our dock for many years. Last year, the ice pushed the pilings against the dock and caused severe damage. A permit is required to be able to install pilings.

IslandRadio · 04-19-2017, 11:35 PM

That's too bad. A wrecked dock is absolutely no fun at all.

I notice you have a lot of big trees in the background. This suggests that you could do a tip-it-up-and-out-of-the-water dock (and have something sturdy like the trees to use to pull it up) and not have to worry about bubblers and the like any more.

Don't know about your DIY capabilities, but the materials for such a dock would be quite reasonable (assuming PT wood and lots of galvi and stainless hardware). I have built such a dock in the past - 30 feet long. I had one helper.

A thought anyway.... it is very nice to get the dock OUT of the water.

One of my neighbors had a stays-in-the-water-all-year dock, and even with the bubbler working properly, the dock got wrecked by an ice flow. They replaced it with a tilt-up dock.... and the Cadillacs of docks - aluminum tilt up installed by pros.... not necessarily suggesting that unless you have a lot of cash lying around, but the point is the bubbler doesn't stop the flows of ice on a windy day.

Again, sorry yours got wrecked.... definitely feel your pain (have been there)

04-19-2017, 11:13 PM	#3
Barney Bear Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 962 Thanks: 496 Thanked 274 Times in 175 Posts	Pilings to Rescue??? We had pilings at our dock for many years. Last year, the ice pushed the pilings against the dock and caused severe damage. A permit is required to be able to install pilings.

04-19-2017, 11:35 PM	#4
IslandRadio Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Mirror Lake - Full time resident Posts: 398 Thanks: 70 Thanked 156 Times in 61 Posts	That's too bad - really - no fun at all. That's too bad. A wrecked dock is absolutely no fun at all. I notice you have a lot of big trees in the background. This suggests that you could do a tip-it-up-and-out-of-the-water dock (and have something sturdy like the trees to use to pull it up) and not have to worry about bubblers and the like any more. Don't know about your DIY capabilities, but the materials for such a dock would be quite reasonable (assuming PT wood and lots of galvi and stainless hardware). I have built such a dock in the past - 30 feet long. I had one helper. A thought anyway.... it is very nice to get the dock OUT of the water. One of my neighbors had a stays-in-the-water-all-year dock, and even with the bubbler working properly, the dock got wrecked by an ice flow. They replaced it with a tilt-up dock.... and the Cadillacs of docks - aluminum tilt up installed by pros.... not necessarily suggesting that unless you have a lot of cash lying around, but the point is the bubbler doesn't stop the flows of ice on a windy day. Again, sorry yours got wrecked.... definitely feel your pain (have been there)

04-19-2017, 06:24 PM	#1
winterh Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 256 Thanks: 30 Thanked 135 Times in 62 Posts	I don't think your loss of power would have made much difference. It is my understanding that the ice can attack your dock in two ways and a bubbler only protects it from one. When the ice freezes solid around your fixed posts it can move them up, down sideways...with the movement of the ice. A bubbler keeps the ice from forming and moving your posts. The second cause of damage is wind driven icebergs moving in the spring. These can be huge and weigh thousands of tons. There is pretty much nothing that can stop them and your dock is at the mercy of the wind direction. By the looks and timing of your damage it looks like it got hit by a sheet of ice. Even if your bubbler was going 24/7 it would not have made much difference. I ran my bubbler all winter a few years back. I thought I was in the clear when an ice flow took out my dock just days before ice out. it was painful to watch this sheet of ice come out of nowhere and destroy everything in its path.

The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to winterh For This Useful Post:
Descant (04-19-2017), Reilly (04-20-2017), SteveO123 (04-20-2017), tis (04-19-2017), TriDad (04-19-2017)

04-19-2017, 08:28 PM	#2
SAB1 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Tuftonboro Posts: 1,253 Thanks: 193 Thanked 334 Times in 242 Posts	Correct the way to hold those sheets back is to have a couple clusters of driven pilings out in front of the dock to catch the moving ice flows and hold them back.

The Following User Says Thank You to IslandRadio For This Useful Post:
upthesaukee (04-20-2017)