Building Your Own Dock: Design, Build, and Maintain Floating and Stationary Docks (Creative Homeowner) Essential Guide to a Sound, Functional Dock with Detailed Plans, Expert Tips, Advice, and Insight

Build your own sound, functional dock that will overcome almost any waterfront challenge!

• Detailed plans for the most popular types of docks
• Step-by-step instructions, photography, and diagrams
• Expert tips, building methods, advantages and disadvantages to each design, customization options, and more
• Insight on permits, safety, tools, materials, specialty parts, and accessories
• Helpful glossary and list of resources

A dock isn't just a place to park a boat, it's also a destination to build wonderful family memories! For anyone who lives on the water, having a dock to use and enjoy is simply a must.

For many with a "DIY" mentality, building your own dock has many benefits. Not only can you save money by not having to hire extra help, you can also ensure a customized look perfect for your specific needs as well as the reward of building a beautifully-designed dock by hand.

Knowing the right materials and patterns, however—as well as troubleshooting various water and weather situations—is not always easy. But with Building Your Own Dock, you'll find the ultimate guide to dock DIY that will help you design, build, improve, and maintain a floating or stationary dock.

Inside Building Your Own Dock you'll find detailed plans, expert tips, advice on building methods, and insight on materials and specialty parts for all the most popular types of docks. Learn everything you need to know—from safety measures and permits to winter storage, repairs, and more—to assess which dock is best for you.

Author Sam Merriam is a professional dock builder with over forty years of experience who is best known as "The Dock Pro." In this essential guide, Sam explains the wide variety of modern docks, from traditional wood structures to modular, pre-built docks made with aluminum, plastic, or composites. Sam helps you design the best kind of dock for your application and waterfront environment as he explains their relative advantages, disadvantages, and customization options.

"It is more than just a tie-up for the boat," Merriam says. "As a lifelong dock builder, I've come to know many who live out all they can on the dock. It's their favorite destination and the center stage for making memories with family."

Whether you decide to build your own dock, hire a builder, or purchase a ready-made, this book—with its easy-to-follow instructions, photography and diagrams, expert advice, and helpful tips on each design plan—will reveal your choices, enhance your dock building knowledge, and empower you to create the dock of your dreams.

From floating to fixed and everything in between, with Building Your Own Dock, you'll be able to build, embellish, and utilize the dock you've always wanted!

Sam Merriam is a professional dock builder and manufacturer of dock building components with 40 years' experience. He is the co-owner of Great Northern Docks in Naples, Maine, a second-generation family owned business that is famous for high quality docks and dock hardware.